Wednesday, December 22, 2010

No Stuff Christmas

Christmas is about giving.

Actually, no, it’s about buying.  No, it’s about spending time with family.

It’s really about celebrating the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel – God with us.  (I can’t really say no to that… but that doesn’t cover it either).

The fact is the Christmas season has become a real mishmash of religion, culture, traditions, family, time off, angry-shopping, over-eating, gatherings, singing.  And the experience of Christmas is quite different from one person to the next.

But for many people it is associated with buying stuff. 

But not for me this year.  To celebrate the fact that Canada’s household consumer debt is the highest it has ever been, I am going to implement my first ever Buy Nothing Christmas.

Don’t worry.  I am not a downer Scrooge.  People will still get gifts.  But this year I am not buying stuff.  Here are some ideas I came up with this morning.  

Both my Reesor and McDowell families have a food-based gift exchange.  I don’t know what you call the game that we play but it involves stealing gifts from each other for about 2 hours until it miraculously ends with a selfless aunt choosing the unknown last gift from the middle (my friend Heather just told me the game is called “white elephant”...is that true?).  Instead of buying a box of chocolates, I am going to give the gift of a homemade dinner at my place.  I have been on a curry kick lately (I think the recipe is on page 171 of the More-with-Less cookbook) so it will likely be that.

For my mom, dad, brother, and Somphou (the IVEPer who lives with my folks), I am going to pay for a family night out to celebrate that we still love each other (and to thank Somphou for putting up with us…).  Dinner, a movie, a concert?  Whatever it is, it is going to be about people, not stuff.

Ok, so maybe it doesn't fit the official Buy Nothing Christmas criteria.  But you get the point.  This Christmas I am focusing on people, not things.  Let's call it a "No Stuff Christmas" (sorry, I haven't had the time to make a really cool No Stuff Christmas website yet).

Whatever you do, my suggestion is this - be creative.  And always remember to give to people who can’t give anything back.  "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."  Always remember that what you have is not yours - it is Gods.  We are stewards of what we have been given.  So give off the top, not with what is left over.

If you need some ideas on how to share what you have, consider some of these options:

  1. Donate through MCC’s Christmas Giving Catalogue, or
  2. Mobile Give $10 to MCC with your cell.  $10 allows MCC to buy school books and a uniform for young students around the world
    1. Send a text to "45678" with "MCC" in the comments section where they would normally type their text message
    2. You will immediately get a return text message confirming that you are about to make a donation to MCC
    3. Reply with "Yes"
    4. text someone else and tell them to do the same.
Merry Christmas!

7 comments:

  1. Great post Allan! Giving your time, your talent and your energy is the best gift and one I'm sure your family will love!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I will let you know how it goes over...! Merry Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  3. this is a great idea. I wish I read this before Christmas. my family did a under 5$ exchange this year. I'm going to suggest this for next year.

    youth quest participant

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love this idea! Food is always a great gift and having someone over for dinner means that your also willing to spend that time with them. I didn't buy any gift this year. Instead I decided to make all my gifts. I will tell my family about your idea.

    Erin Kelley

    ReplyDelete
  5. This sounds like a great idea. My family did this one year, and it was a nice change. Spending time with family, making food.. going out to eat ect. is something that you might remember more and make a bigger impact on you than just a gift such as a shirt.. shoes or something. Thanks for this post! =)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I led a youth sunday school class this past sunday where I asked them to talk about their favorite gift (we were talking about the magi etc.) and why it might be maningful beyond the thing. One youth member said that she received an MCC donation in her name and felt that that was more significant than anything else!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ya, Ben, I have heard similar comments a well. Whether it is MCC or other orgs, the gift of a donation seems to really offer significance and satisfaction in a way that a pair of socks cannot (unless of course my grandma knitted the socks...I always love those).

    ReplyDelete