Thoughts on preparing for Christmas, #3

Something To Think About, Christmas, #3 What do you want for Christmas?

I'm not exactly sure where the age tipping point is, but over the next couple of months two questions will be asked over and over.  To the older set, "Are you ready for Christmas?"  And to the younger, some variation of this query, "What do you want for Christmas?" The two questions are not unrelated because a lot of "being ready" involves being prepared to give the kids what they want, and you don't have to be very old to realize that all the activity going on among the adults has something to do with what the youngster will find under the tree on Christmas morning. One question has an element of entitlement to it, the other has plenty of room for obligation to take root.  If allowed to go to the extreme both are problematic. Christmas can very easily become an exercise in adults feeling obligated to give what they can't afford to children who have a growing sense that the world--in particular mom, dad, and grandparents--somehow owe them the latest, greatest, and most fashionable.  The whole thing is made worse when what is given isn't good for the one who is receiving.  It's an ugly symbiosis.   The syndrome is not isolated to the family realm.  Every time we use the self-contradictory sentence, "I have to give . . . ." we are involved in this Christmas error.  Likewise whenever we think--we seldom say it--"he/she owes me a gift." We put another log on this yuletide fire that ought to be extinguished.  If one were given the task of teaching people, especially children, to have an unhealthy feeling of entitlement, he would be hard pressed to come up with a better curriculum than our current Christmas celebration. Haven't we had just about enough?  You can take that question in a couple of profitable directions.  Adults aren't obligated, and kids aren't entitled.  Look in your garland-decorated mirror and tell yourself that.  Believe yourself.  Then go do something about that reality. The gift that we celebrate at Christmas, was given without obligation, to people who had no entitlement to it.  Let's allow that gift to set the standard for this year's Christmas. It's Something To Think About. We would love for you to make the Live Nativity a part of your Christmas Season.   Click the picture for more information.