Pernell quoted a timely message from Miroslav Volf that I think fits with the post below
“When Christians take the Christmas narrative seriously, the practice of gift-exchange within a closed circle of family and friends becomes problematic. If our lives are to mirror the ways of God, then we must break open the closed circle of exchange so that Christmas gifts flow outward to those with profound needs.”
— Miroslav Volf
I love this quote.
I felt this intuitively this Christmas, so our family did not exchange gifts. Instead we spent the morning and afternoon visiting veterans in a local soldier’s home. We sang with those who wanted to, gave treats, chatted, and just loved on these guys, many of whom had no one to visit. That night we took supper to grandparents. Then we gave gifts through the World Concern catalog in honor of people we cherish. It was the best Christmas ever for us.
That is awesome sue!
I try to stay away from gifts as much as i can, so my fianace and us only do creative meaningful non buying gifts and it always works out well, and then for most people in my family i buy them something out out of the world vision catalogue for a family in another country somewhere like goats or turkeys. However, that is a good idea and I slowly want to get my family away from exchanging gifts at all and move toward physically being with and giving to other people.
Thanks for the comment and I hope your holidays were well.