The article, "The $100 Christmas," by Bill McKibben is in strong support of turning the focus of Christmas back to Christ. The ideas for a "Hundred-Dollar Holiday" originated from some members in the northern New York and Vermont conference of the United Methodist Church. The big push is to encourage families not to spend more than $100 total and to instead rely on homemade gifts or presents of service. Christmas has become the short course on consumption. "We press stuff on each other, stuff that becomes powerfully connected in our heads to love, family, and even to salvation. Struggling to create a 'proper' Christmas drives poor families into debt." I can't help but agree with the writer that Christmas has become so rushed, so busy, and so materialistic. My husband and I spend time adding money to our monthly Christmas club account and even that is not enough. Often it takes us several months after Christmas of tightening our pocket books to bounce back. To alleviate the problem for next year, we have already begun buying Christmas presents. Christmas has become another stressful chore and nothing more than mounds of presents. I want to bring more joy to my Christmas season and spending quality time with family is the present I desire. I believe Bill McKibben was right when he wrote that "Hundred-Dollar Holiday" is well worth the effort.

McKibben, Bill. "The $100 Christams." UTNE READER Nov - Dec. 1998: 62-63.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 1999