Status: Avoiding Boxing Day Sales


I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas shopping. I do not enjoy fighting traffic, vying for a parking spot, and discovering that the one item that I really needed to purchase is gone. I roll my eyes in disgust when Christmas carol after Christmas carol is played to death in the background of every store. I detest waiting in line for half an hour or more to purchase a few measly items. And I really get annoyed with I am trying to cope with frigid winter temperatures during the whole process.

(Aside: Though I have a new appreciation for online shopping. You can avoid almost all of the above problems!)

However, I enjoy saving up for Christmas and then delightfully spending all the money set aside to celebrate Christ's birth. I am thrilled when I purchase an item for a special person in my life and he or she is excited to receive it. I count it a privilege to assist the underprivileged during this season of giving. And I love opening gifts on Christmas day (especially with jubliant Christmas music adding to the ambience!). I still experience a child-like enthusiasm when I rip off the colorful wrappings to behold the gift I desired.

Even though I am glad that the hustle and bustle of the season is coming to an end, I am always a little sad when the anticipation of December fades away into the cold month of January. That's okay. I can look forward to next year when my daughter will be more into the celebration of Christmas (this year, she was more interested in the wrapping paper!). In the meanwhile, I will avoid all Boxing Day sales for the rest of the holidays and hibernate indoors.

Popular posts from this blog

Is God Good?

During "at home learning", I helped my daughter design an experiment on plants. She set up four identical pots with the same amount of soil in the same location on our deck (controlling her variables, right?). She planted two bean seeds in each pot. She watered three out of the four plants with various amounts of water (1/4 cup, 1/2 cup and 1 cup). The fourth plant only received whatever water naturally fell from the sky. At the end of one month, her hypothesis was partially verified. She thought the 1/4 cup water plant and 1/2 cup water plant would grow the best, which was true in the end. On the other hand, she guessed the others would not germinate at all. Interestingly enough, while the one that was drench in water (1 cup) did not germinate, the one she did not water at all actually grew! It germinated late but had the most steady growth. Is God good? I have been thinking about this question a lot these days. A global pandemic is still raging over our planet decimat...
Read more

Daunting {But Not Impossible}

I rarely watch the news. I catch up on the world's happenings -- where often the horror is reported -- via Google News. Or the brief blurb before classic rock on our favourite radio station. But very occasionally, at the end of the day, I take in the images of national and global headlines. Yesterday I watched the masses trek across Europe, searching for a safe haven away from war-torn Syria. I witnessed little kids crying as they tried to rub away tear gas sprayed by unrelenting border police. The message? You are not welcome in this country. I choked up as a father and his son fell to the ground after being tripped up by guards. The look of desperation on people's faces was heart breaking. Our country is nearing a Federal Election in October. Many voters are curious how the next Prime Minister will address the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Here is an excerpt from The Globe and Mail : Mr. Mulcair [NDP] and Mr. Trudeau [Liberal] condemn Mr. Harper [Conservative] for lacking...
Read more

Banking in the Now

This month we are trying something different: banking in the now instead of the tomorrow. Oh, it is nothing new, really. I used to operate like this in my single days. But then the lure of credit cards with reward programs persuaded me otherwise. While I never gave Visa the joy in collecting any interest payments from our bank accounts and I always payed our credit card bill before the 21 days of grace were up, I probably spent more than I should have some months. Why? Because I didn't have to pay for it immediately . It was not until last year that my credit card habits started to bother my conscience. Up to that point, I felt proud of the fact that the credit card company was paying me to use their plastic. I received stuff for free, even after paying my annual fee. Free fuel. Free flights. Free hotels. Free is good, right? My perspective started to change after I read a blog post penned by my sister. Her and her husband cut up their credit cards after a series of events, o...
Read more