Enough is enough

Well, Christmas has been and gone.  We had a great time as a family, as I hope all who read this did.  Many have now put away the decorations (although some do wait until the end of the 12 days of Christmas, until Epiphany on January 6th - when the wise men arrived at the stable) Every year I try to be sensible in my spending, especially on food.  As far as presents are concerned we as a family have always stipulated a maximum to spend on each other.  We make wish lists to choose from.  That way we know we won't get everything on our list but neither do we know what we will get and so we always have surprises.  We have always done this even when the children were small.  My eldest commented that he really didn't need anything so he would be quite happy if instead of buying him anything, we gave the money to charity.  (And he is the one that never went to church!)  We did buy him things but I thought it was a nice gesture to say that - and they weren't empty words, he really meant it
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What is not so easy to control is the over-indulgence on food.  We make excuses like 'well it is Christmas', 'it's a special occasion' or 'Christmas comes but once a year'.  We can always justify our overspend.  We buy just in case it's needed, we don't want to run out of anything.  I am pretty good at using up left-overs but have to admit that I did throw some things away that had gone past their use by date - and I felt guilty!  I really don't like throwing out food.  But really, do we honestly need all that chocolate and sweet treats?  Do we really have to stuff ourselves to bursting point?  This week. according to the BBC news, in the UK 64% of adults are classed as being overweight or obese while at the same time under-nourishment is still a problem for hundreds of millions of people in the developing world, particularly children. 

Although I have to say that I didn't get anything that will be pushed in a drawer and forgotten about, I do wonder after all the spending, just how much of the gifts people received will be used and how much will be discarded after a short time.  Our attention seems to flit so quickly from one thing to another without real appreciation for what we have.  There is always something else, the latest gadget, the new in-thing, the latest fashion, the bigger version, that must-have item.  The sad thing is that the more we get, the more we want.  We seem to have an insatiable appetite for stuff, useful or not.  We are draining the world of its resources in the process of acquiring more stuff we don't really need while at the same time making the rich owners of large companies richer by our self indulgence.  Some charitable gifts are known as 'alternative must-have gifts' and provide some of the things that are essential to a needy world.  We still sing and listen to the Live Aid song at Christmas time but how easily we forget to contribute to help the ever growing needy of the world.  A growing number of people have stopped buying and sending Christmas cards, opting instead to give the money they have saved to some charity or buying things for a food bank.

Sorry if this blog post seems all doom and gloom.  The truth is that much of our possessions don't achieve real deep down happiness.  Many people have lost much during these winter storms that we have had recently.  Some have even lost their homes over the side of crumbling cliffs.  It's times like this that make you think again of your priorities.  How much is really sufficient?  When is enough, enough?  I haven't made any New Year's resolutions but I have many things to ponder.  We will still have a good time and have more than we really need but maybe next year I'll celebrate differently.