by Heidi Hauptly

Created on: May 10, 2009   Last Updated: May 11, 2009

Flipping through the newspaper about a month before Christmas, I noticed that the paper is thicker. Not only is it thicker but because it's thicker I noticed that the ads are filled with everything from A to Z. All trying to push their special sale or offer a great bargain that is too good to be true that you just have to have. Waking up at four or five in the morning the day after Thanksgiving does not sound like a cup of tea to me. Do we really need that bargain? We can't take it with us when we die so why do we really need it?

Stores are all trying to be the one that makes a dollar by adding more and more to their ads. Take children for instance. They are the best at reading all the ads in order to make out their list and ask Santa, mom and dad, as well as grandma and grandpa for everything they possibly can. I don't think it's just Christmas but as a whole sometimes we see something on television and think we have to have it. We need to realize that we do not need it. There can be a balance of a little Christmas and remembering what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. Celebrating the birth of Christ and spending time with friends and family.

One reason we are in a tight money crunch with the economy is people have over spent in the past years not only at Christmas but in general. We are in the mindset that we have to have it and we have to have it now. Thinking we have to have it now means we tend to see how many credit cards we can max out and how much stuff we can accumulate When it all comes down to it we need to come back to reality. We need to realize three hundred sixty five days a year that it is ok to say no. We do not need everything that is being shown on television or in the newspaper ads. You can still have a great Christmas. Why not do something around Christmas for someone else? My grandparents one year decided they did not want any gifts for Christmas. They wrote their kids each a letter stating they wanted no gifts but instead we were supposed to go out and do something for someone less fortunate.

We are so blessed in this society that they did not want the stuff. We then were supposed to come together Christmas morning and share what we did and how we felt. My family picked a man who lived under a bridge we drove by everyday. We packed up a box for him filled with all kinds of things. We puf fruit, little money, a small Bible, few pieces of clothes, a note and other personal items one might need to live. After doing this we felt so wonderful because it was giving outside ourselves and giving to someone without him knowing it. It by any means is not bad to give at Christmas or birthdays and whatever but we need to stop this thinking that we have to have it all.

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