As I watched all the TV commercials for the nifty new toys and other items that the sellers are trying to convince the people they really "NEED," I thought back to many years ago when I was a kid. I don't remember most of the "stuff" I ever got for Christmas, but one Christmas stood out because it pointed out the restraint that most people don't seem to have today.
Back in the late 50's we didn't have credit cards, debit cards and ATMs. PCs and laptops were not even possible yet so there was no internet shopping in the comfort of our own homes. All banking transactions were done by hand. If you wanted to deposit your paycheck, you went to the bank and handed the check to the teller. The teller posted that deposit to a ledger by hand. If you wanted to withdraw some of the money from your account, you went to the bank, filled out a withdrawal slip, gave it to the teller and the teller gave you the money and posted it to the ledger of your account. You couldn't go to a bank in another city and withdraw money from your account. The records were local to YOUR bank. If you wrote a check to someone, they deposited it in their bank and their bank posted it to the ledger of their account and then sent the check to YOUR bank where it was posted it to the ledger of your account. Today that all seems pretty primitive. And, I'm guessing, with the number of people and the number of transactions that are done each day, it would not even be possible to do it all manually. So, we have computers; we have credit and debit cards; we have internet shopping; we have ATMs. These all make impulse buying way way more possible than years ago. And, sellers are counting on that.
Back to that Christmas that stood out for me - my parents were not rich. My father worked a full-time blue-collar job, took care of our few cows, and tend a large garden during the week. We had lots of home-grown milk, beef, chicken and vegetables but not a whole lot of money for frivolities. The year that these neat new portable transistor radios came out, all 3 of us kids wanted one. The problem was they were $35 each which, back then, was a whole lot of money. My parents talked it over and gave us a choice: we could each have one of those transistor radios but nothing else. We all said YES! So, on Christmas we each had ONE package to open. We were thrilled with out gifts but, if I remember correctly after all these years, the reception was crappy and, in the end, we would have been better off foregoing those radios.
So, what's the point? I think there are several points. First, because it is so very easy to buy stuff today, we frequently don't take the time to really think about what we are buying. We often end up with buyers' remorse when we realize we spent money on things we really didn't need or didn't want once we got them home. It wasn't as easy to do years ago but it still happened from time to time. Today I think it happens way more. We spend lots more money than we need to. I occasionally wonder how much money I've thrown away this way.
Another thing we see today is parents who go into debt to buy their kids all kinds of stuff for Christmas. Some of them are trying to give their kids what they never had. I think others are buying buying buying out of guilt and some are trying to buy their kids' love. To go into debt to purchase toys and unnecessary items for any of these reasons is just bogus. It is way better to teach our children about proper use of money than to shower them with debt-producing gifts. In many cases, the kids won't remember what they got for Christmas very long anyway.
There is, of course, one Christmas gift that costs nothing but gives forever. That is Jesus Christ. Many people forget that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Son of God. (In fact, it seems many people who don't even believe in Jesus don't have a problem celebrating His birthday - that is absolutely insane!) Without His incarnation, there would be no hope of salvation. Jesus, fully God and fully man, was born into this world for the purpose of dying for the salvation of the world. All you need to do to participate in that salvation is to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and dedicate your life to Him. He is the gift that keeps on giving. If you don't know Jesus, please seek Him out. You won't be sorry.
Blessings,
Mary
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