Christmas, shopping, and Christmas shopping

Today i tackled a major part of this year's Christmas shopping. I had a good idea for my bro and sil, and after running the options past my mom, have theirs done. Nice, useful, and relatively eco-friendly. (Relatively.) I had a great idea for my mom, and my dad, and got most of it done today too--knew what i wanted, walked in the shop, walked out, and assembled them tonight. Fun, useful, and nothing that will clutter their house.

I like shopping like this, like my dad, who goes to grocery stores armed with a list compiled from their adverts and comes home proud, hunter-gatherer style. Seeing the opposite:--folks wandering around dazed, picking up doodads, trifles and powerfully-scented bath soap ensembles, asking their partners three aisles down: "What about this for Murgatroid?"--makes me sad. Giving gifts is supposed to be fun. Gifts are supposed to be meaningful, not an obligation to give, nor a dollar amount to match, nor getting Murgratroid everything s/he wants.

And, while i think the Advent Conspiracy is a good thing, and that less is more, and love that my bro and sil share the philosophy/theology that used books are just fine, i also agree with Oscar Wilde:

"Where there is no extravagance, there is no love, and where there is no love, there is no understanding."

So, while my gifts will never match the extravagance of his, i think there's little harm in celebrating God's extravagant gift with a little splurge of my own for those i love, if the gift i give honors God and respects what he has made.