Monday, December 5, 2011

Tightening the Advent Belt Even More

The more I think about how much I spend on Christmas, the more I realize the need to cut back.

While I have certainly cut back on secular Christmas commercialism...I am afraid I have just substituted it for more traditional, liturgically correct commercialism. I may not buy Santa themed things, but I have St. Nicholas now.

I want a Jesse tree with ornaments, O Antiphons ornaments, CDs of "correct" liturgical Christmas music, letters to spell "prepare" and paint purple for my fireplace mantel, 25 picture Christmas books (yikes, that's $ 400 worth of picture books for 1 month alone), a beautiful creche for the children to be able to play with Montessori style, a real wreath and tree instead of plastic ones from China.

Plus, the food, the special holiday drinks, egg nog and wine, the themed teas, the special food or cake for every feast day, I can really go crazy. I only buy 3 gifts for my children, but now even 12 new gifts in the house each year seems like too many. The special holiday outfit for each family member, the family Christmas photo, the holiday card printing, the postage. The huge Christmas dinners, the special holiday breads, the cookie baking - I don't dare even add it up because it would quickly surpass $ 1,000.

I have some more cutting back to do. St. Nicholas comes to our house tonight - and tonight he's only bringing things the children need, socks, underwear, a special pair of Christmas pajamas, oh, and an orange and a few chocolate coins for good measure!

1 comment:

  1. I confess that I love our advent/Christmas books. My mom used to gift books to us, and now I try to add one or two each year. This year is that fancy Our Lady of Guadalupe pop-up book. But the library is also a great (free) resource. Most Tomie dePaola books are available and many more! I am surprised how many good Christian titles that are on the shelves.

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