HO HO. HO. HOW MUCH DID YOU SPEND THIS YEAR ON CHRISTMAS?
IT ALL MAKES PERFECT CENTS

WORDS: JILL KERBY

When I was a kid, I used to love the Dr Seuss story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It’s only now, reading the revised version - OK, my revised version - that I see that the Grinch didn’t really hate Christmas. He didn’t take all the presents away from under all the trees and the stockings in Whoville because he was a mean old stingy envious Grinch. He took them because he didn’t want all those poor little Who’s to end up even poorer when their credit card bills arrived in January.

Just as I am becoming more and more like my mother as the years progress, I fear that I am becoming more and more like the Grinch at Christmas-time. Maybe that’s why the editor said, “Be gentle with us... we like to shop at this time of year” when I gave her the title of this article.

Read more about How Much Did You Spend This Year on Christmas in the December | January 2007 issue of WMB, subscribe now.