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!

I need help

...in more ways than one!

But I will keep it to one request for today.  Do you have connections in Kitchener-Waterloo?  Then read on...

Pheakdey and Daniel.  IVEPers in Ontario '09-'10.

MCC Ontario will be welcoming an International Volunteer Exchange Program (IVEP) participant to KW in October.  He was going to be placed in Hamilton, but for a variety of reasons that is not working out.  Instead, we are setting up a work placement based out of the 50 Kent avenue offices in Kitchener.  He will be working with MCC and some of our partners in KW.

I need to find him a home.  And quickly.

Do you have any ideas of people in KW that might be interested in hosting him for 4-10 months?  In your church community? With family?  Friends?  Colleagues?  Feel free to do some shoulder tapping.  And please be in touch asap if you come up with any ideas.

IVEP: bringing the world to your home...

I have a really good job.

I say this not because I get paid a lot (though I am very happy with my pay). I say this because I have the opportunity to learn from and grow through my work with MCC.

"Who cares," you might ask? I am not sure...

So let me tell you instead about some of the work that I do, and how you might get involved. It is much more interesting.

I coordinate the International Volunteer Exchange Program (IVEP) for MCC in Ontario. It is a one year cultural exchange program that brings young adults from around the world to our communities. I set up host families and work placements, and spend time with the IVEPers as they process their experience and integrate into church and community life. It is a pretty sweet program that has been benefiting IVEPers and the communities they connect to for about 60 years. Yes, that's right. 60 years: the program is tried, tested, and true.

I like to think of it as a reciprocal program to SALT. SALT sends you around the world - IVEP brings young adults from around the world to you.

To get an idea of what IVEP looks like check out an article that was recently published in a local newspaper about the program.

Or don't, and keep reading to learn about how you might be apart of it...