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.”
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Praise for the book, “Money, Purpose, Joy.”
“Matt Bell is, I believe, one of today’s outstanding communicators. He has written a book that is, first of all, very personal in nature as opposed to theoretical. As a consequence, this book is very relevant to anyone who reads it. It is a tremendous integration of faith and finances. This book will undoubtedly have a very long life; I recommend it enthusiastically.”