posted
Most people I know complain about how materialistic Christmas has become, but few are doing anything to change it. So I made this thread to talk about what we can do to take the materialsim out of Christmas.
Here is a start:
1. Make your gifts rather than buying them. Write down a favorite shared memory. Write a poem or a song about the the givee. Put together a collage of old pictures. Think outside the box.
2. Rather than exchanging baked good with your friends, get together and make a donation to a favorite charity.
3. Pick out a bunch of your spouses stuff that reminds you of the things you do together and the reasons you love him/her. Wrap each item and put a note on it explaining how that item symbolizes your relationship.
4. Adopt a poor family and get your children excited about giving to them.
[ December 04, 2003, 08:36 PM: Message edited by: The Rabbit ]
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Though I think #4 might be a good idea, I personally am a fan of materialism.
I like having material things and the things I buy are the things I want.
So, whenever anyone tells you materialism is bad, see if you can buy anything without a certain sense of your own materialistic needs. Posts: 717 | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged |
quote:Materialism: a doctrine that the only or the highest values or objectives lie in material well-being and in the furtherance of material progress
Material desires and needs are not necessarily "materialism". They become materialism when they are given priority over the other values such as love, family, spirituality, faith, mercy and justice. When the people I know complain that Christmas has become too materialistic, they are not saying that they would prefer to go without food, clothing, and shelter, they are concerned that the material aspects of Christmas overshadow the spiritual and charitable aspects of the holiday.
So I repeat my question, what ideas do people have that can help individuals to make love, family, faith, peace and hope more important than the material gifts we give and get at Christmas?
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
quote:4. Adopt a poor family and get your children excited about giving to them.
I like the ideas, but could that be worded in a less devaluating way? I not only know people who are under charity care, but have been under it myself at one point. That kind of makes such people seem like second-class citizens. Helping out a local family with either food, clothes, or even company is a very good idea, though.
Posts: 346 | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
The question that comes to my mind is, if you want to take materialism out of Christmas, what do you want to put in or emphasis? In other words, what is the meaning of Christmas? Answer that and I think we can come closer to deciding what we should do about the materialism.
I actually like the Catholic mass during Christmas. It adds a spirituality that I think is missing in most holiday celebrations -- even within my own religion.
posted
I think sponsoring a child through world vision or another similar organisation is a really good idea.
Another thing that kids seem to love is adopting an animal: my zoo has a program where you can 'adopt' one of the endangered species. This means you make a donation, and then you get a certificate with a photo of your animal. The zoo uses the money for research into conservation. My little sister got a cheetah last christmas (she was 6) and she loves the idea: she likes visting the zoo and seeing 'her' cheetah.
posted
My kids do a great job of reminding me what it's about. When I start wrapping presents, they say "Whose birthday are we celebrating!"
I tell them it's Jesus' birthday.
And I've discovered a system to help them remember what is important during their own birthdays. I encourage people to come empty handed to the party and if there are presents, we don't open them until after the party. Then we pay attention to the cards, but not to who gave what gift. This keeps the emphasis on celebrating our friendships.
I didn't make this up, my kids mixing-up the gift tags created it. While they opened their gifts they would talk about who came and miss those who hadn't come. I loved listening to them and have continued the tradition ever after.
Posts: 2425 | Registered: Jan 2002
| IP: Logged |
quote: 2. Rather than exchanging baked good with your friends, get together and make a donation to a favorite charity.
I think this is a great idea-- but it reminds me of one 'News from Lake Woebegone' segment. Instead of gathering candy one year for Halloween, the Lake Woebegone youngsters were sent house to house gathering for. . . Unicef, or some other children's fund. Keillor says that was the worst Halloween ever, and that he HATED those Unicef children.
I think that perhaps that the word 'instead' in the quote above should be changed to, 'In addition to.'
Because Christmastime is a time to be jolly (yes, JOLLY, darn it), and to celebrate, both in spirit and with our temporal blessings.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
quote:4. Adopt a poor family and get your children excited about giving to them.
Heh, this reminded me that there ARE differences between here and over there. If someone did something like this in Sweden most people would see it as incredibly condescending and insulting. We are (for the most part) happy to contribute to the less fortunate via our taxes, many give money to charity institutions (that mostly spend their money abroad) and there are some organisations -- such as the salvation army -- that have soup kitchens. But personalized charity is out. I mean, you can of course help a friend in trouble if you are able to do so tactfully -- but to "adopt" a family of strangers and encourage your children to give them christmas presents, that just isn't done. It would go against our ideal of a classless society and everybody involved would feel uncomfortable.
Posts: 896 | Registered: Feb 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I've never really liked Christmas. Even when I was a little kid and my sisters had their lists all ready, I always told my parents that I didn't want anything for Christmas, and I meant it. I thought it was a waste for my parents to feel compelled to buy me enough junk to meet an imaginary quota. I still feel this way.
Now that I'm on my own, I don't celebrate Christmas in the traditional way. The way I do it, when I'm out and about at any time of the year, if I see something that reminds me of someone, or if I'm talking to them and I think of something that they need, I go buy it for them. Then I tell them that it's an early/late Christmas present. As it turns out, my wife and some of my closer friends get many Christmases a year, some more casual friends get one Christmas present from me, only at different times, and many of the people I know only well enough that I may otherwise feel compelled to get something for around Christmastime end up with nothing. And although the gifts that people get may not be presented at the traditional time, they're always more sincere, personal and useful than whatever crap I would settle for if I had to wander around Wal-Mart for three hours looking for something to meet my obligation.
That being said, I have nothing against the holidays as far as the gathering of family and the remembering of religious themes. But that's how I've got around the materialism of the season, and it seems to work well for me.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Evil]](graemlins/evil.gif)
