Christmas Calculations

Today (according to my calculations) is Tuesday the 21st of December, 2004. That means there are precisely 4 days left until Christmas day.

I have a family consisting of four (including me) and I also have one girlfriend. Again, I can calculate these numbers, and come to the conclusion that I am to buy 4 presents in total in order to fulfil my minimum yearly Christmas present quota.

With 4 days left, it would be easy to assume that my Christmas shopping should be over, however, like others (particularly of the male species) I find myself having still two and a half presents left to buy.

I suppose thats not too bad. After all, that leaves me with approximately 1.6 days to find and purchase each remaining present.

However, given that there are roughly 4 million individuals in this country (New Zealand), and therefore it could be assumed that (dividing equally between the genders) there are 2 million males, if these 2 million males find themselves faced with a similar situation to myself, it may be quite difficult to find and purchase these presents in time.

Think about it. If each of the 2 million males still shopping spent a minimum of twenty minutes shopping each per present (which is quite a stretch for some, such as myself), that adds up to a total of 40 million minutes of shopping left to do before Christmas!!!

This isn't that serious, as many males could do their shopping at the same time. However, if each male needs to take their presents through the checkout (lets say this takes 30 seconds per present) then this adds up to (2 million males, times 2.5 presents, times 30 seconds) 150 million seconds, or 2.5 million minutes of checkout time. As there are only (60 minutes per hour, 24 hours per day) 1440 minutes each day, this reaches a maximum total of (1440 times 4) 5760 minutes remaining until Christmas (this doesn't seem very large, have I miscalculated??). This means that for all of the 2 million males to make it through the checkout in time, there needs to be at least 434.027(reoccuring) checkouts in operation 24 hours a day for the next four days!!!

And here I am sitting a a computer???!!!

Its so easy to stress yourself out at Christmas (I'm kind of stressing out after those calculations) but, in the end, its not the material possesions and gifts that make the difference (this is such an i-haven't-got-my-presents-yet thing to say). After all, Jesus reminds us that amassing treasures on earth is pointless, as 'moth and rust can destroy, and theives can break in and steal.' The true treasures are instead those that are stored in heaven, things you can take with you: your character, your honour, and maybe even your friends and family. They are what are really important.

The best Christmas gift, of course, was the first one given. 2004 years ago (or there abouts) Jesus came to earth, and was born as a baby, in order that 33 years later, he could die on a cross for our sins. At Christmas it is so easy to think of Jesus as a baby, and leave it at that. However, the most important moments of Jesus' life are not the first ones, but the last.

When Jesus cried out 'It is finished' and died, he gave us the best gift ever imaginable: freedom from the sin that tries to destroy us, and a gift of eternal life with him.

All we have to do it accept the gift.

All I have to do, is go and buy them!