Honestly

Jay Dwivedi's personal page.  His business blog is here. Also visit my daily blog.

What would Jesus Buy movie review


We can only speculate but this hypothetical question definitely makes us all think. I have to admire the marketing strategists who have done a terrific job in associating Christmas (and for that matter almost all holidays all the way from Memorial/Columbus/4th of July Day to Valentine's Day and Thanksgiving) with shopping. I wouldn't be surprised if future generations might even not realize that Christmas originally was a day to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ, and thus, a time to reflect on his message of love and peace. To the best of my knowledge (I am not a Christian and have only limited knowledge of the Bible), there is no mention of shopping or even exchanging gifts in the Bible. The story of Santa Claus comes much later and it was all about helping the poor, and certainly not about giving yet another sweater or tie to someone who already has 10.

I am really not expecting that our shopping patterns will change in any way due to this movie (they better not since that is what keeps our economic engine running) but I do hope that consumers will spend a few moments to think about what makes it possible to sell all these products at such low prices, the pollution, the global warming, the sweatshops, etc. so that they can push the corporations to act more responsibly.

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Thanksgiving dessert recipes


If you don't like the idea of reading those articles about how not to gain weight during the holidays, then you just need to remember one simple thing: eat in moderation. It is OK to eat almost everything as long as you keep the overall calorie consumption during the day unchanged. If you still want to eat more calories, you can burn the extra calories by exercising more than usual.

And as I said about Thanksgiving side dishes, here is a nice video to try a slightly different set of dessert recipes.

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Thanksgiving side dish recipes


One of the easiest ways to celebrate Thanksgiving is to simply stick to the rulebook and do what has been done for ages, but when you make minor changes in your menu or how the day plays out, you are putting your personal stamp on the holiday. As far as we are concerned, we always need to make minor changes in our menu to take care of our friends and family members who are increasingly either vegans or vegetarians plus our reluctance to eat turkey for the rest of the year. If you want to stick to the traditions, that is fine too, but one of the simplest things to personalize your holiday is to try a new side dish. Here are some great recipes to try.

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