Show Summary

What do you want for Christmas? Children are ready for that question, quick to list all the toys and treasures their little hearts desire. We’ve learned from an early age to make our lists and send our requests to Santa, all in the hope that come Christmas morning, everything we want will be underneath the tree. Our culture has tied Christmas fulfillment to the amassing of stuff.

In this episode of Persuasion, Erin Straza and Hannah Anderson continue their holiday mini-series, Lessons & Carols. The first conversation covered the lessons we’ve learned about the way Christmas can meet the soul’s longing for connection and love. And in this installment, the conversation turns to the ways we attempt to buy our Christmas joy for others and even for ourselves. Maybe you attempt to hold consumerism off by implementing the three-gift or four-gift rule. Or maybe you attempt to redeem your participation in the season by donating your budgeted money for each person to a charity helping those much less fortunate. Try as we may, the commercialization of Christmas is here and the fault is ours to bear. How do the Christmas traditions and carols we practice each year contribute to this skewed perspective? Is there any way to uncouple our real need for joy from the false promise that it will be waiting for us under the tree on Christmas morning?

Listen in for dialogue on questions like these, then continue the conversation on Twitter @PersuasionCAPC or in the CAPC members-only community on Facebook.

Your Hosts

Erin Straza: Web / Twitter
Hannah Anderson: Web / Twitter

Episode 154 Resources & Links

“Money Really Can Buy Happiness If You Spend It These 4 Ways, According to Science,” Inc.

Sally’s Letter to Santa, A Charlie Brown Christmas

Did you enjoy this episode of Persuasion? Give these a listen!

Persuasion 153 | Blue Christmas

Persuasion 40 | Our Corrupted Sense of Shopping Righteousness

Theme music by Maiden Name. Produced by Jonathan Clauson.

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