Every year, my father insists he doesn’t want anything for Christmas. He doesn’t need anything, and anyway the best gift he could get would be seeing his kids and his grandson.

He says that every year, and we always buy him something anyway.

But when we talked on the phone last month, there was a new urgency in his voice. ‘We don’t know how bad this recession is going to be,’ he said, ‘and I don’t want you guys wasting your money buying us something we don’t need.’

I, of course, didn’t immediately get it. If there’s a career that’s recession proof in our current national security circumstances, it’s a military career. We can afford to buy a few Christmas gifts.

What I was forgetting was that neither of my two younger sisters nor their husbands are in recession proof jobs. (Although, my youngest sister lives in Michigan, where they’ve been weathering a recession since 2004, and she’s done OK so far.)

The point is, if ever there was a time to not go ballistic at the mall to buy people more stuff, the time is now.

Reports differ on just how much of an increase in spending there was on Black Friday this year, but it seems there was in fact an increase over last year. Not to mention the fact that people were so eager to get out there and SHOP that a man lost his life when a crowd stampeded the doors of a Long Island WalMart.

I hope we consumers will settle down after this and see this time as an opportunity to help those around us who might be struggling. A news story I read recently points out that while some military families are doing fine, others aren’t doing so well. Now is the time to come together as a community. Maybe this is the year to consider giving some of your holiday budget to a charity, like your branch’s relief organization.

Army Emergency Relief
Air Force Aid Society
Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society
Coast Guard Mutual Assistance