Chuck and I have long been of the opinion that the Christmas holidays have gone from being about celebrating the birth of Jesus to being mainly about keeping the U.S. economy in the black – promoted solely for the purpose of encouraging Christmas consumerism. As such, we decided to not exchange Christmas presents, nor buy a bunch of decorations for the season, many years ago. Surprisingly, it was easier than you would think. Being a couple without children or grandchildren, we didn’t have to worry about disappointing the kids. (Although my mother wasn’t too keen on the idea at first. My impression was that she thought we’d become atheists.) We both have agreed that we have everything that we want, and that ‘things’ aren’t what are important anyway. You’d be amazed at how wonderful it feels to throw off the yoke of consumerism and just enjoy the season and each other. No stress, no after-the-holidays debt (and resulting additional stress), and no crazed shopping sprees like those that take place on a day like today – Black Friday. So, with this in mind – when I saw this cartoon, I had to just share it here: