A Non-Wish-List Christmas

I’m finally ready for Christmas.

By “ready” I don’t mean my shopping is finished. I mean I’m finally able to embrace all things Christmas. I really admire people who can start shopping in November, put their tree up before Thanksgiving, and listen to the Burl Ives Christmas album on Black Friday.

I’m not like that. Every year it takes until mid-December for my sleeping yuletide heart to awaken. But I’m now one with the Christmas season. I’m a candle-lighting, carol-trolling, ginger-snap-baking, Amazon Prime-shopping fool. Bring on the Soul Cakes, baby. I have two week to soak in the season. I’m marinating in merry measure. There are a few things to do, but nothing very stressful. The one thing I won’t be doing is making a wish list of gifts I want under the tree.

This will be my first non-wish-list Christmas. There is nothing I need or want badly enough to ask for it as gift. Or perhaps, when you’ve seen how the other side of the world lives, another book, or gadget, or sweater simply doesn’t matter that much. My time in Mozambique this past summer showed me how blessed I am and how much stuff I have compared to a large part of the world.

A few years ago I was turned onto a movement called Advent Conspiracy [adventconspiracy.org]. AC’s goal is to encourage Americans to celebrate Christmas differently. This is done by spending less on those who don’t need much and giving more to the needy and less-fortunate around the world.

How do you know if someone doesn’t need much? If they live in America and have more than two clean shirts, they’re doing pretty well. The average American lives on $90 a day. Approximately one billion people live on less than one dollar a day. And around 2.6 billion live on less than two dollars per day. Meanwhile, Americans shell out $450 billion on holiday shopping. Imagine if we each took our portion of our Christmas budget and gave some of it away: to the homeless, to the refugees fleeing from ISIS, or to the African orphans. Did you know that 25 bucks will provide a family of five access to safe water for a year? Or that there are nearly 30 million people held in slavery today? Think about what a sliver of that $450 billion would do for a thirsty family or for a non-profit trying to rescue trafficking victims.

The idea here is to rein things in, not to stop shopping, or to pour a dose of guilt into your hung-with-care stockings. Maybe two gifts for that special someone instead of three. Or pool your resources and get dad a “from all us kids” gift. Take what’s left over and help World Vision feed the hungry or Living Water International dig a well. There, no guilt.

The Life for Mozambique team that I am apart of is conducting an Advent Conspiracy campaign titled, “One Day” to raise money for our two orphanages in Mozambique. Shoppers can buy a day’s worth of meals for one or both orphanages. Or they can gift a day’s, a week’s, or a month’s operating costs for the orphanages. Please contact me if you’re interested in helping our children in Mozambique.

Don’t tell the folks at Advent Conspiracy, but I’m still going to shop for my family members. I can’t help it. I love to buy Christmas presents. I’m donating toward the One Day campaign too. Those little Mozambican kids are now a huge part of my heart. I can’t wait to go back and not a day goes by where I don’t think of those children.

Wait, I just thought of what to put on my wish list. Dad, Christy, and Jenny, if you’re reading this … forgo the Christmas shopping and feed some kids in Mozambique in my name.

And if you’ve already bought me something, save it until July. Advent Conspiracy doesn’t pertain to birthday presents.