Getting Ready For Advent & Christmas 2016 Week 3

PUT JESUS FIRST: WEEK THREE

One week to Advent! November 18-25: This is your week to get your shopping done.

Now is the time to purchase everything that you can in advance of the holiday season. You’ve already planned out any major meals you’re anticipating, so purchase your canned goods, paper goods, frozen foods—even a frozen turkey— now.

What to do this week:

1. Decorations: If you need greenery for your Advent wreath, you’ll want to pick that up now. Also, any decorations that you want for your home to spruce it up for Advent. 2. Get the house ready: This is also time to do a good thorough housecleaning.  3. Christmas gifts: And of course this is the time for shopping for gifts. Whether you’re doing it online or in the shops, this is the week to get it done. You already have your list and your budget; waiting any longer is not going to make it easier (you know that’s true!). Doing your gift shopping this early means that there’s still plenty of time to wrap and mail gifts that you’re sending to people… and will give you more time and leisure during Advent while everyone else is in the stores.

Let’s think about Christmas gifts for a few minutes.  Quick question for you: What was the one gift you remember getting for Christmas last year? Next question: What about the fourth gift? Do you remember that one? Truth is many of us don’t, because it wasn’t something we necessarily wanted or needed. Spending less isn’t a call to stop giving gifts; it’s a call to stop spending money on gifts we won’t remember in less than a year. America spends around 600 billion dollars during the Christmas season, and much of that is joyless and goes right onto a credit card. By spending wisely on gifts, we free ourselves from the anxiety associated with debt so we can take in the season with a full heart.” (Advent Conspiracy)

© 2016 Daughters of St. Paul – Find us online at www.pauline.org 8
And while we understand the joy that “presents” bring, consider making this the year you begin giving gifts that aren’t going to wear out or get broken. There are a number of different gift options that are less stressful to shop for, that last longer, and help many more people, gifts that put Jesus first by taking him at his word: “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, this you do unto me.”

Prayerfully consider giving a gift to Jesus through an organization that helps the “least of my brothers” and that might replace some of the “stuff” that no one really needs. Some of those options are…

 Kiva gift cards (www.kiva.org): For $25.00, your gift recipient makes a micro-loan to an individual or group in the developing world. Your recipient chooses where in the world they want to help, and which specific person or business they want the money to go to. This is a loan that will be repaid and can then be re-loaned out again, so it’s a gift that can continue for years.  Your family may not realize that many children go to sleep at night without food or—worse—without enough water to drink. These are pressing needs and any of the following organizations allows you to make a donation in your gift recipient’s name and will provide a card you can give to the recipient: Action Against Hunger (www.actionagainsthunger.org), One Acre Fund (www.oneacrefund.org), the Water Project (thewaterproject.org/), and Generosity (http://generosity.org).  You might also give a check, made out in the amount of the gift, with directions to the recipient to go to Catholic Charities of America (www.catholiccharitiesamerica.org/find) and look for a group or organization that they might want to support. This is a particularly good exercise for older children and teenagers, as the process encourages them to think critically about their values and priorities.

Prayer for the week Holy Father, help my family to always reach out to others in whatever ways we can. Help us to give freely of what you have entrusted to our care, and always be thankful for what we have. Amen. Our Father…



© 2016 Daughters of St. Paul – Find us online at www.pauline.org 9
Reading for the week A voice cries out in the desert: prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low. The rugged land will be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. (Isaiah 40: 3,4)