[00:00:00] Speaker A: In 2024, Americans set a new spending record for the Christmas season by spending a whopping $994 billion on Christmas.
Twelve hundred dollars per household was spent just on seasonal expenses like food and travel and decorate, not to mention gifts. It is the season when you need to stay alert and have a plan or you're going to be swept away in the tide of the culture. So picture this. It's December 26th, your credit card has been maxed out, there's wrapping paper everywhere, and you are already dreading the December bills. They're going to start coming in one week. Does that sound familiar?
Run your home and your dough like a biblical boss. Welcome to Abraham's Wallet, where we help men lead their families with biblical wisdom and financial savvy. I'm Stephen Manuel. I'm joined by my co host, Mark Parrott. How's it going, Mark?
[00:01:07] Speaker B: It's going well. I have a sudden free morning that I wasn't expecting. So I'm doing some, some portfolio management work this morning and we normally aren't even recording at this time of day, but here we are on in a morning recording session. So.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Yeah, and we're, and we're both dressed as if it's, it's the cozy holiday time is upon us. Can I say something that we're in December.
We're not going to do a whole episode on this, but I'd like to just throw out to folks that the year end giving season is upon us.
Mark, what's your, when you look over the, your portfolios there, how, how much do people prioritize making plans for year end giving?
[00:01:57] Speaker B: I think our crew is probably a little bit more on the giving ball than the average American, surely.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: I hope so.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: But a lot of people still get to the end of the year and go, oh, we intended to give more than we've given, so we better go give.
Yes, I know that I had a conversation with a child this morning who had been paid for a job and said, I need that. She'd been paid by Venmo, which means I got paid and I'm supposed to give her the money.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:33] Speaker B: And she said, I need that money because we're going out to the fun center with our class and I want to bring my money with me. And I said, well, have you, have you given anything from the money, the income that you have earned here?
[00:02:48] Speaker A: Right.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: No. Okay, well, here, let's talk right now about how much of this we're going to not spend at the class fun day and save to give. So I think it's true of, of a 12 year old and it's true of most 50 year olds that are managing a lot of money and giving a lot of money is sometimes we just need to go, wait a second, I intend to give, but I haven't done it yet.
[00:03:12] Speaker A: So yes, we, we, we are so much like that. We want to be giving regularly through the year and then when year end comes and we see, well, it looks like this is going to be our income from, for the year and we're starting to calculate exactly where the numbers are going to fall, then we have that same sort of year end. Okay, well we've, we, we want to be giving this percentage or we said it would be this amount. Now let's, let's find out what our shortfall was between what we've have given and what we want to give. I would just like to say if you're in that mode right now, we at Abraham's Wallet, we are also in year end mode. If you are looking through your year end and looking for opportunities, we would just like to raise our hand over here and say this, this podcast isn't free to make. It's Mark's time isn't free, my time isn't free and we gotta keep the lights on, et cetera. If you would support us in any way and become a partner, we'd love that. And that's also kind of. We don't have a better way to make that a gateway into our community.
Our retreat this year was populated by a lot of guys who spend time at ur. It just so happens that the more time you spend at Urban, you get more and more nutrition out of our community and even the content that we
[email protected] so I gotta throw that out. And I also, I can't ever mentioned anything like our needs without saying I wish I could hug. I wish I could come through the microphone and hug everyone who supports us and partners with us to, to make this happen. We so appreciate those gifts throughout the year. So gotta throw that in. Okay, are you ready to get to the five dumb. Oh no, that's not what it's called. Five Christmas traps that keep families broke.
[00:05:06] Speaker B: I am. Let's, let's talk through them.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: Okay, Number one, I'm trying to keep this episode quick so that it doesn't bog you down as you're listening on your holiday run. That's what I'm imagining. Everybody has gotten those new thick soled running shoes and they're out and they can see their breath and they're, they're being very healthy and they're, and they're wanting something quick. Let's give them something quick. Okay. Number one, the number one Christmas trap is overspending to keep up with the Joneses and I throw in and impress the kids. I think some of us feel the need to impress the kids with what we give, but there's a lot of keeping up with the Joneses. So 40% of Americans admit to overspending to impress others or match their peers.
65% of Gen Z feels pressured to buy unnecessary items due to social media and advertising. According to lendingtree.com and US consumers spent over $900 per person on gifts in 2024. That's from fortunately.com parents of young kids, as you might expect, are hit the worst because they, they have in their mind a very romantic idea of what it means to be a five year old at Christmas time.
They average eleven hundred dollars in debt for the Christmas season. That's for, that's parents of young kids. So dad buys a $500 video game console because he wants to top his brother's gift. And now the family stress and over bills come January.
So there's a. The problem is trading long term peace into momentary pleasure and perceived approval. I could go on a rant about how we are not to be living our lives because we're trying to please other people, but I just would like to if that, that probably for our listeners that thing kind of builds in the back of your mind without you realizing that you feel pressure to keep up. And I just, we're just here kind of going, want to give you a little jingle on this if that's happening to you. We just want to pop that bubble and say you don't have to try to keep up with anybody else. You don't have to try to keep up with what your friends, your children's friends are saying that everybody's getting all, everybody's getting the new thing. Well, we've got to get the new thing or you're going to be behind.
That might be great for your kid's character by the way, to not get the latest thing. But I just want to pop that bubble and say that problem, I don't want that problem for you. So we gonna. I'm giving a solution to each of these five problems. My solution for this first one is talk about giving and talk about modest modesty in what you expect under the Christmas tree with your youngsters. So make it a thing that you talk about that you'd say for our. For our families health and our financial fitness. We don't go all out, whatever that means. We don't. We don't buy everything that impresses or inspires you when you go to the register at Target. That's not what we do.
So the Bible says you should give in your heart what you have decided to give, not reluctantly, under compulsion. But God loves a cheerful giver. Well, that. That's true for giving to others. It's also true to giving to people around you, which is, I don't want to feel stressed when you open up this expensive toy. I want to be like, man, I'm so happy that we planned for this. I'm happy that we have room for this. I'm not stressed about bills coming. Everything's appropriate because it's appropriate. I'm delighted and I'm cheerful in the way this is going. That makes sense to you, Mark?
[00:08:56] Speaker B: Yeah. The only thing I'm going to add to that is, say you may not be in a spot where there's any financial pinch created by giving to keep up with the Joneses. So you might go, hey, I can spend $2,500 a kid, and that doesn't hurt me financially. Or I've planned even for a big gift.
What I would say is there's this emptiness that all of us who at least grew up in the time we grew up in, where it's the Christmas morning and you've opened everything and you're sitting there looking at it and going, there was a lot of fun anticipation for this moment, but now I kind of feel a gigantic letdown as I'm amongst the wrapping paper and the toys. And even in that instant moment, you can say, how am I ever going to play with all this stuff?
You know, there's like, maybe the one I was really looking forward to and then 10 other things. It's like, well, that's nice to have, but you know that half of it will be at Goodwill within two years. I think that if that's you and you're going, okay, I don't want to give to keep up with the Joneses. Consider just wild generosity. If you just need, you've got money that you can give.
Like, I do think that there will be more joy and even fun that's lasting in your home by kind of being a little thoughtful and moderate, like you said, with the gift giving to each other. And maybe if you're just blessed with cash coming out your eyes, go find needs for people who cannot do that. And Push it out into the world. I think we, we've talked about giving a lot. The episode that you did with Justin Wolfenberg about figuring out who the poor actually are and giving to them like Christmas is a great time to do that. And so I just think if all you're giving is hands off, we say it all the time, hands off. Money transfers to 501C 3S. You're missing out on something that you might be able to experience if you are tempted to keep up with the Joneses and you can afford it. Like, then maybe employ some of that discipline and then experience the joy of giving wildly, generously, outside of the family, not just inside.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: Man, I can't agree with that more. We've got a couple of young families around our lives, guys that I spend time with, and this year they've gone into new homes and it completely stretched them financially to get into these new homes.
And we knew it. And I, I, I just want to repeat what you just said, Mark, which is, if the only giving you do is, well, what are the tax benefit programs I can give to? Great. I will send with a bunch of numbers on a website to this 501C3. And then I get a statement back there. I did it.
That is giving. That's true.
Giving to humans is so much better.
It has an immediate impact. It builds relational capital. It does all of these wonderful things when you give to actual humans. And I got to mention those guys because, man, just to bring a little bit of joy to the little relief to the stress that they have felt coming into the holiday season, going like, I don't even know what we can do at all this Christmas season. And, and to go like, we can send you a Greenberg smoked turkey that comes from Texas and appears on your front doorstep. What a, what a gift. I mean, that, that kind of thing is, just produces so much joy. So I gotta, I can agree with that. Okay, that's, that's number one. Number two is letting the culture drive your spiritual traditions. And I would even say the church as well, kind of. I think the tendency can be. We're very stressed out.
We don't really have a plan. We're just trying to make it through. The church is offering kind of two events. Okay, we'll do those two events. That's fine. Okay. So that's Christmas for us, is doing those things and outsourcing family rituals to church events or school pageants or Hallmark movies so that dad becomes a passive attendee instead of the spiritual shepherd of the home. Is a, is A lose. That's a lose.
So it dilutes your God given role as the family priest. I mean that, that is just front and center of everything that we have to say at Abraham's Wallet is dad, you're, you're called to be the manager of your home. And the most important capital in your home is spiritual capital.
And Christmas time is just right in the crosshairs of what you, how can you maximize this season? There's so many ways to do that. So instead of turning Christmas into a checklist and we'll just do, we'll just go to the things that were demanded of us instead, saying this is going to be like a home led encounter with Christ and the story of, of the, the arrival of Christ.
The scenario I'm concerned about is like a family that rushes to the activities, the church services and stuff, but skips a father or just a couple, the parent led Advent readings.
Like us just having time together as a family. Which leads to kids viewing faith as someone else's job. I mean that's one of the perpetual things that we want to get away from is thinking that a spiritual life is something that happens out there. That Christmas, if it has any traditions, it's about going downtown and seeing the tree lit and, and fitting in an ice skating trip. I mean we, we like to do all of that stuff, but those things are not priority and they're not going to squeeze out the family time. So our solution is for you to block off sacred things. Family time first.
Even if that means you can't make all the church activities, the family time is going to be first.
There are things, there are so many great ideas of things you can do. There's great little Advent devotionals that you can grab for four or five bucks online.
Have you heard of the Jesse tree mark?
[00:15:26] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:15:27] Speaker A: So that can be a great little walk through the holiday season. You're talking through the Bible story of Jesus coming manger bread. You can make that a night activity. We're gonna, we're gonna bake manger bread together and just have some time together talking about the Christmas story, meditating on the words of the Bible and just having prayer time together and having worship time together and making that the centerpiece of the whole season.
I would say delegate church activities as a supplement, not the driver of the way that your holidays work.
Good with you.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: Yes. I don't have anything to add to, to this one.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: Okay. So don't fall into that trap of.
[00:16:12] Speaker B: Well, actually I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask one question.
You have gotten on me publicly on this podcast in the past about my lack of enthusiasm when it comes to lighting my house for the Christmas.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: Okay, go on.
I do like a little razzmatazz for you.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: Mailed me a large box of flights, which I spent a few hours outside in the freezing cold installing, and I felt pretty proud of what I had done. And I sent you a photo. And it was like. It was like when we all have these wound moments with our natural fathers where you do something and you bring it and they go, well, that sucks, because you did not like my. My installation. But in any case, would you.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: Would you please describe to the good people what. What your installation consisted of?
[00:17:01] Speaker B: Well, I ran out of lights. I was going to make the whole tree awesome, but I just couldn't do the trunk.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: So what did you do? So what did you do?
[00:17:09] Speaker B: I wrapped the trunk.
[00:17:10] Speaker A: You wrapped the lights. And I understand this would be difficult if it's over 6ft high or something, but you just took all these lights and you wrapped them many times around the gigantic trunk of the tree in.
[00:17:22] Speaker B: Your front yard, including the branches up to about 12ft high, because it was the maximum height of my ladder.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: That's impressive. Going. Going out to the branches is impressive. I. I forgot that part.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: The problem was that the tree is like 50ft high. And so it looked a little stubborn, right?
[00:17:43] Speaker A: Yes. It's hard to. It's hard to do it up when it's.
[00:17:45] Speaker B: In any case, I will say, and I don't think I'm letting the culture determine my. My spiritual traditions at Christmas, mainly because I'm trying to avoid ridicule from you. I saw a sign in my neighborhood that said, I'll put Christmas lights up on your house today for cheap. And so I called that number, and within a couple days, there was a Christmas lights on my house. So we are good to go. We're not turning them on yet. Don't worry. But I don't know, it's. I can't say it's a spiritual tradition, but it is a tradition that I felt pressured into by the culture that I live in, which includes by the Abraham's wallet culture.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Boy, you sound making me sound rough. I meant to say this in introduction. I just. I just happened to.
Somebody talked to me yesterday. I got some text messages from a. From an er.
An ur citizen who was asking for, hey, can you give me a reference on an episode about xyz? So. So I was going to find out exactly what episode is going to meet this guy's needs.
And so I went into the Apple podcast world and I found a review on there. You know, they just put like the top, you know, the most recent reviews.
There was a view on there and it was. Gave us one star. And so I. Those are, those are rare for Abe's wallet. So my intrigue went up and I read it and this guy was like, very interesting comments. Like, one was, these arrogant guys, they're always talking about their Abrahamic families. And I'm thinking, I mean, I don't think I'm talking about my Abrahamic family as much as I just look at what does the Bible say? That's what we're trying to promote, and then go, I mean, our lives work however they work. And just complaining we don't have enough kids really to be talking about the things that we talk about, such as have a lot of kids.
I don't, I don't understand that. But anyways, the guy just, the guy was not pleased at us.
And why did I bring that up?
[00:20:07] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:20:08] Speaker A: What were you just talking about? Oh, maybe I brought that up because I'm feeling a little guilty, sad. If you, if I'm producing Christmas pressure for you, you, maybe that guy should be listening to this. That's the last couple of minutes. And he would feel great about the idea that I'm a Christmas ogre and that I walk around with a clipboard going, not good enough. Do better decorations. I will say that my. There's this for sure happens every year we drive through the neighborhood and we do count up how many houses or decorations make any reference to the Christmas story where there's Jesus. We even count an angel. We'll take partial credit. If there's an angel, we go, that counts.
And the, the percentages aren't high. Anyhow, sorry, we've. We've lost the plot. Okay, can we proceed?
[00:21:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Number three. The number three trap is relying on credit for joyous indulgences.
49% of Americans are still paying off 20, 23 holiday debt, according to CNBC. But 1/3 of Americans take on holiday debt over $1,000, with 65% using credit cards to do it. Of these credit cards that people use to take on this thousand dollars of debt, 42% of those credit cards carry an interest rate over 20%.
People are getting slammed by, by putting Christmas costs on credit cards, and then they're having to pay debt for a long time. Like I said, a of lot, lot of people. There's still Half of Americans still aren't done with 2023's Christmas debt. So they're swiping for feasts and decor and last minute gifts that have a promise of buy now and pay later. And they treat debt as if it's a holiday perk. Like we, we all get to just go into the holidays and not worry about what's going to happen. And we have to remember the, the ant in Proverbs 6. That's one of your favorites. What does he do, may I ask?
[00:22:25] Speaker B: He makes hay while the sun shines. Stores up for winter and yeah, works diligently when the opportunity rises so that there's, there's wealth available.
[00:22:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I, it is so rare to find people who in April and July are saving up and putting money aside so that when Christmas comes and they know that there's that's going to be a spending season, they're ready for it.
Dad justifies a 300 catering splurge on plastic and then he skips tithing for months to cover his minimums.
That, that's a, that's a routine story around Church World.
And the solution to this stuff, guys, it's really simple is, is that you should just have a plan for what your holiday is going to look like. I'm begging you not to go into debt for the fantasy of what Christmas holidays you think should be like cash envelopes. That's a good old fashioned way to manage your budget and go, here's the Christmas budget. Here it is in dollar bills. It's in an envelope. If you buy something for the Christmas holidays, it's got to be in cash out of this envelope. Otherwise our regular things, gas and insurance, etc. Those things are going to proceed.
But we're not going to be broke because we put Christmas on credit.
You should also be modeling delayed gratification to your kids. And it's so good to talk them through. We have a strategy so that we don't go broke in the holidays. I don't want March to be painful.
I don't want the spring semester of school and all those activities. I don't want that to be painful for us. So we have to moderate what we're doing in December.
Credit card thoughts Mark.
[00:24:22] Speaker B: I had a tense conversation with a dude a week or two ago because we had been kind of talking and working together. This is a guy who leads his family, loves the Lord, but man has never been able to figure out how to live within his means.
And I finally kind of got a little bit harsh and said like stop spending money on things you can't afford. I don't care.
Why it's a justifiable great family experience or purchase. I just don't care. I don't care. And like, that might sound harsh, but I know there's people out there making half as much as this dude who are chugging along and making life work just fine. So it's, it's, it's not an income is so low that this person actually needs help. It's a, it's a discipline issue.
[00:25:15] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:25:16] Speaker B: And at the end of the day, what you're talking about is just there some slice of our listeners are going to just have to recognize I have the temptation to justify things I can't afford. And the technology that we have today has made that very easy to say yes to. And if that's you, you just need to be aware of it. Go, this is a temptation I have and hunt it down and kill it as aggressively as possible because it will strangle you if you say yes to those things.
You know, we've talked about poverty and the whole idea that poverty is really just wants you to get while the getting is good because there's no chance you're going to have anything tomorrow. And that's anti what we're trying to build in, in, in ourselves and the people who listen to podcast. We want to be guys who look a long way in the future and like you said, Steve, delayed gratification.
It's. Your next point is going to be so that we can sit down and tell the family, here's how we're managing money guys.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:26:19] Speaker B: We, we didn't just say no to Christmas because I'm not saying say no to Christmas. We didn't say no to the fifth gift for everyone this year because we don't love you.
We did it because we're building something as a family. And so I, I just endorse what you're saying and say some people are not tempted by this. You don't spend on credit cards. But if you are, be aware because it's, it's not, it's a nasty foe to have out there hunting you.
[00:26:51] Speaker A: Yeah, that. Yeah. That's why we said right up at the top, just having a plan puts you way ahead of the game. Just have any kind of plan as opposed to impulsively just walking through blindly going, I hope we don't spend too much. The number four trap is neglecting year end financial reviews.
So part, I just, I'm begging you, that part of your New year Detox.
Everybody does this.
Okay, we're through.
Things are going to settle back. I hear this so often in a year. Okay, we're going to. I'm going to be settling back into our rhythms, which is great.
So that means probably working out people. People get back onto what they consider to be a good diet.
Oh, I have been putting off meeting with my guys group because the holidays are crazy. We're getting back into it. Make part of your new year detox. Discussing December spending with, with your wife and family.
So we're supposed to be storing up for lean times, as you said, Mark, which means learning to say no now.
So find time, the solution of this problem, real simple. If you're listening to this before the end of the year, just find time before your holidays are over to review what happened over Christmas so that even if you acted badly, you don't repeat those bad habits.
Look at how much was actually spent. Just, just do a little bit of digging into your Amazon account or into your spending budget. Look back through your, through your accounts and go, what did we actually spend on Christmas? It would be a great time to celebrate wins. Hey, family, we said that this is going to be our goal. Here's the actual numbers that came out. High fives, everybody. That would be a great review for a Shabbat meal, by the way. Just to, just to go. Let's just look at these numbers. We did it, you guys.
So celebrating wins. Pray about shortfalls or mistakes. God help us here. And maybe set one goal for next year. Maybe it's like, maybe it's what we said, like have that thousand dollars put aside by November 15th or whenever you start buying gifts.
Good.
[00:28:59] Speaker B: Yeah. The only thing I was going to say is I talk to people all the time. From the standpoint of a financial plan, you know what really matters. The three pillars that really matter are what comes in, what gets spent, and what's available after that. To invest for the long term, to move towards all your goals.
And there is a truth to the fact that I don't actually, as a financial planner, care if you're spending on groceries or gifts or hairspray, I don't care. It could be anything, and it doesn't really going out change the reality of your plan. Plan. And sometimes people hear that and they go, oh, thank God, you're not going to make me budget. And I go. However, there is a stewardship component to tracking some of these categories, especially if you know that you maybe have a tendency to overdo it here or there.
I think it's really useful to be able to look back on a year, or in this case, we're talking about just on a Christmas season and say, well, what did we spend?
And so I, I think that's really valuable. There's, there's software tools out there that you can use to track all these different categories. But even if you're not ready to do that, just like you said, where do I spend? Can I pull those expenses together and say, this is what I did? And oh yeah, we also threw that party and we spent 800 bucks on all the stuff for that and pull it all together and just say, does this jive with what we intended to do? And if the answer is yes, celebrate. If it's no, it's okay too. Just change direction next time.
[00:30:40] Speaker A: That's great.
The last trap. I'd like to introduce the last trap by saying, I raised my daughters definitely on Little House of the Prairie books.
And we, we go back and read certain chapters over and over again. And one of them is Christmas Comes to Plum Creek. Which, by the way, if you're looking for something great to watch over Christmas, you can go, you know, do your Apple TV or whatever, however you buy stuff, go buy that one episode of Little House on the Prairie. It's called Christmas at Plum Creek, I think, and it's great.
Here's what we remember. Those girls were so excited because Pa had gone into town and he, he gave the girls for Christmas. They got a tin cup.
They got a fresh orange, which was so exotic that they got to eat an orange and a shiny new penny in their cups. That's, that was Christmas. And these girls were over the moon. Oh, they just looked at their penny, turned it over in their hands over and over and their gifts to one another. I remember one of the gifts was, if you're a fan of the books, there was a.
Laura had a corn cob doll.
By, by doll I just mean a corn cob. That, that's it. An old, a dried out corn cob. And they made a like little dress.
Ma stitched together a little dress that she put onto the corn cob. And that was Susan. That corn cob was Susan. Laura's little dolly was this corn cob wearing a dress.
I think that was probably pretty cost efficient, the corn cob gift.
And little, little Laura ingalls at age 3 or 4 couldn't have cared less where that came from or what it cost. The idea of it costing something meant nothing to her. She didn't even understand that idea. So the trap number five is prioritizing material gifts over generous heart led giving.
31% of Americans cut giving to charities this year amid their debt woes. So when we go into debt, we think immediately. The first thing that I need to do isn't necessarily cutting my standard of living, it's cutting giving.
And 80% of global Christmas budgets go to gifts, which is just a staggering thing to consider.
Not even like decor for your house or hosting people. It's just 80% of the money just goes out to gifts.
So to me, there's a couple of solutions to this problem. One is an idea would be to mandate in your home one handmade gift from everybody. And you know, if you got eight kids then now everybody's having to make 10 handmade gifts. I wouldn't necessarily say that. I would just say I want every child to give a gift this year that's handmade.
You could say, I'm going to write a song for you for Christmas. I'm going to write a poem for you for Christmas. I'm going to do a drawing for you. I'm going to write a nice letter.
I tell my girls this. The best thing you could give me for Christmas would be to write me a nice note, give me some encouraging Bible verses, and cheer on dear old dad. That would be great for me.
So mandate a handmade gift, something from the heart. And you've already mentioned this, Mark, but cap the number of gifts that you're going to give. I don't even care what that is. You know, if you're a wealthy family doing great, I don't know what that number should be.15.
I don't care about that. Just cap it. Just put a number and say we're not. Just, just make an announcement. We're not doing over five gifts a piece this year, you guys, and I don't care how big they are. It might be a bag of M&Ms. Great, we're still doing five gifts. Just something that feels like there's some boundary lines as opposed to it's just gotta be gifts, gifts, gifts. My last tip here is many people do this already. I know, but make volunteering a part of your Christmas tradition. Even if it's helping rake leaves at somebody's house.
David Sheldon needs somebody to rake leaves at his house. You could show up at his house, get leaves off of his roof, rake up, do a little blowing so he can see the concrete on. I mean, just, just give the gift of generosity as opposed something from the heart. Because as we said with giving going on to A website. Click, click, click.
[00:35:32] Speaker B: Done.
[00:35:33] Speaker A: Giving gifts can be the same thing. We're just going to website. I don't know, I guess you'd like this new gadget. Click, click, click. It's done. As opposed to I want to, I want to translate my heart somehow with the gifts that I'm giving. Thoughts on that, Mark? Prioritizing material gifts over generous heart led giving.
[00:35:51] Speaker B: No, I think it kind of jives with what we said at the first one.
And I'll say some of the book, the gifts I have given that have hit the best with people have been like a book because I've talked about this before but like when you give someone a bug, A, it says I thought about you and the way your brain works and that you would enjoy this. And B, it's kind of an invitation for us to continue, have a conversation. I want to hear what you think. So that's just one example of a gift that it's not hand, it's not a corn cob doll, but it does extend an invitation that goes actually beyond just oh wow, I was going to buy this golf club and you bought it for me. Awesome.
Like it fosters a lot more. So being thoughtful with gifts and generosity and volunteering, all good. I feel challenged that we're going to have to go find a way to serve and volunteer this Christmas. That's not something we've done in the past, specifically around the Christmas season.
[00:36:52] Speaker A: That's great. Well, it will, it will produce that, that kind of giving tradition will produce so many benefits in the hearts of your children and help to change the culture of your home. So Christmas is about Jesus, humble birth. It's not about our bank accounts deaths. So we uncovered five traps today. Chasing the Joneses, outsourcing your faith, swiping credit cards, relentlessly skipping reviews and hoarding stuff. Those are the things that keep families broke. But you Abe's wallet men can lead your homes differently. That's we want for you, as we would always say, to follow the culture of the kingdom of God's going to make you look a little strange from the neighbors. And we are just fine with that. That's part of the deal. We'd love to hear what you're doing, by the way. So share your plan with
[email protected] or over at ER. We'd love to hear your wallet wins. We'd love for you to subscribe to rate us and to join us next time. Time to keep leading your family with faith and wisdom. So bless you guys. Happy holidays. We'll see you next time.
