About Christmas In Tough Times:

The Story Of Our Lord's Birth

As we live in tough economic times, many people will do without during the Christmas season. Adults should be able to do without during the Christmas season much better than children. However, the pain of seeing children do without what their playmates and classmates may receive for Christmas can be especially painful. If you have children and you are in a tough economic spot, pray for guidance. Homemade toys and gifts can be a substitute, sometimes a joyful substitute for store bought gifts. Nevertheless, children are bombarded with advertising and peer pressure. Even young children are aware of what is fashionable and what other children have. Children can be absolutely brutal when it comes to making other children feel inferior. If there are social agencies in your area willing to help with toys and gifts for your children, make contact early and follow-up. One of the difficulties in asking for help is the demeaning nature of asking and the pattern of expectations set up in the adult who has to ask. Our religious values of anti-commercialism stand in stark contrast with how the world is today, and children are in the middle. In the face of tough economic times at Christmas, recall for a child how love is the most precious ingredient. Better to have a child remember Christmas without gifts but a day filled with love, than to remember Christmas where no gifts were given and no love was shown.