What am I (are we) doing, Gypsy?  Well, for one thing, I have asked my friends and family to make contributions to environmental and charitable organizations (e.g., hunger relief in Afghanistan, Brazilian rainforest protection, solar-powered computers for students in Central America, Doctors Without Borders, etc.) instead of material presents to me -- for both birthday and Christmas--, and I have begun making my 'gifts' to others in similar fashion. " My church and I are involved year-round in activities to benefit homeless folks, street kids, peace action, environmental protection, and hunger relief.

The point I was making earlier (about commercialism contaminating Christians' celebration of Christmas) was primarily about the fact that our timetable of formal celebration of "Jesus's birthday" corresponds more closely to a retailer's calendar than to the way we would act if we were first anitipating, then celebrating the birth of  a special baby.   Yeah, it really irks me to go to church on Dec. 26 and hear no songs about "our Savior's birth," after having heard them ever since Dec. 1!    Even the churches contribute this way to "post-Christmas depression," by acting as if, since the official (and commercial) holiday is over, there is no longer any reason to sing about the baby Jesus and the miracle of his birth. (Pseudolus, I'm delighted to hear that your church has not bought into this trend!)

Genie