by Father Terrence P. Ryan, CSP
December 11, 2014

If you go to church, you will invariably hear the sermon about how consumer gift buying, and that shopping is not what Christmas is all about. The attempt is to make you feel shallow about your shopping at this time of year. Maybe the preacher simply does not like to shop. That is hardly the doorway to holiness. Shopping is about giving. You have to shop first, to give. So I try to help make people feel better about Christmas shopping, or Purim shopping for that matter. The joy of giving is in knowing that you bought just the right thing to make the recipient equally joyful!