Nearly 40 years ago, in the 1965 movie "A Charlie Brown Christmas," a Peanuts cartoon character bemoaned the fact that Christmas was too commercial.

"Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?" the exasperated Charlie Brown shouted to the cast of his Christmas play.

These days a fair number of people might admit they can't help getting caught up in the commercialism of the season because their Christmas to-do lists are longer than the lines to see Santa.

According to a survey released in late November by the Consumer Federation of America and the Credit Union National Association in Washington, Americans planned on spending more this holiday season than the previous year.

About 17 percent, compared to 15 percent last year, said they intended to spend more this holiday season. About 32 percent predicted they would spend less, down from 34 percent a year ago, and the number saying they will spend much less was down even more --- 12 percent from 16 percent the previous year. The rest, about half, said they expected their spending would be about the same as last year.

Among those who said they would increase spending, 43 percent said they had an improved financial situation or greater confidence about the economy, but 36 percent said they simply had more people to buy for this year.

Amid all this buying and the often frenzied preparation of cooking, decorating and holding holiday get-togethers, some say it is increasingly more difficult to truly enjoy the spirit of Christmas. Instead, they say, we should buy less, slow down, spend time with friends and family, think and pray about the meaning of the holiday season and do something for others.

These countercultural ideas might seem like cries of St. John the Baptist in the wilderness, but both secular and religious advocates of such ideas say today's society is actually ready to embrace a more scaled-back Christmas.

"We've taken back our streets. We've taken back the night. Let's all take back Christmas," wrote Kristin Johnson for the Internet Web site www.peopleoffaith.com.

Buy Nothing Christmas, a group founded by Canadian Mennonites, encourages people to return to holiday traditions and homemade gifts. Its Web site, www.buynothing.org, offers downloadable study guides on the meaning of Christmas and a free poster with an icon image of Jesus next to the message: "Where did I say that you should buy so much stuff to celebrate my birthday?"

A Sioux City, Iowa, group called Alternatives for Simple Living provides Advent calendars and Christmas kits reinforcing the season's spirituality. Its 2004 Advent calendar urges families not to "be distracted by advertising" and to consider donating a percentage of what they usually spend on Christmas gifts, food and decorations to charity.

"Simplify the Holidays," a brochure offered by the consumer advocacy group New American Dream in Takoma Park, Md., points out that the holiday season is "arguably our greatest cultural paradox" where "tradition, family and faith have been replaced by a consumerist binge."

It then throws out a few statistics such as the amount of money the average American planned to spend on holiday gifts in 2001 --- approximately $1,042; the average number of months it takes credit-card users to pay off holiday bills --- four; and the number of extra tons of trash produced in the United States between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day --- 5 million.

For the past five years, New American Dream has helped organize alternative gift fairs across the country, including one held this December at The Catholic University of America in Washington. "Shoppers" purchased not the usual Christmas gifts of jewelry, clothes and electronic gadgets, but support local and international charities by donating money in other people's names.

Menen Wondwosen, a Catholic University senior who coordinated the fair, which raised $4,500, said she ended up purchasing an anti-malaria bed net for a family in Tanzania, in the name of her aunt.

Sarah Roberts, communication director for New American Dream, said the fairs provide a chance for people to purchase something tangible that can help others.

She said the notion of having people think about others, especially during the Christmas season, needs to start with young children. "Get them involved," she said, emphasizing that children can either do something for a neighbor during the holidays or even give away old toys before new ones are received.

"They need to see the holiday as part of something bigger, that it's not all about them," she told Catholic News Service.

Many Catholic parishes across the country have long stressed similar messages by encouraging parishioners to provide meals or gifts to local families in need or homeless shelters.

For the past two years, St. Rose of Lima Parish in Gaithersburg, Md., has provided its parishioners with a brochure similar to the alternative gift fairs, which lists specific donations that can be given to local and international charities in someone else's name.

Phyllis Schmitz, a pastoral associate at St. Rose, said the program emphasizes "our principle of solidarity" and is also a way of "getting people to think of the meaning of the Incarnation."

"Christ appeared in the flesh," she said. "Now we have to continue his work."

---CNS