Insecticide for Gimmee Bug.

It is commonly believed that the Gimmee Bug bites once a year, right around the holidays. This rumor is entirely groundless. I happen to know for a fact that the Gimmee Bug is around all year long. It frequents stores--particularly malls--and has even been known. to be embedded within the pages of mail-order catalogs. However, a particularly virulent strain is customarily unleashed on frazzled consumers, weakened by stress, immediately prior to the holiday shopping frenzy. Hence the concern about the Gimmees at holiday time.

While there is no proven vaccination against the Gimmee Bug, there are certain measures you can take to boost your immune system and ward it off.

Maintain a sense of balance.

Christmas is a holiday of excesses. We spend too much, we eat too much, we do too much. This imbalance makes us prone to the Gimmee Bug. Keep in mind what the season is supposed to be all about: close fellowship and sharing in the needs of others.

Limit gifts.

With children, especially, this can be a very effective strategy. You can't ditch the gifts altogether without alienating kids, but you can limit them (in number or monetary amount). Keep it in perspective. Next year they're not going to remember what toy you bought them. It probably won't work anymore, either. But they will remember the snowball fight you had on Christmas Eve or the carols you sang at the nursing home. Gifts aren't everything.

Diversify your focus.

If the gifts under the Christmas tree are the main event, then kids will have a hard time fighting off the Gimmeee Bug, since all their holiday anticipation is focused on acquisition. Instead, develop some family traditions that will be looked forward to with ,such eagerness each year that the tree will diminish to its proper place of minor importance Tall order? Maybe, but those traditions will be part of your child's future. Stories will be told about "the Christmas when ... "Those priceless memories are worth every moment spent in planning.

Have a homemade Christmas.

Last year my kids dipped their hands in fabric paint and put handprints on Dollar Store towels to give as gifts. My crafting included almost 20 notepads I made out of calligraphy paper, cardboard, and some beautiful handmade paper with bits of leaves and flower petals in it. I don't know if it was much cheaper than buying gifts, but I do know two things. We had a lot of fun making them, and the people who received them will always treasure them. This year I think I'll make beeswax candles.

Remember the Reason for the season.

If you want children to appreciate the holiness of the season, you have to consciously direct their attention there. It will work, but like any good thing it takes a hefty dose of good old-fashioned determination. Participate in church holiday programs, volunteer at a homeless shelter, carol at nursing homes. Find some way to show love to others.

And remember, above everything else, Christmas is a birthday party. When I first started celebrating Christmas as Jesus' birthday, complete with cake and "Happy Birthday to You," it made a big difference in the way I perceived the holiday When we think about Christmas in terms of gifts for ourselves, it becomes a holiday for us. But when we think of Christmas as Jesus' birthday, it naturally swings the focus to the Guest of Honor.

The most effective repellent against the Gimmee Bug is a generous spirit. "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Luke 6:38, NIV)(*).

(*) Texts credited to NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright [C] 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Celeste perrino Walker is planning a "Gimmee Bug-free" holiday at her home in Rutland, Vermont.