Put The Smackdown On Scrooge

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC '-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN' 'http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd'>; <html><head><title>Znoog Articles | Put The Smackdown On Scrooge</title></head><body><h3>Put The Smackdown On Scrooge</h3> By: Jan Michaels Every year I am amazed at the range of emotions that occur during the Christams Season. Everything from extreme joy, to extreme depression. And the worst of it is the people that choose to skip the holidays or just go thru the motions of what Christmas is all about. For those folks I've listed their 'Scrooge-isms' in the hope of putting the spirit of Christmas back into perspective! <ol> <li>"Christmas is too commercial." Merchants are a hardy bunch. They've realized that they must sell to survive, and more importantly, they know Christmas is a time for people to buy stuff! Now, you have three choices ... Make presents, buy presents or do things that will help the people you care about. You also have the option of making Christmas Decorations instead of taking the easy way out and buying everything. The choice is yours. The important thing that debunks the "Christmas is too commercial" Scrooge-ism is this: Christmas is about giving joy to someone, not getting.</li> <li>"Christmas is a religious holiday and I'm not religious." I don't have the space to list all the people that are not religious, but have given a gift of joy and happiness to someone no matter what part of the year. Let me ask you this ... have you ever given a gift to someone and it had nothing to do with a particular religious practice? Of course you have! Take away any reference to any religious practice and Christmas is still a time to bring people closer together, brighten up a dull winter season and feel the joy of giving, not getting.</li> <li>"The whole Christmas story is fake." As adults, we know this is true, but I wonder how many Movies, TV Shows and books you've read that you knew were not true, yet you enjoyed them? Can you remember as a child how you felt When the Christmas tree was put up and decorated, and you saw the presents underneath? Did you try to be good to get on Santa's list, and did you ever stay up most of the night waiting to hear the Reindeer landing on you're roof? Have you ever seen a child's face when they opened a present from you ... and then played with the box all day? You can give these gifts of wonderful memories to a child (and have some for yourself) when you believe Christmas is about giving, not getting.</li> <li>"Jesus wasn't born December 25th." True, and I doubt it was snowing when Jesus was born either ... but it sure is a wonderfully visual and moving story isn't it? To be honest, I really doubt that Jesus would care if you knew the exact date he was born on, but I am sure he would care how you treated you're family and neighbors. So ask yourself this... "Am I celebrating Jesus's birthday or the spirit of Christams?." If you choose a birthday party, you will have to send you're presents to Jesus in a different way, and this is it. Every time you do something that brings joy to someone, Jesus will get another birthday present. If you choose to celebrate the spirit of Christmas, then remember this ... Christmas is about giving joy to someone, not getting. Are you fired up now and ready to help make Christmas a special time of the year? If you still feel like scrooge, then remember this ... there is nothing in you're life, past present or future, that can stop you from taking part in bringing a moment of happiness to someone else, except you. Put all the 'Self Focus', daily worries, doubts and bad feeling in a mental drawer out of sight, and visit that aunt you haven't seen in 10 years... Help the elderly, orphans, poor and lonely people and enjoy the Joy you GET from the Joy you Give!</li> </ol> Author Resource:-> Jan Michaels is a self-described relationship expert (why is his girlfriend laughing?) that is truly in love. There is more at: <a href="http://www.brunkco.com" target="_blank" style="color: #0000FF; font-size: 8pt">http://www.brunkco.com</a> Article From <a href='http://www.znoog.com/articles/'>Znoog Articles</a> </body></html>