Christmas In Korea

So if the world is wonder what my Christmas was like here in Korea.. I will write about it
Yes, I was sick the past week.. so much of the past time passed quickly and was to fuzzy to make sense. I had a pretty major fever on Christmas Eve, and spent the day in bed
My Christmas was nice though. I woke up and was no longer sick.. no more fever at least. I still felt a little off. But I got together with a group of foreigners in my building and we had a christmas lunch and a gift exchange, so i did receive a present on Christmas... even wrapped :P
But the biggest thing i have to admit, is that I enjoyed a Christmas like that.
I liked the fact that I was not surrounded by consumerism this year. That I wasnt encouraged to shop shop shop and buy things for people, that perhaps they dont really need. I liked not feeling like the whole day was just about gifts and the stuff we get.
Think about this. The US spends 450 Billion dollars A YEAR on Christmas.. and it would cost 10 billion dollars to give the world water.. forever.
But we keep on spending so much.
And even now, when the world is in recessions, we still find something to complain about in that. When we can't live on 15 dollars an HOUR but some people live on 2 dollars a DAY.
Can you see how sharp the contrast is there??????
I dont get it sometimes. I want to do so much more... and yet I still have the western lifestyle. I still have debts that I have to pay off.. and that means I need the well paying job to get the government to leave me alone. And if I have the well paying job, then I have to be able to dress the part, which means spending more. And if I have the well paying job and the nice clothes, then I should probably have a car to get to my job. And I should leave a nice, comfortably furnished home with my car each day. And maybe I should be able to stop for my 5 dollar coffee.
That cycle clouds our minds so much.
This year choose to do something different. Presence instead of Presents. Choose to live, to give, to give more but spend less.