Last month my blog feed was full of posts about Thanksgiving, which is one American festival I wholeheartedly applaud (and wish we had here in Australia). We spend far too little time being grateful for what we have in our highly privileged countries, and far too much time whinging about what else we wish we had. The World Vision ad telling about a small girl who has to walk alone for 8 hours a day to get water for her family, each time risking death at the hands of wild animals and rape at the hands of unscrupulous passers-by, says everything we need to know. (Yes, World Vision put in a water supply for her community, but that's just one community of many.)
This week, of course, my feed is flooded with posts about Christmas, and I feel like hiding under a rock.
Ah, Christmas. It starts out purporting to be a season of fun, generosity and celebration, and so often ends up as a nightmare of alcohol-fuelled family feuding over lunch, while tearful, overstimulated kids beg for just one more present or whine about what they didn't get.
This is followed by mind-numbing parental panic when the credit card bill arrives.
'Tis the season of greed and excess. 'Tis the season to join the red and green dots the same way we've always done it, and then repent at leisure- the way we always do it.
Is Christmas good for our kids? Have you ever asked yourself that? Is how YOU do Christmas good for your kids?