Spending Money or Time?

Giving and receiving many gifts should not always be the main purpose of the holidays.
[Source: bbj.hu]

With the holiday season coming to a close, it is now time to reflect. Although the last few months of the year are considered the most wonderful and festive, people realize they spend too much time on greater or more expensive gifts rather than thinking about the thought put into a gift. They also forget that the holidays is supposed to be about spending time with family and loves one.

The holidays should be about loving each other and being givers, but many become selfish and aggressive. People have fights for the last toys in a store. This is not a way to celebrate the holiday cheer since people should be giving and yielding for the other person. Some may argue that finding gifts for the people you love is a way of showing love, but a greater act of love can come from spending time with each other more than scurrying down mall floors. In the chaos of the holidays, it is easily forgotten that material things will eventually lose their flair and popularity while family and loved ones will always be there forever. So much time is consumed at stores that in a blink of an eye, there is no more meaningful time to spend during the holidays.

Sometimes the gift of time is worth more than an expensive material gift.
[Source: livescience.com]

The amount of money spent during the holiday season is overwhelming. According to ABC News, “The average American will spend $700 on holiday gifts and goodies this year, totaling more than $465 billion, the National Retail Federation estimates.” and in “The Ethicalist” website, the author Christopher Paul Jones stated, “Many of us spend far too much at Christmas, more than we can afford, and a lot of it on credit cards. Give what you can afford, or even better make some gifts.” which shows how most people should be able to think.

There is so much money going out this time of year that it makes some wonder what people see as the greatest importance. People sometimes sadly view the holidays as fake and overemphasized because of the way people go shopping for gifts and judging gifts based on the price or the quality rather than the heart of the person who gave it. As the years go by, and the holidays continue to come, we should always consider the real importance. Money or time?

Esther Jung

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