I've never been a fan of the black Friday. I don't like the crowds. I don't like the pushing and shoving and waiting in line. That being said, I've become a fan of the Thanksgiving midnight madness. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to participate, I want to gawk. I have had the pleasure of strolling through the mall or outlet mall parking area looking at the people in line around the block to get into a store to save an extra 10% on an item that probably won't be appreciated and will most likely will end up costing 25% more because of the finance charges of the credit card company. It's a spectacle that amuses me and saddens me, simultaneously. This Thanksgiving evening, most likely, I will go and watch. I will think about the dinner I ate this day while I walk and fool myself into thinking I'm exercising. I will see the people in their pajamas, participating in a promotional gimmick. I will see children awake and up way past an acceptable bedtime and observe them being trained in overspending and developing an entitlement mentality. There will be thousands upon thousands of people participating in the madness.
My desire is to forgo the madness. I don't want to be sucked into the whirlwind of the holiday frenzy. I remember a day 21 years ago. I lived in Monterey, CA. It was during the Gulf War. I felt so blessed. My husband was in PG school and not stationed on a ship in the Gulf. He was home with me and we were celebrating Christmas as a family. We were sponsoring an Israeli family. The dad was in the Israeli Air Force and the mom was a stay at home mom, like me. They had a little girl, I had a little boy. One day we walked into town to walk the children and have time out of the house. There were Christmas decorations all around and Christmas music playing. The mom asked me a pointed question. It was her first time in the U.S and she asked me, "Isn't Christmas a religious holiday?" I looked around. I couldn't see any evidence of a religious aspect to this holiday. Here I was, an American Christian talking to a Israeli Jew and I couldn't explain the lack of religious identifiers anywhere around me. And, this was 21 years ago. And, this was in a country at war. My Israeli friend was worried about SCUD missiles being rocketed into her country. The fear of her friends and family being attacked with poison gas. It made me a little sick to think I lived in a country where so many people weren't even thinking about the war and weren't thinking about the significance of the holiday they were celebrating.
We are now 10 years past 9/11. We have been attacked on our soil. Our country is at war, again. I believe we are even further into the abyss and even more intentional in our ignoring of the religious significance of the holiday we celebrate. I'm afraid we, who believe, may be becoming quieter and quieter about our beliefs. We don't want to upset anyone. We want to be tolerant. We want to blame the government and the banks for our greed and impatience. We want what we want when we want it. I want to stop this madness, at least I want to stop it in my house.
What do I want for Christmas? I want my house back together. I want a closer relationship with my husband and son. I want a closer walk with my Lord. I wonder if these things can be wrapped and set under the tree? I'm going to try. I think my next Christmas project will be to send Christmas cards to wounded soldiers.
If you would like to reach out to a wounded hero this Holiday Season, here is a great options that will ensure your card makes it to a wounded warrior who needs to know someone cares. (IMPORTANT NOTE: Please avoid sending anything with glitter--it tends to get everywhere, of course, even in wounds and bandages.):
Send your cards to Soldiers' Angels. They will be included in Holiday gifts for wounded warriors and hand-delivered at major military medical centers and VA facilities across the country:
My desire is to forgo the madness. I don't want to be sucked into the whirlwind of the holiday frenzy. I remember a day 21 years ago. I lived in Monterey, CA. It was during the Gulf War. I felt so blessed. My husband was in PG school and not stationed on a ship in the Gulf. He was home with me and we were celebrating Christmas as a family. We were sponsoring an Israeli family. The dad was in the Israeli Air Force and the mom was a stay at home mom, like me. They had a little girl, I had a little boy. One day we walked into town to walk the children and have time out of the house. There were Christmas decorations all around and Christmas music playing. The mom asked me a pointed question. It was her first time in the U.S and she asked me, "Isn't Christmas a religious holiday?" I looked around. I couldn't see any evidence of a religious aspect to this holiday. Here I was, an American Christian talking to a Israeli Jew and I couldn't explain the lack of religious identifiers anywhere around me. And, this was 21 years ago. And, this was in a country at war. My Israeli friend was worried about SCUD missiles being rocketed into her country. The fear of her friends and family being attacked with poison gas. It made me a little sick to think I lived in a country where so many people weren't even thinking about the war and weren't thinking about the significance of the holiday they were celebrating.
We are now 10 years past 9/11. We have been attacked on our soil. Our country is at war, again. I believe we are even further into the abyss and even more intentional in our ignoring of the religious significance of the holiday we celebrate. I'm afraid we, who believe, may be becoming quieter and quieter about our beliefs. We don't want to upset anyone. We want to be tolerant. We want to blame the government and the banks for our greed and impatience. We want what we want when we want it. I want to stop this madness, at least I want to stop it in my house.
What do I want for Christmas? I want my house back together. I want a closer relationship with my husband and son. I want a closer walk with my Lord. I wonder if these things can be wrapped and set under the tree? I'm going to try. I think my next Christmas project will be to send Christmas cards to wounded soldiers.
If you would like to reach out to a wounded hero this Holiday Season, here is a great options that will ensure your card makes it to a wounded warrior who needs to know someone cares. (IMPORTANT NOTE: Please avoid sending anything with glitter--it tends to get everywhere, of course, even in wounds and bandages.):
Send your cards to Soldiers' Angels. They will be included in Holiday gifts for wounded warriors and hand-delivered at major military medical centers and VA facilities across the country:
You only have a few days left for this Christmas.
Soldiers' Angels
Cards for the Wounded
4408 N. PanAm Exprwy
San Antonio, TX 78218
i hope that you get those wishes...ugh...it is a sad reality...that people get hurt in the crush to get a particular item is mind boggling to me...i guess you can go early to watch this year as many are opening at 10 pm to get a jump on the rest...sick....
ReplyDeleteand cool plug to for the letters to soldiers...we used to send christmas presents to them...dont know why we got away from that...need to fix that...
I don't participate in the Black Friday thing - we were just talking about that at lunch. I plan to stay as far away from the mall and such as I can on Friday. :)
ReplyDeleteHey I'm a Soldier's Angel. I am a soldier's Angel Baker. :)
ReplyDeleteI would watch, but I imagine I'd get terribly depressed watching all the blind consumerism.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting the link and address. That sounds like a wonderful thing to do with my daughter. But, no glitter (and, I would never have thought of that)!
ReplyDeleteYou have great insights here, so sad but true.
ReplyDeleteI watched the crazed people at WalMart on TV, pepper spray, pushing, shoving for what? What were they going to get? A bunch of cheap stuff that made them more broke. It is all very sad what we have come to.
ReplyDelete