JAMES BURTON: Celebrate Christmas by spending less on gifts

Last year, Americans spent $602 billion on Christmas (National Retail Federation). That is billion with a "B."

Just 1 percent of this amount could supply most of Asia with clean drinking water or build thousands of churches and schools, or it could even buy every person in the world a Bible! This rampant materialism is supposedly to celebrate the birth of a baby born in a stable. We talk about keeping Christ in Christmas, but do we? Does anyone else see the irony of this?

Don't get me wrong, I love the Christmas season. What I am disturbed about is the way we have come to celebrate Christmas has little to do with the reason we celebrate Christmas. In fact, much of the modern celebration dishonors the Christ child we claim to be celebrating.

Christians should limit the amount spent on gifts, they should give the largest gift to the Christ child -- the church, Angel Tree, Operation Christmas Child, etc. We should tell our children who the gifts are really from and that they are given in the name of Jesus to celebrate his birth. After all, isn't that what Christmas is supposed to be about?

JAMES BURTON

Wiggins

This story was originally published November 24, 2015 at 8:23 PM with the headline "JAMES BURTON: Celebrate Christmas by spending less on gifts ."