Fridays are for a Semi-Christmas-Oriented Newspaper Article

Here’s my current week’s article in the Canyon Lake (TX) Times-Guardian.  Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus!

          

         “Preparing for the Xmas ‘Hangover?’” 

            I can still remember back beyond the 37 years I have been a Christian to the point at which I went to fraternity parties on weekends, got drunk and had, to one degree or another, a hangover the next morning (and, if it was really bad, I would be sick for the rest of the weekend).  From my vantage point now, what I was doing was really stupid.  Not only was I getting drunk repeatedly, but I knew just exactly what was going to happen: I was going to feel terrible after the fact, paying a price that was completely unnecessary. 

            Well, after becoming a Christian, I soon saw the error of my ways in regard to drinking.  I had made a fool out of myself enough and had lost quite a few days, lying in bed, moaning, with a pounding head or feeling sick in my stomach.  I had learned that lesson well.

            However, it was many more years before I began to realize that there is another kind of seasonably predictable “hangover” that many of us get this time of the year, year after year.  You can call it “Xmas hangover,” if you like.  That is nothing close to an official title, but, as you will see, it is a pretty appropriate description of what happens.

            No, by “Xmas hangover” I’m not primarily referring to overindulging in the spiced eggnog or hot rum toddies—although I’m quite sure that happens in many quarters.  Actually, alcohol has very little to do directly with this kind of very long-term “hangover.”

            Instead, an “Xmas hangover” is the phrase I use to get across the absolutely sick feeling that lasts through at least the first part of the New Year—sometimes for six months or more—due to overindulging the bank account or credit cards in buying gifts for Christmas.  You see, very much like the overindulgence of alcohol, when you over-shop, you feel a real “high” while you are doing it, but you pay an awful price after the fact. 

            Of course, I am in no position to point a finger at anybody on this front.  For many, many years I was just like almost everybody else in my chronic overspending.  And, no, it was not because I suddenly received a transfusion of good old-fashioned common sense that I stopped drastically overspending.

            What happened?  I found myself one year, not long ago, without either the funds or credit to buy much of anything for Christmas for anyone.  Yes, it was embarrassing—I was literally ashamed of what I left like was almost tragically letting certain family members down.

            But, something amazing happened.  Everybody survived and, as far as I have ever been able to tell, nobody got enraged at me or held a grudge.  Wow!

            Then, the next year, things were better financially, but I again held my spending way down.  Guess what?  Still, nobody got angry… and I did not face the typical paying down the credit card long-term woes from years gone by.  What a concept: keep your debt low!

            But, something even more profound happened that Christmas when I was basically unable to splurge on giving costly gifts to other people.  My focus shifted considerably from the bogus “Xmas” season sold to us by Madison Avenue to the first and greatest Christmas gift, Jesus Christ, as well as to the people that I loved and viewed as God’s gifts in my life.  So, as a result of being forced to cut back on spending for Christmas gifts, I can now focus on Jesus, the birthday Boy and loved ones… and there will be no secular “Xmas hangover” to suffer through the morning—and months—after.

            No, I’m not suggesting that you, the reader, suddenly turn into a “Scrooge” in your gift-giving next year.  But, I am very much suggesting that less emphasis on all the material angles, especially trying to buy bigger and bigger gifts every year, just might be enough to help you re-focus your family’s emphasis at Christmas back to Jesus, with the wonderful additional consequence that you would have more money available for other good things in your life for the next few months after Christmas.  Try it!  You might really like it.

Coming in early January: “Cracks in the Foundation of the Dominance”… then back to the focus on an SBC reform agenda