Christmas Presents

This year I’m really excited about Christmas. And for the first time in a long time, part of the reason is because I can’t wait to see what’s under the tree for me.

Now, I didn’t ask for a lot, so I have a decent idea of what will be there. But I think that’s only making the anticipation worse.

I was trying to figure out why I’m really anticipating this year since I haven’t been all that excited about Christmas presents for as long as I can remember. I think it’s come down to my small change in lifestyle over the past few months.

I went on a mission trip in August to Mississippi. When I returned home I really started to notice how much I wanted all of the time. I wanted the latest DVD of he week, whatever new book was out, a new backup drive for the computer, some new video game (even though I have no time to play them).

I also really noticed how much other people around me feel that they “need”. One of my good friends at work and his wife had been looking for a TV for their bedroom. Now, they do watch a lot of TV in their bedroom, so it made sense to have a TV there. Well, on black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving when the sales are on), Scott and his father in law headed out to Circuit City to buy a TV he knew would be on sale. A 40 inch plasma TV. It was a “steal” at $950, on sale from $1,700. I’m still reeling at the thought of spending so much for a TV in the bedroom.

At the same time, 6 months ago I was pretty similar. If I saw something I wanted I bought it. I might have thought about it for a while for big purchases. I always researched all around to find the cheapest price. In the end though I essentially bought whatever I wanted.

Last Christmas we were making up lists and I had a really hard time. I found a bunch of DVD’s I wanted, a bunch of books and things, but nothing significant. Again, the semi bigger things (Photoshop elements, Flash memory for my camera, etc…) I’d already bought.

Going into that Christmas it just didn’t matter much. If I didn’t get what I’d asked for I could buy it the next day if I wanted it. If I did get something that was all cool, but it just didn’t feel all that special.

After the mission trip in August I started looking at everything differently. This rampant consumerism really started bothering me. I mean, why did I think it was ok to buy a new edger simply because the plug in my old one broke? I really slowed down significantly my spending (slowed down, I’m not perfect yet).

Even today I left a work Christmas party thinking that I’d really like a digital SLR camera (starts around $1,000). Why do I think that the top of the line digital camera I had and the nice small one Erin had just aren’t good enough.

I wasn’t buying every DVD on Tuesday (the day they come out at a discounted price). I mean, I used to buy movies I’d never heard of and had no idea about, like “Win a Date With Tad Hamilton” (admittedly a cute movie, but I’d never even heard of it before I bought it). Now even some good movies I wanted to see I passed up. I haven’t been buying books by my favorite authors since I’m already so behind in my reading.

As Christmas rolled around I started thinking about what I wanted. This year it was pretty hard to come up with a list. But that was mainly because I have everything I want. I have an incredible daughter who’s absolutely brilliant. I have a wonderful wife and amazing extended family. I have a good job and a house at least 80% of the world would be envious for.

I wracked my brain and came up with a few items, especially more storage for my camera and XM Satellite radio. Those are things I knew I could just run out and by. Honestly, a year ago, I would have done just that. I was researching XM Radios to find just the receiver I wanted. But this year I didn’t hit the “Add to Cart” button (I buy almost everything over the Internet, if you haven’t done so, you buy things by adding them to your online cart) even though I thought it would kill me.

So now Christmas is coming and I’m really excited for the first time in a long time. I’m excited for so many reasons. The one reason which surprises me most though is my excitement for the presents which will be under the tree. Things which I won’t buy if I don’t get them for Christmas because I am just trying to save money.

What about you? What things are you waiting anxiously for under the tree? If you can’t think of anything, is it because you have all you could want, or is it because you buy everything that comes to mind? I’ll be praying this Christmas that you find you have everything you could possibly need.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

posted by Tom at 10:18 PM