And what He provides is surprising. He grants the provision of life, life that is abundantly full of everlasting meaning. If we should covet something in this Advent Season, if there is one thing we should really want this Christmas, it ought to be the provision of Everlasting Life.

 What do you want for Christmas?

 Lists tend to get longer each year for some. When Emily and Nicholas were small children, they would see something advertised on television. I can still hear wee little voices, “I’m getting that for Christmas.” There would be a dozen or so things they would be getting. Most of it they didn’t need, so they didn’t get most of it. Truth be known, I’m afraid most of us want too much of the wrong thing and not enough of the right thing. We exemplify this in how much we spend on ourselves.

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I came across an article entitled “Save Us From Christmas Spending.” I learned that the average credit card indebtedness in the United States is more than $10,000.00. We really do spend too much. The American Research Group notes that the average spending per person this year will be down about four percent from last year – from $942.00 to $907.00. I’m glad it is down, but that is still a lot of money to spend on each person for whom you buy. At my house that would mean me spending $2,721.00 – and that doesn’t include our dog, Kiwi. Not going to happen!

Have you heard about the group called SCROOGE? SCROOGE stands for “The Society to Curtail Ridiculous Outrageous and Ostentatious Gift Exchanges.” Founded in 1979 by Chuck Langham of Charlottesville, Va., SCROOGE focuses on how nobody seems to go overboard with any other holiday. A couple of nice gifts just aren’t enough. You are encouraged, even made to feel guilty, if you don’t spend hundreds of dollars on each person for whom you buy.  

SCROOGE encourages Christmas shoppers to spend no more than one percent of their gross annual income. If one makes $50,000.00, one only spends $500.00. SCROOGE doesn’t want to hurt businesses; they just want sensibility. As you can imagine, studies indicate that an overwhelming majority of folk are opposed to SCROOGE.  Spend! Spend! Spend! Want! Want! Want! Get! Get! Get!

It is tragic that many of us have no desire to be like Reggie, that little boy in the movie The Kid Who Loved Christmas, who only wanted to be with his daddy on Christmas. A clearer picture of who we may be and what our desires may be is revealed in three comic strips.  

The first depicts another little boy, unlike Reggie, on Christmas morning. With his mother and father standing next to the Christmas tree in their robes looking like mommies and daddies look when they first get up in the mornings, he is sitting in the floor in a sea of toys including boats, drums, a bicycle, trucks, cars, an electric train, a chemistry set, a guitar, a baseball glove and bat, a basketball, a bow and arrows, an airplane, and a crane. After opening everything, which obviously was for him, he looks up at his mom and dad and rather disgustedly says, “Santa forgot some things. How many days until my birthday?”