Store Clerk “May I help you Ma’am?”

Customer “Yes I came in for the new 40” TV you are advertising.”

Store Clerk “Yes Ma’am we have two left. May I show it to you?”

Customer “No. My daughter saw it advertised and that is the one she wants for Christmas.”

Store Clerk “She is lucky to have a mother that would buy it for Christmas. So how will you be paying for it?”

Customer “With my Credit Card. Here it is.”

Store Clerk “Ok… I’m sorry Ma’am, but your card was declined.”

Customer “Oh I’m sorry… Here try this one.”

Store Clerk “Ok… No I’m sorry Ma’am, but that card was declined to.”

Customer “Oh… I don’t know how I can pay for it, but she wants that one.”

Does she/he want it and/or can you afford what she/he wants? Even if the credit card has the available credit is it worth the cost? Is it worth the cost to place Christmas on a credit card at all? What I’m asking is even if your credit card has the available credit is Christmas worth sacrificing the rest of the year or portions of your future income to pay? What is the benefit of placing the future on hold for a gift? A study was conducted and found that the recipient is just as happy with an inexpensive gift as they are with an expensive gift. While people think and wrangle between both gifts of a $15 gift and a $150 gift and wonder how they can afford it, the recipient is just as happy with the cheaper gift because they didn’t know there was a more expensive gift option. They didn’t know what the alternative to the less expensive gift was so they were just as happy receiving an inexpensive gift.

And the best gift anyone can receive has no price tag at all, because it is love, respect and acceptance. Christmas gifts that are more based in Love are the most valuable of all. And Gifts of your time and are personal exceed the value of the price tag on a video game or a new TV or Car. Christmas is more than wrapped gifts. My mother was happy for a CD set of “The Lord of the Rings”, because she knew the money I would have spent was on her was given to someone who needed it more than she and she wanted that inexpensive gift more than many other things on her “Amazon Wish List”. She would have been happy with anything, because she wanted me to come to PA and see her more than anything on any wish list. But she is not alone, because I wanted to see her as well more than what she gave me for Christmas. It cost me more in time to travel here and the inconvenience attached than any monetary value attached.

Think back to your childhood gifts received or even of more recent year. How many do you remember? How many times spent with family and friends do you remember? If you’re like me, you remember more the time you spent with people you loved and gifts of the heart more than those of materialistic value. How many got Benny Babies, Tickle me Elmo, Cabbage Patch Dolls, various cloth items, game devices or other gifts that were forgotten by January 20th? How many lasted to the end of December, let alone a year later?

I am really pissed by people who say they want Christ to be part of Christmas as they are breaking their back taking items they bought at a store to their car and haven’t a clue what part Christ is in Christmas or have decided to place a monetary value to Christmas! It might as well have a Pagan heritage or be “Happy Holidays” when Christmas is nothing more than the gifts opened on December 25 in the morning! It is of little Christian value when Christians are more worried about its material value. It isn’t any part of Christ in Christmas if it is nothing more than how much we spend on Christmas or when we are worried that someone might not think we spent enough on their gift. If the gifts we buy place a finical burden on the rest of the year, we stole Christ from Christmas and our family’s future to be proud of ourselves and Christ and Christmas are nothing more than a ransom paid for happiness. We can’t buy love! We can give love, but love can’t be bought online or a store to give as a gift! Love is free and so is the financial burden. Love comes from the heart not a store be it brick and mortar or online.

Give the most valuable gift of all YOURSELF and YOUR TIME!

Merry Christmas. Keep Christ in Christmas by giving your time and Love. Jim+