Greed is defined as "An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth." (www.dictionary.com, third definition.)

Materialism is defined as a "preoccupation with or emphasis on material objects, comforts, and considerations, with a disinterest in or rejection of spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values." Another similar definition reads "The theory or attitude that physical well-being and worldly possessions constitute the greatest good and highest value in life." (Also from dictionary.com.)

When I wrote my post about the "business of December," perhaps I ought to have spelled it "busy-ness" to make it more clear what I meant by it. I don't want people to think that I hate the Christmas season. I just get exhausted by how unrelentingly busy it all is.

While I recognize that there is greed and there is materialism associated with Christmas time, I don't believe that there is anything wrong with wanting stuff and enjoying the process of receiving, having, and using it. That's a mistaken perception of what greed and materialism are. People don't suddenly transform into greedy materialists around the holidays, and those who do hold that world view hold it all year long-- not just at Christmas.

I do believe though, that the joy that comes from *giving* must be taught and learned. I know from first-hand experience that little children are born greedy. :) They live for the moment, and it takes time, teaching, and a lot of life experience for them to learn that they can derive just as much joy from their role in satisfying someone else's wants as from having their own desires fulfilled.

When I was five, to me Christmas was exciting because I knew I was going to get a ton of presents. I was going to get to open them, and play with them, and they were going to be all mine. I knew my sisters were going to get some too, but I didn't care about their enjoyment, and impatiently watched them open theirs while I waited for *my* next present to be placed into my greedy little hands. If I later found out that a friend or a neighbor kid had gotten something cool that I didn't, then my tremendous horde of new stuff paled in comparison to what someone else got. I see the same mindset in my son now, and only now do I realize how much that attitude in me must have irked my parents when I was his age!

Contrast that to when I was ten or eleven. Around then, my parents started giving us a "Christmas allowance" of $20 and set us loose inside the local K-Mart to buy gifts for each other and as many relatives as we could "budget" for. On Christmas day, it was *almost* as exciting to watch my sisters, and mom, and dad, and then later on grandma, and my aunt and uncle and cousins open their gifts from me as it was for me to open mine. When and how did I figure that out? I don't remember, but I guarantee that I was taught that "it is more blessed to give than to receive."

Gri"ho ho ho"shny