Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas by Bill McKibben
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"Living a life of faith means , more than anything, putting something other than yourself at the center of your life. (Even for those who aren't religious, leading a mature life demands finding some focus other than yourself.) The great and happy secret of every guru, from the Buddha through the Christ, is that when you place God, however defined, at the center of your existence, you will become more fulfilled, not less."
—pages 65-66, Hundred Dollar Holiday by Bill McKibben
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In this brief book, Bill McKibben makes the case for spending less money on Christmas and spending more time with loved ones. He argues for homemade gifts, for a great meal, for stories shared with one another, for experiences.
McKibben lays out a history of Christmas and what that means for today. He asks us to consider trading in the Saturnalia that Christmas has become for a quieter festival. Where once the Saturnalia of the Christmas celebration made sense, as a way to celebrate in the midst of hardships and short-lived lives, now the quiet of a restrained yet joyful Christmas is welcomed in a world filled with constant stimulation and sensory overload.
I try to put pieces of the book into practice each year, but there are many gods of the holidays that attempt to thwart me: tradition, consumerism, peer pressure. Even though I have a long way to go before I truly make Christmas a "hundred dollar holiday," I am making progress, slowly but surely.
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Find a copy of Hundred Dollar Holiday for your friend or loved one at Powell's Books of Portland.
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File under:
*Christmas
*Joy
*Religion
*Sustainability
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