Christmas is the season for getting...

In past posts I have mentioned some of the ways that we super size our lives for convenience. This Christmas has really brought home to me the mindset of getting more stuff as an agenda. Yesterday a cashier at Walmart was talking to my four year old son. Her first question was "Did you have a good Christmas?" Her second question was "Did you get a lot of good stuff?" Perhaps this is a clever marketing technique that the multinational mega-retailer is pushing, but other interactions over the last few days have convinced me that she was just voicing the general thinking about the holiday. No matter how many times we say that Christmas is about giving, most people seem more concerned about getting. In a strange twist, many people I have spoken with seem happy for others that have gotten large numbers of expensive gifts. Not only do we want to get lost of stuff for ourselves, but we want everyone else to get lots of stuff too! This would be fine if everyone had plenty of money, stable jobs, and not debt. Unfortunately very few families find themselves in that situation. I am not advocating a miserly lifestyle absent of fun and things that make you happy, but the idea that more stuff is better needs to be laid to rest.