Read Keith

Well it's that time of year again. Time to gorge ourselves on dead animal flesh and football. It's a truly American holiday as we celebrate either the founding of one nation under God, or the subjugation of a native people, depending on how liberal your history teachers were. It also ushers in the annual month-long veritable frat party of capitalism where the modesty of fiscal responsibility is thrown out the window in favor of the debauchery of credit card culture. For those of you out there who may wish to use me as an outlet for your wanton spending, here's a list of things you can buy me:

Stuff:

• Xbox 360 Pro
• PSP (PlayStation Portable)
  
• Scrubs Season 4 DVD
• Battlestar Galactica DVDs (Any season, including the miniseries, but from the current version, not the one from the 70's)
• External Hardrive (Any size is fine, the bigger the better. An internal drive with a case is also more than acceptable as this is a far better value for the money.)
• Notebook PC RAM (512 or bigger, as I already have a 256 and only have the one expansion slot.)
• Motorcycle and motorcycle related t-shirts. (NO HARLEY CRAP! Racing and Euro bikes are best. Japanese stuff is cool too. Buell is iffy. When in doubt, ask my Dad... unless you are my dad, then it really shouldn't be a problem.)
• High school sports t-shirts. (The more far-flung and obscure the better, but local stuff is great too. Football is my first choice, but I'll wear just about anything, including girls sports.)
• “A Feast for Crows,” by George R.R. Martin
• The Magnificent Seven DVD
• Switchfoot, Oh! Gravity CD
• The Office DVDs (Any seasons from either the BBC or the NBC version would be great.)

Gift certificates to places where I can go to buy stuff:

• Game Stop
• Target
• Duluth Trading Company
• Barnes & Nobel
• Amazon.com
• iTunes Music Store
• Regal Cinemas
• Old Navy
• K-Swiss.com
• Macy's

Common myth holds that we give gifts at Christmas in order to celebrate the three wise men giving Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh on the occasion of his birth. This is in fact, wrong and may be a major contributing factor to the materialist nature of Christmas today. The gift we represent every time we wrap up an iPod or a diamond necklace or a pair of argyle socks, is not the treasure given to the Christ child, it's Christ himself. It's God's gift of salvation through the person of Jesus his son.

Go ahead! Spend like crazy this December. Your small business owning neighbors, as well as our collective economic livelihood is depending on you. (And if you want to throw a little bit of that excess my way, I won't mind.) But this Christmas season, make sure you take time out of your busy schedule to remember the first Christmas present you ever received. The one given to you two-thousand years ago, in tiny little town in the Middle-East. This is the gift we should be emulating. Give as He gave, and love as He loved.

Merry Christmas Everyone!