Opus 2025-591: The Cost of Christmas

I keep hearing about how people can’t afford to pay their rent or to put food on the table and so forth.  Even people who should know better are complaining about how tight things are.  I feel their pain.  Most of the things I buy in the grocery store have gone up in price.  So far though, I can still afford what I want and need.

I was looking over the Costco ads for their great bargains this week and toward the end of it, they had various offerings in the area of meats that would be appropriate for a Christmas feast.  I think the lowest price I saw was $17.95 a pound.  It went up from there.  Not exactly a cheap dinner.

I must say I have in the past had some of their better cuts when my son was doing the shopping.  Prepared properly, which to me is burnt to crisp, they were really delicious.  And since my son was paying, it was worth every penny of it.  If I had been paying, we would have been satisfied with cheese sandwiches.

And that’s the point really.  When we have family over for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, is the point to have family over and to celebrate together?  Is the point to show off how much we can spend on food?  Is the point to exercise or gluttony?  Obviously those are not fair questions because you already know the answers, at least the ones you would give in public.

If I were putting on a dinner for Christmas and felt like finances were tight, I would have no problem in making a big pan of chili with hamburger and frozen vegetables.  Add to that crackers from the discount store and if I was really feeling frisky maybe some cheese.  If the right people were there with the right attitude, it would be a glorious celebration of the incarnation.

Think values not value.

homo unius libri