What did you give for Christmas?

By Isaiah Jordan

From the end of October to the middle of December stores promote sales of the season. As these sales are promoted on our televisions, newspapers, and internet we think about everything we should buy for our friends and family for various reasons. One of these reasons may be to show just how much we care for another person. Another reason may be just to show who can buy the most expensive gift, but either way you spin the bottle you may end up giving to someone.

This past Christmas, according to Channel 12 news, the sales of the season was surprisingly low. This scared the major companies that promote these Christmas sales. Luckily, a few days before this special day arrived the sales started to skyrocket and people began to show the true spirit of the Christmas consumer. Montrey Slayton, senior, falls into this consumer category. He bought his mother a chocolate fountain for Christmas. Even though he purchased this pricy piece of merchandise he still says, “The greatest gift that a person could ever give someone is love.”

Many times we give with necessity or in expectancy of always receiving something in return and in most cases we do receive something in return. This presents the question, how does giving impact your life. Corey Williams, sophomore, clearly stated: “Giving is better than receiving.” In our ideal world we see giving as something that we are required to do for various reason, and what the true test to see how giving is really impacting our lives is to give a gift and not have that same person give you something back. Did this happen to you this Christmas?

How much would you be willing to spend on a Christmas gift? Maybe you would be willing to spend twenty, fifty, one- hundred, or two- hundred dollars for a family member or close friend? Niecy Anderson, freshman, thinks that “it depends on who it is. If it is someone like family or close friends I would spend two- hundred or over.” Oftentimes we believe the price tag matches the amount of love you have for that person. In actuality, the most heart filled gifts could be something you created and not an item you can buy out of the store. Unfortunately, because of this mentality we believe that we must spend large amounts of money to express our affection.

Samon Williams, junior, did not have this problem snce the best gift she gave was, “words of wisdom.” This, in many cases, is exactly what we need during the Christmas season because some people don’t have the family and friends that a lot of people have. This is a part of building one another up and is not just something that should be practiced doing this particular season but should be exemplified every season throughout the year.

Even though 2007’s Christmas has past the giving spirit can still be shown in 2008. Wither your gift is materialistic or non-materialistic when you give think about how it touches them. You can give good things or bad things, but remember bloggers, whatever you give somehow it will come back to you.