Stop Shopping

As you can tell from other posts, I love Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I don't love the overconsumption that is a part of my everyday life and that takes over all of us during the holidays. I want to have some meaningful traditions for our kids, but most of what is out there is so devoid of meaning that it makes me sick.

Today, for example, I sat and ate my lunch after going to buy some Christmas lights for our tree and outside bushes. I decided to get some lights that would last more than one year and ended up spending almost $100 on lights and a wreath for our door. As I was eating, I was looking at a World Vision catalog and saw that I could provide life saving emergency food for many children for $100. I felt sick. How can we live in a world like this?? Christmas lights .... life saving emergency food...

Bill and I decided to try to cancel out our Christmas spending this year. We have already talked to various parts of our family and have scaled way back (or canceled) our present exchange this year. But we want to go further. I am tired of feeling like there is something sick in all of this. We are challenging ourselves to cancel out our Christmas spending. For every dollar we spend for stuff like lights, presents, etc., we will give a dollar to something that matters. Let's see if we can actually do this!

"Cancel Yourself Out This Christmas!" Maybe I can take my message on the road like Rev. Billy (see video). We watched "What would Jesus buy?" Saturday night and loved it. The guy's got a point! Happy non-shopping!