Christmas

Christmas was exciting this year for Small Bugz.  He got all the Legos he could handle (well, I am sure he could have handled more if we had gotten more!)

This year it seemed kind of strange for Christmas.  I don't know if it was the fact that Small Bugz went to school right up to the 23rd or if it was the fact that I had all the shopping done and wrapped and under the tree at Thanksgiving.  We actually stuck to our budget this year.  It is much harder to get things when you have a budget to stick to that included the stocking items too.

We started (I say started because we could not stand to watch more than 30 mins of it) to watch this crazy show called "What Would Jesus Buy?"  It is a documentary about this preacher guy who is over the Stop Shopping Church - yes, that is really the name of the church.  He had good points but the way he went about doing it was so wrong on so many levels!  He went into a Disney Store and started shouting that Disney was part of the Devil and that the shoppers were being tempted by the store.  He ended up being escorted out of the store by security!  The points he was trying to make was that there is no need to go into horrible debt for Christmas.  That this is not what Christmas is about.  They interviewed some people and they were saying that they did not care if they went broke because it was going to make their kids happy and that it was for the kids.  One lady said that it used to be nice to give a small gift and that would be welcomed but now a small gift is laughed at and no one wanted small gifts.  They were talking about how this guy was shot trying to buy a PS3 when it first came out and he still wanted to be the first to buy the system, so he was trying to get the clerk to get his wallet out and get to his credit card while he was bleeding out from the bullet.  I remember my mom trying to find the Cabbage Patch dolls for us for Christmas.  I can't believe how much worse it has gotten since then.  They kept saying how even the media tries to tell you that it is your duty to go shop as it gives you the count down "shopping" days until Christmas - not the days until Christmas.  They also were saying that we could fit all of North and South America inside all the shopping centers we have in the US.  I think that we are very different as far as how much people spend on Christmas.  I have heard people saying that they spend $200 + on each kid and they have 4-5 kids plus a spouse.  We don't spend that much on the 3 of us for the entire Christmas.  I can see spending that if you don't buy anything else throughout the year but I seriously doubt that they do not spend anything else throughout the year - I hate hearing that people (mainly mothers) hate working so much but that they HAVE to so they can sustain the lifestyle they think they need.  I heard one person tell me that they have to drive this car and live in this house and so they have to work so they can afford to make their bills every month - if they did not work they would loose it all.  I think that is really sad that someone can get themselves (meaning their family) into a situation like that - the pressure you have to feel on a daily basis to keep jobs that you don't really need.

Sorry I ranted - the show got worse so we turned it off.  I was more shocked hearing the people on the street telling that they have to spend so much on Christmas or their kids would not be happy.  I think there are way too many spoiled brats out there that EXPECT things to be handed to them.  And the sad part is that the parents will give them whatever they ask for - it is almost like the parents are afraid of their kids!