Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas
For anyone looking to celebrate Christmas–and all special occasions, for that matter–with less spending and more joy, “Hundred Dollar Holiday” is highly recommended. And it’s appropriate to read this short book well before the holidays are upon us.
Author Bill McKibben started thinking about a new type of Christmas out of concern for the environment and the poor. He thought about all the waste involved in Christmas–the overspending on gifts, the boxes, the wrapping paper, and such. But as he went about encouraging people to spend less, he realized what people really wanted was “more”–more joy. He provides a roadmap to that joy in “Hundred Dollar Holiday.”
The book opens with the fascinating history of Christmas and then delves into a wide variety of gift-giving ideas focused on strengthening our relationships during the holidays instead of weakening our finances.
While McKibben hopes to encourage and teach readers how to transform the usual hustle and bustle of Christmas with an eagerly anticipated, meaningful celebration, he also hopes readers will take the ideas in his book beyond the holidays. “It’s possible,” he writes, “that you’ll find yourself enjoying Christmas so much that you’ll try to rearrange your life to have more of it all year round.”
Matt About Money
- Diet is Not a Four-Letter Word; Fresh Foods for Less; Economizing in a Tough Economy; and more in the latest issue of the Matt About Money eNewsletter.
“Matt Bell is warm and engaging, able to take a thorny subject—stewardship and money—and to winsomely speak the truth under-girded with hope. I was very pleased to have Matt share with us, and do gladly recommend him. He has planted seeds among us that I am convinced will germinate and eventually bear great fruit.”