Gluttons of Stuff

A couple days ago, my wife and I lived very comfortable lives. We have food in our stomach's and a nice house in a nice neighborhood. Needless to say, our house is full of nice "things." And if you were to ask me if I needed or wanted any other things, I would probably have to think really hard, and possibly for a long time on any new addition to my house. Then there was Christmas. And the next couple of days, I spent a great deal of time unloading the car and filling up my living room before sorting through, unpacking, and to finding appropriate places for all our new things. So I guess if we were very comfortable before Christmas, now we are "completely comfortable," "incredibly comfortable..." I am not sure what the adjective is that describes my families wealth and comfort level, but you get the point.

This probably makes me sound ungrateful and unappreciative, which is far from reality. I am truly grateful for the thoughtful presents my family and I have received. I am continually amazed by the generosity of our families and our friends and wonder whether or not I share as openly as they do. My generosity, or lack there of, is for another post, today I want to express how deep down our roots are in materialism, greed, and gluttony are.

I recognize that I am on a path that leads to more questions than answers. I am sure there are many different opinions in how to diagnose and treat this problem. Others might call this problem, sin and then there are others that would question that it is even a problem.

So because I have no answers, I will leave my questions.

-Do I want to be treated for this problem?

-Is this a issue of the heart?

-Is the my culture that forces me to live like this?

-Is it because of my socioeconomic status that I live like this?

-Am I celebrating an American holiday, rather than the birth of my Savior?

-How can I have a non-materialistic, glutton free Christmas?