Ho Ho Hope! Christmas Gift-Giving Slipping

There may be hope in the fight against Christmas consumerism:

...there are indicators that Christmas revelry in general may be slipping among the population at large. The Christmas Spirit Foundation, a charity that provides holiday assistance to needy children and sends Christmas trees to military families, has been examining people’s plans for the holidays for the last five years. This year’s survey, conducted by the polling firm Harris Interactive, found that while 95 percent of households plan to celebrate Christmas (about the same as every year), the percentage of families who plan to exchange gifts is dropping: 77 percent this year, down from 85 percent in 2005. Slightly fewer people said they were going to attend parties or listen to Christmas music, too [Hilary Stout, "Saying No, No, No to the Ho-Ho-Ho," New York Times, 2009.12.23].

Now I'm all for some winter revelry. But buying less and saving more could be a great gift for ourselves and future generations. Keep the faith, Reverend Billy!

Advent Conspiracy: Fight "War on Christmas" by Shopping Less

The folks at the Advent Conspiracy (which I've been promoting here in the sidebar!) would have made a better choice for Time's Person(s) of the Year than Ben Bernanke. But hey, at least Time gives some well-deserved coverage to the Advent Conspiracy's efforts to fight the real "war on Christmas":

...[T]o a growing group of Christians, the focus on the commercial aspect of Christmas is the greatest threat to one of Christianity's holiest days. "It's the shopping, the going into debt, the worrying that 'If I don't spend enough money, someone will think I don't love them,' " says Portland, Ore., pastor Rick McKinley. "Christians get all bent out of shape over the fact that someone didn't say 'Merry Christmas' when I walked into the store. But why are we expecting the store to tell our story? That's just ridiculous."

McKinley is one of the leaders of an effort to do away with the frenzied activity and extravagant gift-giving of a commercial Christmas. Through a savvy viral video and marketing effort, the so-called Advent Conspiracy movement has exploded. Hundreds of churches on four continents and in at least 17 countries have signed up to participate. The Advent Conspiracy video has been viewed more than a million times on YouTube, and the movement boasts nearly 45,000 fans on Facebook. Baseball superstar Albert Pujols is a supporter — he spoke at a church event in St. Louis, Mo., to endorse the effort.

Over the past four years, churches that support Advent Conspiracy have donated millions of dollars to dig wells in developing countries through Living Water International and other organizations. McKinley likes to point out that a fraction of the money Americans spend at retailers in the month of December could supply the entire world with clean water. If more Christians changed how they thought about giving at Christmas, he says, the holiday could be transformative in a religious and practical sense [Amy Sullivan, "Church Group Attacks Christmas Commercialism," Time, 2009.12.15].

Need a justification not to go to the mall this weekend for that last round of shopping? There you go. Do Christmas right: skip Wal-Mart. Stay home from the commercial war on Christmas. Donate online to the Advent Conspiracy.

"Let's Fix a Deer": Neighbor Recommends Christmas Light Tool

Fellow Lake County blogger and DSU guy John Nelson recommends the LightKeeper Pro Christmas light repair tool. It sounds like typical infomercial junk-drawer filler, but John says it works! The coolest selling point for me: the storage compartments in the handle for spare bulbs and fuses. That, and the found-phrase near-haiku provided by the seven-minute sales video:

Let's fix a deer
—technology can be really neat—
and get on with Christmas.

Screen capture from LightKeeperPro.com promotional video

Armchair electricians, feel free to weigh in with your technical evaluations!