The Grinch: "That's what it's all about, isn't it? That's what it's always been about. Gifts, gifts...gifts gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts. You wanna know what happens to your gifts? They all come to me. In your garbage. You see what I'm saying? In your garbage. I could hang myself with all the bad Christmas neckties I found at the dump. And the avarice...[Shouts]...the avarice never ends! 'I want golf clubs.' 'I want diamonds.' 'I want a pony so I can ride it twice, get bored and sell it to make some glue.' Look, I don't wanna make waves, but this whole Christmas season is...[Shouts]...stupid, stupid, stupid!
As parents in today's materialistic, American environment, how do you maintain balance? How do you keep from over-spending? How do you prevent greed in your children?
Debbie and I went through foster-parenting classes in Maryland. There were about twelve couples in the class. We met weekly for several months. One evening, we began to get acquainted with an African-American couple; we had picked up that they might be Christians.
Imagine our surprise to discover that she was from my home town, New Brighton, Pennsylvania! I had graduated with her sister. We had fun reminiscing. We became quite close to them during the duration of the classes.
In one conversation, we talked about the upcoming Christmas season. We noticed a glance between the two of them - and asked about it. They giggled, then went on to tell us how they countered the effects of Christmas greed.
They taught their children from the beginning that Christmas wasn't about gifts, but about Jesus. Since Jesus was given three gifts at His birth (gold, frankincense, and myrrh), they would also receive three gifts. Every year, their children knew that there would be three carefully selected gifts under the tree for each of them!
Hey folks! There are ways to combat materialism.
We started with the Grinnch - let's finish there, too.
The Grinch: "How could this be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags!"Be creative! Find a way to make Christmas be about more than the gifts!
