Do you ever wonder if our priorities are a mess?! I am right now the person standing in the glass house throwing stones, my friend, because over the past (almost) week, I dropped some serious coin on my crazy long Christmas list.
I know there are good things involved, giving is always good and buying gifts for others isn't so focused on me (though I did purchase a few small things for myself along the way), but the push to buy-buy-buy, and the over abundance of ads and emails of discounts (and yes, I added to this with my oil sales) can begin to feel overwhelming.
The question would be, just because its the norm and what we all do, does it mean its okay? Because have you heard of the Colosseum in Rome? Looking back at history, you wonder, "what were they thinking?" But it was the norm so I'm sure few questioned it.
We have people everywhere starving and we are fighting over sales and ravenously putting things in our virtual and literal carts at feverish speed to grab the deal so we can give the gifts to all and keep the commercial giants in business. We've sacrificed our Thanksgiving holiday for extra time to get more stuff and you just have to ask, if I took a step back, would this look ridiculous? I think so.
My kids have enough. It doesn't mean they don't want more and it doesn't mean that I don't love giving them what they want because it gives me joy, but really I worry that all I am doing is feeding the materialistic monster.
Again, let me stay, I'm standing here in my glass house, throwing rocks, but I guess I'm pausing to look at the rock and question, "why I'm standing in this glass house?" I'm not gonna lie, I love Black Friday. I hate that stores open on Thanksgiving, but I was there this year and years past, so if I say anything against it, I'm hypocrite party of one, over here.
We aren't changing the status quo tomorrow or even next Christmas, but maybe we have a discussion about this within our families and discuss ways we can change the climate of culture a bit? What step can we take? Sure we have Give Back Tuesday, but doesn't that just seem like a way to sound like the pre-Black Friday, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday incessant deals weren't terrible. Its like, "Hey, we have Give Back Tuesday, so we aren't that bad!"
What if we sat down with our kids in September and said something like:
This is our Christmas budget this year, how much should we each sacrifice to give to something that matters to us? Who can we help? What is important to this family?
What giving traditions should we bake into the season, not just one day of, "whoops, I spent too much here's some money to appease my guilt!" I mean really give throughout the season.
I'm not here with some tips, just asking the question so you can have the discussion. Thanksgiving meals are still beyond our ability to eat them and yet we still keep making them, but I know some that had a Keto Thanksgiving this year, and tailored their dinner table to their diet, so considering the cost of the calories does come into play. Let's take this step with Christmas gifts!
The real thing at stake is your soul. I find myself having to take a step back and examine the real meaning of the celebration. Hint:Its not to see how many presents I can stuff under the tree to show off my deal conquest.
What do you think?
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