Saturday, 22 November 2008

• I was reading an article about the holidays and how commercial they have become.  I know that I go over my budget a little bit, but certainly not like the story was suggesting.  There were interesting tidbits about having a $100 Christmas--including gifts and decorations.  Here is an excerpt from The Denver Post...

  Be apart of Christmas By Marcia Darnell 11/21/2008 06:56:00 PM MST

  When we were kids, my brothers and I greeted the arrival of the Christmas catalogues like other people welcome a long- lost child. In a froth, we fought over possession of the Wishbook as if it were gold.

  Sometimes Mom cruelly made us wait while she checked the book for useless stuff (like clothes) before we could drool over the glossy pictures of toys, Toys, TOYS!

  But things are different now. I'm different now. I loathe shopping.

  I hate the way stuff accumulates in my house, and I get far more pleasure out of dumping a load at Goodwill than from bringing new purchases into my house.

  So maybe it's no wonder that I religiously mark Buy Nothing Day, the once-a-year celebration of not shelling out money. "

   

  I have some of the same feelings about how much comes into the house.  Papers from school, little incentive prizes from school, construction projects,  toys the kids buy with their allowances are oozing out of their rooms and into our living space.  Then add Chris' and my stuff and we have a lot to be thankful for and responsible to.  We have cut down on impulse purchases, and I sort mail next to the trash can.  I am working on a method to control the kids' allowance purchase, but we also need to teach them responsible money management.  Teaching them how to handle discretionary funds now will really impact them later.  I have many feelings about money and money management.  I try to rely on money logic instead of feelings, because I prefer not to respond to my inner "I WANT ONE OF THOSE!" screaming at me in the store.  We all have our money attitudes.  Okay. 

  Amusing.  Buy Nothing Day is the day after Thanksgiving.  This seems like a way to show people that you have an opinion and they should have it, too.

  I was struck by this comment in the section under the story. This person wrote:

   The Santa virus is the indoctrination of children into the world of entitlement.
  
  First children are shown the catalog, and encouraged to circle their wishes, greed is rewarded, after all Santa is there to give them what they desire.
  
  Kids hear that they must be 'good', that Santa is watching and putting them on his list. But children, while gullible are not stupid. They realize that they can get away with bad behavior as long as they are not caught, and even when caught they still get their treasure from smarmy parents.
  
  So goes the cycle of entitlement and greed, but it can end. Commercialization of a holy day can lose precedence, but then parents love to see their progeny giggle and shriek with joy when their greed is rewarded, and they rationalize this virus with tradition and perceived harmlessness.

  I don't know what strikes you about this reply.  I found it odd to hear the person equating greed with desire.  We have all seen people go crazy at Christmas and spend like drunken sailors (I guess the sailors spend a lot -- everyone says so.) He/she spoke so angrily about greedy children getting presents for Christmas.  Has the exchange of gifts has become acquisition for this person?  The person speaks as if things are in themselves horrid, getting them is sinful or evil, and wanting them is some kind of character flaw.  I understood greed to be the drive to accumulate your specific desire to the exclusion of good sense or Godly fellowship.  Is greedy what a child is when they get excited that they may get that one special thing for Christmas?  When a child's eyes light up after seeing their presents(s) are they showing greed or pleasure?  Do they feel as though someone made an effort on their behalf?  We have all seen the greedy ones who have not been taught temperance or gratitude, but I see plenty of pleasant children enjoying their celebration.  For me, I saw this person as too frustrated and unhappy to enjoy the fruits of their own labor.  Or else too busy being superior in her judgement.  It is sad to me that joy can be so twisted and end up so ugly.  

   

  Today I went to the auto parts store and got new lamps for my car's headlights.  Did anyone notice that it is hard to see at night when a headlight goes out?  I get to figure out how to put it in now.  I am off to look that up. 

  Merry Christmas early.

  • 10:45 AM
  • 11 Views
  • 2 eProps
  • 1 Comment