Black Friday and Cyber Monday Craziness

I've never been a black Friday shopper.  Once, I had to go to the Big Chain Store for milk on Black Friday and to this day, that trip still haunts me!  To be fair, I have considered going shopping with some friends on Black Friday of years past, but never did.  Watching people sacrificing valuable family time on Thanksgiving day to sit outside of stores, followed by grown men and women scrambling, bickering, and all out fighting for items on sale really annoyed me.


I love, love giving people gifts.  I love to listen to them talk all year long, then surprise them with the things they mentioned.  I love seeing people realize that someone was listening to the little details, and got something specifically for them.  I do not like giving gifts just because gift giving is the socially acceptable thing to do.  I'd rather buy a person nothing, than to buy them something with no meaning behind the gift.


I began making a mental list of all the things I wanted to buy for my family for Christmas.  Flower is getting older, and while she has asked for very little, they happen to be big ticket items.  But as we were driving home from Colorado after spending Thanksgiving with family, she said "Mom, do you spend a lot of money on us at Christmas?"  I told her that yes, we usually do spend a good chunk of cash on Christmas gifts.  She responded by telling me that she felt like God wanted her to show love to someone else.  


"Mom, there are so many families who can barely even have turkey for Christmas.  If they can't buy that, how can they buy gifts?  This year, I think that instead of me getting tons of presents, we should give them to a kid who doesn't have what I have.  Maybe we can go shopping, and you can use that money to buy presents for another kid.  I won't feel left out at all.  I will feel love in my heart because I'm showing someone else that God loves them.  But you better go ahead and buy presents for Brother, 'cuz he is little and doesn't understand yet."


There are a lot of adults who don't understand this concept.


I definitely know that God was speaking to me, and to my little girl.  


This year, nearly all gifts we give to family will be either homemade, or, purchased from individuals with home based businesses.  They will all still have meaning, and be just as special, but there will be less of them!  Just because we have the ability to spoil and buy frivolously doesn't mean we should.  Certainly doesn't sound like good stewardship to me, anyway.


I'm so grateful for my daughter's heart.  I'm thankful she knows already how to tell when God is speaking to her.