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Leaving Christ out of Christmas

Many people get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season that they totally forget the reason we celebrate Christmas. It truly becomes X-mas instead of "Christ"mas. This is one of biggest reasons Christmas has turned into a pain.

• Read the account of Christ's birth in the Bible and then talk about the blessings you have received this year. This help to put you in the right spirit.

Dealing with the Cost

One of the biggest pains of Christmas is the cost of all the presents and the mailings. People want to give wonderful gifts to each other. Generous giving is part of our nature, but not always affordable. There are many ways to deal with the problem. Here are just a few.

• Give inexpensive cute gifts See: http://members.aol.com/perudol1/hm20.htm
• Give gifts from the kitchen
• See: http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/Vineyard/2429/2index.html
• Make a puzzle book for the children from online sources
• See: http://www.puzzlemaker.com
• Make bubble solution and put them in saved plastic bottles with home made bubble makers made from wire hoops with handles for the children.
• See: http://www.bubbles.org/solution
• You don't have money, but still want to give, so give of yourself. Give gifts of service. This is one of the best gifts ever. This is especially good for children. Make a coupon giving the bearer the right to:

 

shined shoes baby sitting a sewn item mopped floors

made beds washed windows laundry done car wash

mowed lawns dinner for two mending garden work

snow shoveled ironed clothes dishes done help moving

 
• Cut back on giving. Instead of giving to everyone in the family institute the Gift Giving Round Robin. Each family member is put on the list according to age. The first year, the first person will give to the second, the second will give to the third and so on.
• Each year the order of giving rotates down one step. In the second year the first person would give to the third the second would give to the fourth and so on. The following year it would jump two people, making the first person give to the fourth person and the second the fifth and so on. In this manner everyone always knows who is giving to who, by who they gave to the year before.

No One to Share Christmas With

Many people become depressed at this time of year because they are away from family or they have no family left. This is what can be done.

• Invite other people who do not have family to join with you to celebrate this joyous time of year.
• If you do not have the money to give a big dinner then invite the people to bring potluck.
• If none of you can afford this, then get together on Christmas Eve or Christmas to read the account of Christ's birth in the Bible and then talk about the blessings you have received this year.

Depression from Seasonal Affect Disorder

• Some people find that they have a tendency to get depressed as the days get shorter. Get this checked out by your physician. This is the problem, it can be taken care of by special lights placed in your home and work place.

Dealing with Unwanted Family

• Patch up the differences and bury the hatchet.
• Call a seasonal cease fire.
• Put some space between you and them. Instead of putting them up in your home, put them up in a motel close by.
• If none of these things will work because there are irreconcilable difference, don't torture each other, tell them that you would like to celebrate Christmas with just your immediate family. Before hand, consider the worse that can happen? If the benefits out weigh the risk, then do it.

What to Give

One of the hardest thing about giving is thinking of something that will be wanted and used.

Here are some generic ideas that are always in style...

• Basic food storage items
• A gift certificate
• A calling card
• Cooking utensils
• A case of tissues

Dealing with the Shopping Scene

• Shop early.
• Buy a gift or two per month throughout the year. Take advantage of sales throughout the year.
• Shop the worldwide web. Almost all stores have purchasing via the Internet. Many stores do not charge for delivery when you shop on-line. Many stores have URL's (e-mail address) which are simple. Just type in http://www.the store's name.com or use search engines to help you find the type of merchandise you want, i.e. appliances, computers, or house ware.
• To shop some places like Costco, Sam's, or The World Wide Shopping Mall require a membership fee. Comparison shop and see if the membership is worth the discounts you get from shopping there.

Example of working URL's for these stores.

• Costco http://www.costco.com
• Sam's Club http://www.samsclub.com
• J. C. Penney's http://www.jcpenney.com
• Sears http://www.sears.com
• WalMart http://www.wal-mart.com
• Top Ten Listings for Computer Components http://www.uvision.com
• The World-Wide Shopping Mall http://www.worldshop.com

Things to Know about Shopping Online

• When shopping on-line use stores that you trust. Getting the cheapest price is important but not as important as getting the quality you want.
• If you don't know the store you are about to do business with, make sure the store is legitimate. Make sure by calling their 800 number it doesn't cost anything and may save you pain and money and call the Better Business Bureau in the businesses' area.
• If you are going to purchase a big item, ask for previous customer's numbers who have use the item you are thinking of buying.
• When you shop on-line, you do not know if you are going to get exactly what you want, or if it will arrive in good condition. Make sure that you know the store's policy for returning merchandise.
• You will want to know about the store's service and repair policy on high-tech items especially if they apply outside your state or country.
• Be sure to comparison shop!
• Make sure that the site is a secured server if you will be giving them your credit card number.
• The store will be asking you information about you. Before you give it, you may want to know about their privacy policy. Are they going to sell everything they know about you to other people/businesses? If you don't like the store's privacy policy, shop elsewhere.
• Payment can be in the form of credit or debit card, check, or money order. Credit and debit card orders are shipped immediately, whereas check or money orders have to wait until your check or money order gets there.
• The better stores will e-mail you about the status of the product you have ordered or allow you to check on its status at any time. Be careful of places that do not offer such information.

Addressing and Sending out Christmas Cards

• Instead of expensive non-personal cards and postage, make a family news letter of blessing and events of your family's year or just put an e-mail of personal season's greetings. You could include a family/personal photo glued or scanned into the text.
• There are many places on the web that have free clip art that you can incorporate into your letter to dress it up.

Two of these are:

 
• Use E-mail Cards. E-mail those you can, then mail regular cards to the rest.
• Cut back on the cards you send.
• Don't send cards at all if it makes you feel bad to do so.

Below are some excellent free electronic cards and virtual flowers you can send to your friends if you should choose to do so.

 

Blue Mountain Arts Electronic Greeting Cards http://www2.bluemountain.com   Electronic Greeting Cards http://www.pacprod.com/card.htm   Castle Mountain Post Cards http://www.castlemountains.com   AngelWinks Heavenly Post Card Shoppe http://www.angelwinks.net/PostCardPageIndex.html

Greetings Xoom http://greetings.xoom.com%0d   The Webshots Desktop http://postcards.webshots.com   The Flowers Virtual Gallery http://www.iflowers.com/vir/vir_gallery.html   Virtual Flowers & Gifts http://www.800florals.com/virtual/index.asp?ID+$IFL

Putting up the Christmas Lights Outside

• If putting up lights in the cold is ruining your Christmas spirit, just give it up.
• Many people have opted to leave their lights up all year round.
• Hire a teenager to put them up and take them down.
• Put up light around the inside of your windows or just put the lights on bushes in the yard.
   
  The Solution

Don't Dread Christmas Do What it Takes to Be Happy

• Decide now to make this Christmas the spiritual renewal and time of giving that is should be.
• Ask the Lord for the Christmas Spirit.
• Play and/or sing the Christmas carols.
• Don't go into debt, instead give of yourself.
• Plan ahead.
• If old traditions are driving you crazy, start new ones.
• Incorporate the ideas mentioned above that will be helpful in making the season bright.

Be of Service

Service is one of the great ways to bring the spirit of Christmas back into your life.

• Secretly help a needy family.
• Donate some food to the food bank.
• Secretly shovel the snow from the neighbor's walks.
• Look for the good in your fellow man and comment on it.
• Do a service project for the community.

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