I will spend to the last penny BY IVAN R MUGISHAI can remember from my childhood days with family, moving in a queue to church with my brothers on Christmas day. Smartly clad in oversize suits with bowties and the thick jelly Vaseline making mirrors of our faces, we’d move boastfully and playfully along the way. Our parents also putting on visibly new clothes would slowly step ahead of us with smiles and greet both friends and unknowns. At lunch, we would feast on the spaghetti and chicken we last ate on Easter and drink as much soda as possible while the elders drown themselves in alcohol because it would be a long time before Christmas returns. You wouldn’t tell the rich from the poor, the soft hearted from the hard hearted, everybody seemed happy and in jovial mood. Apart from my age and the economy, nothing much has changed from the scene. Every festive season, everybody is stuck with a consumer mentality, poor and rich. If the eagerly awaited December salary isn’t enough, people will go further and acquire short term loans just to make sure that the festive flavor works out fine. Regardless of the looming debt aftermath, people will go to the extremes and spend beyond their budget and seem not to lose sleep over it. The economy has however forced some people to cut down on their spendthrift habits. The children are forced to rebound last year’s clothes, the soda bottles are counted and sharing gifts has almost been phased out. Some young men actually dread the festive time because it’s when their fiancés are expecting posh gifts. So they will cook up all kinds of trips and illnesses just to ruin the day that will only come back after a revolution of 365. This kind of behavior is very pitiable because it undermines what I term “value for life”. How can a person toil and work their strained muscles only to declare that they can’t maximally enjoy the festivity simply because are saving up their earnings? If I may ask, saving up for what? What’s better than good memories with family and friends? What’s shoddier than your fiancé deciding to go have fun elsewhere, or your children rushing to the neighbors for a better lunch? What if you died tomorrow? What would have been all the benefit of your sweat if you failed to enjoy life under the pretext hoarding money? You shouldn’t exist as a miser, simply on the sidewalks sarcastically gazing through restaurant windows and scorning the people who have chose luscious meals. Still, if you say that you are foregoing the fun celebrations so that you can enjoy in the future, what good is the money when you’re too old to do the enjoyable things that you could have perfectly done when you were young and full of adrenaline? Personally, the memories I always look back at and pride in are those that I never hesitated to spend on. My parents made sure I had a wonderful Christmas when I was little; it used to be like heaven on earth. Now that am old enough, I shouldn’t make it any different- just have fun all out with no strings attached. So for those of you, who let the big days slip through to the New Year without any excitement because you were saving, change your traditions lest life pass you by.Ends Can’t stand unrealistic expenses BY LILLIAN NAKAYIMASo you went to the mall with the aim of buying bread and you ended up with a trolley full of stuff you never budgeted for. After all you wanted to spoil yourself as a way to have fun in the festive season. Now that the season is over, your bank account is in negative yet you have those pressing unavoidable bills to cater for. Shame on your impulsive spending, Jesus’ birthday would still be celebrated whether you bought all that unnecessary stuff or not. Spending on that exaggerated Christmas outfit was such a mistake. Surely the festive season is a time when people awesomely spend and spoil themselves, not considering the outcomes. Is the festive season worth spending one’s fortune? Many are under the illusion that celebrating Christmas means spending all their hard earned savings, this makes them too penniless in the New Year. As people flood Nakumat and Simba supper markets to buy Christmas gifts, they often go for the most expensive. I hear an expensive Christmas gift strengthens relationships. What a myth. To me, I would rather buy a cheaper gift and invest the rest of the money. Spending on a season just shows how unserious one can get. The ‘eat once, starve once’ doctrine is foolish. The sad bit is that people forget that life continues after the festivities. As per the Gospel of Luke 2:1 {Holy Bible}, baby Jesus was given gifts by the three wise men, no single verse says shows Jesus’ family preparing lots of food and gifts; his family never threw bashes for neighbors to celebrate his birthday. So why exaggerate the festive celebrations and shopping? Jesus is famous and will always be, even without us having to blow his trumpet. And as per the bible, God prefers broken hearts to unreal sacrifices; in other words, going to church on Christmas is better than buying luxuries to celebrate it. How Sarcastic. Many forget the origin of December festivities. They think it’s an end of year holiday, to spend and drink themselves silly; not Jesus’ birthday party. How cynical, drinking like fish in the pretext of rejoicing for the holiday. Mad as it sounds, most wallets and bank accounts are empty in January just because owners consumed lots of liquor and took friends out. Ladies, why compete for smartness in that Christmas church service? And why go for the most expensive attire? Don’t you know that God sees hearts? Are you sure you won’t need that money? Not to mention, are the daunting consequences. Spend all you want on liquor but the heights nay cause you a fatal road accident. Shame will befall you on failing to provide for your children, after burning your income, on the festive season? Anyway what will happen to all those debts you took to top up the expenditure you needed? For sure, you have started yielding from their irresponsible festive spending. And in the business field, ofcourse less are purchasing stuff because they spent on the Christmas trees, balloons and what not. Meanwhile wise spenders, who cut their coat according to their cloth, are thriving financially. As you continue being as broke as a church mouse, know it was your mistake in the first place. And before you pray for a financial break through, pray for wisdom to manage your funds next Christmas. Ends
