Christmas is arguably the most anticipated holiday of the year. Airports are almost packed to capacity and the highways are full of travelers taking a family trip to visit with loved ones. Families gather together to express feelings that seem to multiply during the holiday season. It's the one time of year when most Americans seem to agree that "it's better to give than to receive." I don't have a problem with people shopping and buying gifts at Christmas time. It is a holiday that is meant to be shared with our loved ones and to express our love by giving each other gifts. What I do question is the motivation behind some of the extravagant gifts that we buy for our children and other family and friends. Are we really trying to make our loved ones happy or are we trying to impress them and others by overspending for the sake of being remembered for the person who gave the nicest gift? In my opinion, our efforts to find the perfect, gaudy, and highly expensive gift in order to outdo the next person has greatly overshadowed what it really means to give on one of the most celebrated days of the year.
I have always been a person that values honesty and integrity in the circle of friends that I choose to associate with. I feel that whoever knows me is getting me at face value. What I mean by this is I never try to pretend to be something that I am not. One of my first conversations with my current wife included the fact that I didn't have great credit and I was a long way from being wealthy. I wanted her to know exactly what she was getting so she could make an informed decision whether to continue her relationship with me. Fortunately, she overlooked some of my flaws and the rest is history. What does this have to do with Christmas? So many times I've seen people go into serious debt because they wanted to get the newest or most expensive product on the market in order to impress their wives or their children. Instead of buying a more sensible gift within their financial realm, they wanted to feel the satisfaction of being the one who gave the most prized Christmas offering. Before we know it, our credit cards have reached the maximum purchasing limit and by the time we pay them down, the next Christmas is right around the corner. This turns into a never ending cycle and causes unnecessary stress and ultimate resentment for Christmas. We need to get back to realizing what Christmas is all about. The author Victor Buchli expresses in his book "Material Culture", that "the thing given at Christmas is a material object, usually a commodity bought in a crowded, garishly decorated store. But it is also a vehicle of affection that expresses private sentiment within a relationship that is personal and probably familial. Complaints about materialism typically point out that we pay too much attention to the vehicle and too little to the sentiments and relationships it is supposed to express."
Giving is one of the most affectionate and pleasant things that we can do to show our love for our friends and family at Christmas time. It makes us feel good and it lets our loved ones know how we feel about them even if we have not expressed our feelings toward them all year long. However, when we give, we should give for the exclusive purpose of being in the Christmas spirit. When we try to buy the most expensive gifts for the sole purpose of trying to be the hero, we start to lose sight of the reason for the season. That reason is to celebrate the birth of Christ. What would Jesus buy? He would just want us to give out of love, not attention.
References:
Buchli, Victor. The Material Culture Reader. Berg Publishers, 2002
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