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More CHRISTmas - Less Consuming
A Calendar Through Advent and Christmas
As a family, select a cause or organization to support with money you collect. Choose a percentage early in the season (from 25% to 100%). Then give that amount every time you spend any money for Christmas... in addition to the amount you normally give away. Decorate a can to hold the money. Put it on display. 20 bucks on a tree? Then $ __ goes in the can. This money is not a penalty or but an aid to our need to help others. Offer the money on Epiphany, the day the three Magi offered their gifts to Jesus.
Go through the calendar with at least one Advent Partner, face-to-face or by phone. A partner could be a friend or someone you've wanted to get to know better. A partner is good for support. And if a partner is a child, an adult can help teach and serve as a role model.
Nov. 25 - Thanksgiving Day (USA): Create a thanksgiving mural, using a large piece of paper, roll end of newsprint or spiral notebook. Each family member or guest gets plenty of space to draw and color blessings. Display and then save each year's creation.
26 - Participate in International Buy Nothing Day on this, the biggest shopping day of the year, by doing no shopping, by writing a letter to the editor promoting sustainability or by mocking overconsumption with street theatre. Information at 800-663-1243.
27 - Advent Eve: Wrap 25 stories - books of your own, library books or stories taken from magazines, stories you write yourself - in newspaper or reusable paper bags. Parent(s) and child(ren) open and read one each day during Advent.
Nov. 28 Sunday - Advent 1 - Read & meditate on Isaiah 64:1-9; 1 Cor. 1:3-9; &/or Mark 13:24-37. Share the reflection for this day in "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
29 Monday. Request a copy of the booklet "How to Simplify the Holidays" from the Center for a New American Dream, (301) 891-3683 or newdream@newdream.org.
30 Tuesday. Give Christmas Gift Exemption Vouchers, inviting loved ones to spend time with you instead of money on you... time one-to-one or at a Christmas or Epiphany get-together.
Dec. 1 Wednesday. On the box in which money is collected for the needy, record children's good deeds in red. Share and discuss the deeds on Christmas Day. How happy Jesus is when we are loving or kind, when we share. [p. 153]*
2 Thursday. Give some thought to how much to decorate. Is the tree enough? Do it first. Wait several days before deciding to add more or not.
3 Friday. Carry simple carol books or Christmas song sheets in the car. Sing on short or long trips.
4 Saturday. For help avoiding violent toys, contact Building Peace Through Play at 204-775-8178. For "Sing Out Against Violent Toys: How to Organize a Public Witness at Your Local Toy Store" call 312-455-1199.
5 Sunday - Advent 2 - Read & meditate on Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; &/or Mark 1:1-8. Share the reflection for this day in "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
6 Monday - St. Nicholas Day. If you need a symbol for giving (in addition to Jesus and the three Magi), learn about St. Nicholas, not the commercialized Santa Claus. Let's tell the real stories of our faith. Share the service for this day in "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
7 Tuesday. Homemade gifts are best, such as a "family trivia game" - a way to remember and celebrate (and newcomers to learn) family lore. Questions can cover such minutiae as relations, activities, statistics, sayings, oddities and places & events.
Dec. 1 Wednesday. On the box in which money is collected for the needy, record children's good deeds in red. Share and discuss the deeds on Christmas Day. How happy Jesus is when we are loving or kind, when we share. [p. 153]*
2 Thursday. Give some thought to how much to decorate. Is the tree enough? Do it first. Wait several days before deciding to add more or not.
3 Friday. Carry simple carol books or Christmas song sheets in the car. Sing on short or long trips.
4 Saturday. For help avoiding violent toys, contact Building Peace Through Play at 204-775-8178. For "Sing Out Against Violent Toys: How to Organize a Public Witness at Your Local Toy Store" call 312-455-1199.
5 Sunday - Advent 2 - Read & meditate on Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; &/or Mark 1:1-8. Share the reflection for this day in "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
6 Monday - St. Nicholas Day. If you need a symbol for giving (in addition to Jesus and the three Magi), learn about St. Nicholas, not the commercialized Santa Claus. Let's tell the real stories of our faith. Share the service for this day in "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
7 Tuesday. Homemade gifts are best, such as a "family trivia game" - a way to remember and celebrate (and newcomers to learn) family lore. Questions can cover such minutiae as relations, activities, statistics, sayings, oddities and places & events.
8 Wednesday. Start by interviewing the extended family and comb through family archives. Add new questions every year. Or have a family brainstorming and memorabilia time each season.
9 Thursday. Give a Grandparent book to a grandchild. Include information and pictures about your own childhood.
10 Friday. Some families set a specific limit on the number of gifts each person - including children - receives. The Christ child was given three gifts by the Magi. If three was good enough for Jesus, it is good enough for us!
11 Saturday. Or limit the number of gifts to one and make finding it exciting - a treasure hunt. One clue leads to another until they find the gift.
12 Sunday - Advent 3 - Read & meditate on Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; 1 Thess. 5:16-24; &/or John 1:6-8, 19-28. Share the reflection for this day in "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
13 Monday. Outlet discount malls are even more insidious than their traditional cousins. Many are located in less populous areas, thereby diverting farmland and requiring more wasted travel. Shop at locally owned businesses.
14 Tuesday. Beware of decoration auctions, parading as Festivals of Trees. Some may be clever, some ostentatious. Even if a community fund-raiser, they are usually overdone to fetch a high price. If the recipient is worthy, give cash or time instead.
15 Wednesday. When we feel the tension between quality and price, instead of worrying about "getting the best deal" or "being had," we may want to ask, "Does this purchase support sustainability?" [continues]
16 Thursday. Or ask, "Could I make something that would be more meaningful to this person? Could I give something of value that I own to this person that would be meaningful and also would reduce my possessions? That would be a gift to both of us!" [continues]
17 Friday. Or ask, "Could I give a donation to the needy in this person's name?" Voluntary Simplicity is more than frugality. It is not "living on the cheap." Doing what's right for God's Creation may cost us more money.
18 Saturday. Read and meditate on Luke 1:47-55, the Song of Mary.
19 Sunday - Advent 4 - Read & meditate on 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Romans 16: 25-27; &/or Luke 1:26-38. Share the reflection for this day in "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
20 Monday. Like to tour homes and see the lights? How about a tour of churches, retelling the Christmas story and seeing the different outward expressions of that story?
21 Tuesday. As the year 2000 approaches questions remain about how computers will deal with the Y2K problem. Focus on community support rather than fear.
22 Wednesday. "Bargain" prices induce us to buy more of something we may not need at all! It ain't a bargain if we really don't need it. Driving many places to get "bargains" also wastes fuel and our time!
23 Thursday. Instead of watching TV on Christmas Day, watch home movies and videos and look through family photo albums; tell and read stories aloud to each other.
24 Friday - Christmas Eve. Read & meditate on Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; &/or Luke 2:1-14 (15-20). Share the reflection for this day in "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
25 Saturday - Christmas Day. Read & meditate at dawn on Isaiah 62:6-12; Titus 3:4-7 &/or Luke 2: (1-7) 8-20. Later read & meditate on Isaiah 527-10; Hebrews 1:1-4(5-12); &/or John 1:1-14.
26 Sunday - Christmas 1. Read & meditate on Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Galatians 4:4-7; &/or Luke 2:22-40. Share the reflection for this day in "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
27 Monday. Go through the Christmas cards and letters you received. Pray for one person per day from that pile.
28 Tuesday - The Holy Innocents. Share the service for this day in "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
29 Wednesday. Draw names from a hat or a bowl at the end of the Christmas festivities, in advance of the next year's celebration. Each person is responsible for getting a present for one other relative. [continues]
30 Thursday. With a year to think about the person for whom you're buying the present, you can come up with something creative, and of course you can do your Christmas shopping for that person in March or August (or make it yourself). It makes for a festive celebration and yet eases the budget strain on all the members of a large clan.
31 Friday - New Year's Eve. Write this past year's regrets on paper. Burn them.
1 Saturday. Write personal thank-you notes to people who deserve your thanks over the past year. Deliver the notes in person soon.
2 Sunday - Christmas 2. Read & meditate on Jeremiah 31:7-14; Ephesians 1:3-14; &/or John 1: (1-9) 10-18. If you celebrate Epiphany today, share that reflection in "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
3 Monday. If you travel around Christmas time, start planning now a trip for next year in a different cultural milieu. Rather than a ski resort or theme park, rendezvous in a needy area to perform a service project.
4 Tuesday. Lots of folks are willing to work on low commitment "social action" tasks like litter pick-up. If you have the endurance for real justice work, let others do the less threatening projects.
5 Wednesday. If the Three had been Wise Women, they would have asked for directions and brought diapers.
6 Thursday - Epiphany. Read & meditate on Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:1-12; &/or Matthew 2:1-12. Share the reflection for this day in "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" Offer the money you have been saving to the cause of your choice.
©Creative Commons (originally 1999 Alternatives for Simple Living)
This Advent/Christmas calendar - based on liturgical Cycle B (Mark) - is appropriate as a poster, as bulletin inserts and in Spanish.
Make as many copies as you choose on a not-for-profit basis.
Some ideas taken from "The Heart of a Family: Searching America for New Traditions That Fulfill Us" by Meg Cox, Random House, 1998. Used by permission.
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