Cutting the Cost of Chirstmas Without Guilt

If you are planning on cutting back this Christmas, drop the guilt trip. How many years have you spent reviewing your bills in January with horror and the firm resolution that you'll never do it again? How many of those gifts are still around today and not cluttering up a land fill somewhere?

Okay, you are creating memories for your family; you are remembering loved ones far away; you are trying to show the people around you a good time during the holidays. STOP already. The spiraling cost of Christmas is putting people into bankruptcy.

Look around. Is this consumer driven society of ours making a better human being? In the last twenty years, have people become less superficial, kinder, more empathetic? Is that big gift really sending the right message to your child? Is Christmas at your house more about receiving than giving.

Maybe it isn't too late for you to reinterpret the real meaning of Christmas in your home by giving thoughtful presents that show that you have respect for the planet and concern for your fellow man.