...Conscientious parents can’t help but wonder how their children’s attitudes and values are being shaped by holiday advertising hype and displays of unrestrained materialism. One year, I went through the frustrating process of searching all over town for a Cabbage Patch Doll to give my daughter for Christmas. The ordeal led me to ask myself the following questions: Should I allow aggressive marketing to dictate my daughter’s toy preferences? Should I allow short supplies of the coveted prize to dictate the amount of time I spend searching for it? At what point should I declare the doll search “holiday madness” and myself an overly indulgent parent for succumbing to it? Before I tell you how I handled the situation, let me offer a brief history lesson to help you understand my decision...

Tags: holidays & celebrations, spirituality & values