Advent Conspiracy

Our church participated in Advent Conspiracy this year. The idea was to worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all during the holiday season.

We regularly read the story of Jesus' birth to Shea from The Big Picture Story Bible and talked with her about it regularly during the month of December. We also explained that Christmas was when we celebrated Jesus' birthday. I don't think that she really had any idea of what was going on, but she'll hopefully catch on someday. I think that next year, we'll try reading Luke 2 to her every night before bed. I tried this year, but I had a hard time keeping her interested. On the other hand, she loved the story in her "Bible book."

As part of the advent conspiracy, we were challenged to spend less. I'm normally quite a bargain hunter. Like I said in my previous post, I shop all year long for Christmas. I enjoy showing my love with gifts. These gifts don't need to be expensive, but thoughtful. For example, I love surpising Jon with a box of Hot Tamales from time to time. That's an inexpensive gift, but also a thoughtful way to show my love. When I'm shopping for Christmas, I don't try to show my love by how much I spend, but I enjoy purchasing something that I know my loved one will really enjoy. Jon loves the Simpson's and isn't crazy about the ornaments that I like on our tree, so I got him a Homer Simpson Christmas ornament. Jon loved the maple candy we had when we visited Vermont for his cousin's wedding, so I found some at Fresh Market and stuffed it in his stocking. He also is HUGE Star Wars fan (our dog is named after Princess Leia), so when I saw a Star Wars bobble head on clearance at TJ Maxx, I thought of him and got it. Those are some inexpensive gifts that I hope were thoughtful and showed my husband how much I think of him. He seemed to be genuinely excited about receiving them, and I was able to express my love and appreciation for him with gifts.

My problem this year was that I kept finding bargains for things that I knew my children would enjoy. Even with thoughtful, inexpensive gifts, there has to be a stopping point, and I did eventually stop. I was so sad about saying no to the keyboard w/ microphone that I saw at Target and the Disney princess dolls that were on sale for $5.99 at the Disney store, but I did it. Shea didn't miss those things at all, and she was more than happy with what she did receive. I have a lot more to learn about cutting back, but I am learning.