Thursday, November 12, 2015

Approaching Christmas

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time you know that although I love Christmas, I cannot stand the consumerism that threatens to overwhelm this holy time. It honestly drives be bonkers. 

For many a year in our home we have refused to give into this consumerism disease. We set a modest - cash only - budget for gifts and our food choices are based on what we actually like to eat and on a scale that we can eat without having mounds and mounds of food left over. 

This holiday is, after all, about the birth of our Saviour. It's about Jesus.

For our family it is not about personal gain (expensive gift wise), it's not about  over-indulgence, it's not about having my house outshine my neighbours with lights and decorations. Please don't read that last bit as we don't decorate because we do, we just don't spend vast amounts of money each year on decorations. We re-use the decorations we have had all our married life each year. 


I have to say that the attack from all sides seems to start earlier and earlier each year. Christmas decorations have been in stores since September. Television adverts are setting picture-perfect, simple heart-warming scenes, all to entice the consumer to spend on their products. Christmas movies have been playing on the dedicated Christmas movie channel since October.




As I was pondering over these things, I came across this wonderful article written by a lovely blogger on doing Christmas your way. She addressed almost all the issues that we all face over this Christmas season, she shared how they deal with it. I found it quite encouraging (her article but also her readers comments afterwards) to see how many people resist the seasons trappings and feel free to do what is important to them. I was especially encouraged on the charity collection bucket side of things. Lets face it, they are everywhere at this time of the year. Personally we have two Christian charities that we support that make a huge difference in people's lives, but I still feel like a horrible person when I choose not to contribute to every single open bucket at every single shop entrance! But honestly, it's just not possible to support every-single-collection. I found her statement on how she feels about this issue comforting in a way, and I will try to remember what she said every time I feel overwhelmed with guilt for not popping in some cash or committing to a direct debit for the next year!

Anyhoo, my point for this post is (apart from my own thoughts being clarified through the act of writing it down), that I really want to keep this season focused on Jesus. I want to keep it simple and real, yet make it special for all the right reasons! I don't want our Advent and Christmas to replicate a Hollywood Christmas movie. With Advent being two and half weeks away, I think that now is a good time to reflect on and clarify what Christmas truly means to us as a Christian family and how I'm going to encourage that in my own home.

Blessings to you all...

7 comments:

  1. Two books I like to refocus my family with are The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp and Doing December Differently by Nicola Slee and Rosie Miles. Both are highly recommended!

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    1. Thanks for the recommendations Gill - I will certainly check them out.

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  2. We all have to do what is right for us with everything in life, and I am sure that you will take the right approach for you and your family. Ours is quite similar to yours! xx

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  3. Just popped over and read the post you mentioned, I too found it quite uplifting. I buy one new decoration each year for the tree from a special place that we have visited that year and then when we put up the tree, the memory of each bauble is re-lived such special memories from our years together. Most of the gifts in our family are crafted and exchanged with love. I think the true meaning of Christmas is lost for a lot of families which is so sad.

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    1. Oh I LOVE that idea of buying a decoration from somewhere you have visited. A dear friend of mine has bought a decoration for each of her children each year. The idea being that when they leave home they have a set of decorations for their own trees - I thought that was such a lovely idea too.

      the angel that tops our tree, and has done since my girls were babies, is looking rather tatty now. My husband and one of my daughters is trying to convince me to get a new one. Somehow I just can't do it :) This angle has seen every Christmas since my children's birth, they have taken turns (duly noted in the next years diary each year) to put her at the top of the tree each year. She may be tatty but I want her to see out the years that my children are still at home :) - I'm a bit sentimental in case you hadn't picked it up LOL

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