Having braved the crowds of people year after year when doing my Christmas shopping, it never ceases to amaze me just how commercial Christmas has become.
I wasn’t going to write this post, but as I was driving in to work last week, one of the radio presenters was recalling the story of his little boy and the Christmas list he had devised. This little boy wanted 4 things for Christmas
- An X-Box
- An iPad2
- An AK47 assault rifle
- $10,000 cash
Originally I had mixed emotions about this list. First off, I was really concerned about a young boy wanting an AK47 for Christmas! Then I was having a good laugh at the $10,000 cash, I remember thinking – What a smart kid. Then I became a bit disturbed that this is what has become of Christmas.
What is Christmas?
Christmas is primarily an annual Christian celebration commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is also a public holiday in many countries and is most commonly celebrated on the 25th of December.
All hail the mighty Christmas Dollar
The big department stores all spend up big on advertising at this time of year, in an attempt to convince you to buy the latest and greatest range of products. Before long, you have bought presents for everyone that you know and come Christmas day, you will come home with even more stuff that you don’t need. This just perpetuates the capitalist driven consumer centric cycle into the next year and further erodes the true meaning of Christmas.
This may or may not be true for everyone, but every Christmas I used to collect hundreds of dollars worth of presents, the vast majority of which I used only a handful of times before I either became bored, or found something new and more exciting to play with. I imagine this type of behaviour is repeated the world over and most people will never even think there is anything wrong with it.
The Christmas Economy
From Wikipedia – Christmas is typically a peak selling season for retailers in many nations around the world. Sales increase dramatically as people purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies to celebrate. In the United States, it has been calculated that a quarter of all personal spending takes place during the Christmas/holiday shopping season.
Far too commercial in my view. There was a great article in the Guardian a few days ago about how so many gifts are given and then basically thrown away so quickly – causing significant environmental damage – the plastic toys are made from petroleum products, transported huge distances, and then almost straight away thrown into landfill. It’s gross.
There is nothing wrong with a well thought out gift that someone will love, but it gets to me that the whole thing is competitive and you’re seen as a weirdo for not wanting to be a part of the whole thing.
Well said James. I’ll have to go looking for that article, it sounds right up my alley.
Santa Claus is definitely winning the popularity contest with Jesus these days. It’s funny that the former wouldn’t even exist without the celebration of the birth of the latter.
My 5-year old thinks he is getting an iPad for Christmas. In reality we found him a cheap refurbished Samsung Galaxy tablet. He won’t know the difference.
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It’s an interesting turn of events that’s for sure.
Do 5 year old actually want tablets? When I was 5 I just wanted to play outside.
I do think it has become too commercial. People fighting at stores of Black Friday just so that they can save one dollar, among other things, is insane.
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I don’t think I could ever imagine myself fighting at a store no matter how big of a discount.
Is your son secretly a doomsday prepper? I mean with an AK-47 and $10K it sure seems like it. All kidding aside, I also tend to agree Christmas has become a little too commercial, but what holiday hasn’t? I’m with you, just give me some time to spend with my family over a nice meal and a good afternoon nap…
Yeah, that kids list was a little out there.
I’m liking the idea of this afternoon nap.
I hate that Christmas starts right after Halloween. It is a commercial rush, and I find it quite annoying, although I enjoy a few bargains on food and alcohol. We do no gifts for adults in my family, I still give something to my mum and sister and get something from them but that’s it. Once I prepared a turkey for 25 travelers in Guatemala, my mum and sister were there to visit and it was one of the best Christmas, with no gift or pressure.
I love that. A really nice Christmas story without the capitalism creeping in and ruining everything.
I think it would be hard to argue that Christmas has NOT become too commercial. While I do appreciate the deals and I do engage in gift-giving, my favorite parts of Christmas are spending time with people I care about and going to the Christmas church service. While I do attend church weekly, I particularly enjoy the Christmas service because more time and effort is put into it and it’s easier to get in the mindset of the purpose of the Christmas season (and subsequently WHY I am a practicing Christian). I do find it surprising how “secular” Christmas has become and how it has essentially become a secular Holiday.
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I can’t see it getting any better though, every year it becomes more and more secular.
I think Capitalism has forever taken over Christmas.
Growing up years before you, back in the 50′s – it didn’t seem like we had too many gifts. We would take turns opening and admiring one gift for one person at a time and the toys we got were cherished all year long.
I do think we gave our kids way too many though.
Most retailers earn the majority of their revenue during the Christmas season. Without the Christmas rush many of them would be out of business, jobs gone and consumer opportunities to purchase what they want might evaporate. I am a capitalist and I think it is up to each person to celebrate Christmas their own way – as you are doing.
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I really like that simpler version of Christmas. It seems to me that this current generation (my generation) has no appreciation of just how well off we are and just how consumer driven we have become. I know capitalism has a big role in shaping society to where it stands today, but at some point I think it goes to far.
Yes, and I am starting to hate what Christmas has become. I am not someone who enjoys shopping, or the giving or receiving of gifts. I just think there are better things to do with our money and time.
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I’m right there with you Holly!
I’m with you 100%. I would love to stop the gift giving as adults and focus on the kids. Given that I have no family of my own (other than a sister) I celebrate with my husbands (very close) family and love it but they can get a little foolish with gifts. I try and tell my mother-in-law to stop with the gifts, especially now that we have a baby- if you want to buy something for her that’s fine (preferably in the form of an RESP contrition) but we’re married adults, if we want something we’ll get it ourselves! I’ll never change them though. I use to go to church, fell away from it after we were married but now that we have a kiddo are looking to re-join as parishioners.
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I think Christmas has become so ingrained with some people, that no matter what you tell them, they will continue buying gifts. I don’t believe it is done maliciously, in fact, I believe it is quite likely they would feel terrible for not getting you something and that’s the reason why the cycle continues.
I could not agree more Glen! When stores start rolling out Christmas decorations and crap in September then it’s too commercialized. We celebrate both sides of it and truth be told I’d be happy to only have a small gift or two for everyone. It espouses spending without abandon and generally on junk that’s not needed. You’ll learn with your upcoming little one that the grandparents will like to spoil your son. We get that all the time with ours. Because of that we hold back a huge chunk of what we budget and use it to give our kids fun experiences throughout the year as opposed to another toy they’ll play with for a week.
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I really like that idea of spending the money on experiences instead of gifts. Although, I would hope the grandparents would listen and respect our wishes when it comes to our child.
There is no doubt that consumerism has overtaken Christmas, and to some degree it is a celebration of our culture of excess.. That said, with the economy in Europe and the US suffering.. I kinda feel like embracing the nonsense and hoping that people spend out of their minds.. Those of us who have a sense of reality with our finances can watch from afar
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I could go into the state of the economy forever. So i’ll just say that no matter how much people spend this Christmas, there is far more wrong with the economy than can be fixed by any amount of Christmas shopping.
FAR TOO COMMERCIAL!!
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That’s a great post Glen and I completely agree. As an adult, my favorite Christmas memory is my entire extended family sitting at our dining room table playing a board game that one of my kids got for Christmas. Laughing and joking around, just enjoying each others company. I’m sure there was a huge pile of presents in the background somewhere but in that moment it could have all disappeared and nobody would have noticed.
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I love that! I would like nothing more than to emulate your Christmas experience you had that one year. It isn’t the presents that you remember years later, it’s the events and the fun times.
Great comment! That put me in a really good mood
As a Christian, I do appreciate that Christmas is popular, but I hate the reasons for the popularity. I work for a company that has a consumer product that has something like 80% of it’s sales between Black Friday and Christmas Eve. It’s NUTS! I don’t mind that EVERYONE celebrates, but it definitely has lost it’s meaning quite a bit. Though, i do love giving gifts, even to adults, but I only spend $10 or less, and make sure it’s something useful/meaningful. Mostly, I enjoy the time with family and reading through the Christmas story, while filling up on delicious food and hot cocoa!
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I imagine that you are not alone in hating the reasons why it’s popular. For people who celebrate the true meaning, it cheapens the entire reasons why you rejoice.
I’ll swap your hot cocoa for a nice cold beer. Most of our Christmas’ are stinking hot.
Glen, you and I think exactly the same. I just want to be around my family for Christmas, enjoying good food and each others company. It provides a time to connect and catch up as we don’t see each other that many times throughout the year. I hate the commercialism of Christmas. Though I am not very religious (the wife is), it still makes me laugh that most people have no idea what Christmas is about.
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I think that most people know what it is about, they choose to ignore it.
I believe it has. Everyone I know always talks about the TV’s, iPhones and the iPads they’re getting for Christmas and I wonder… what does that kind of purchase have anything to do with the birth of Jesus. I don’t think you’re the Grinch. There’s nothing wrong with having some fun and gifting something meaningful for holidays, but going out and spending more than you can or should be spending is ridiculous. Look at every holiday now… Christmas = gifts = $, Halloween = candy, costumes = $, Thanksgiving = black friday, cyber monday = $, Valentine’s day = gifts, getaway spending = $.
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Capitalism has worked its way into every holiday, cheapening each and every one along the way.
I’m glad you don’t think I’m a Grinch
Poor Lexi, her mean Mama will encourage her to volunteer her time during the holidays instead of participating in rampant consumerism. Thankfully my family is supportive of my desire not to own a lot of crap.
I would prefer to go down that path, but I don’t think my family would be as accepting.
Yes it has gotten very commercial and it seems the gifts keep getting more expensive as we go especially the technology and electronics the kids want. For us we could careless about gifts and would rather spend time with the family. I think we will always have the I want, I need, I really have to have that because all my friends do marketing to the masses and the kids and Christmas will go on being one of the most expensive holidays to many. Great post. MR.CBB
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You can barely turn on the TV or walk down the street at this time of the year without being bombarded by Christmas advertising. The biggest problems is that we are conditioning people to get the “I wants” at this time of year by perpetuating the cycle. I myself will be doing it with our son – to say I am a little conflicted would be underestimating it.
Yes, it’s way too commercial. If you are getting a gift because you feel you have to get a gift and not because you truly want to give to that person, there’s something wrong with that. I almost am to the point that after 18, you don’t give gifts anymore.
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I think 18 years old would be the absolute maximum that I would like to continue up to, any more than that and it’s a bit pointless.
Christmas has been far too commercial for a long long time now – however I have noticed a rise in mindless buying and an obscene amount of tat that no one really wants. A lot of it is buying for the sake of buying. People feel like they have to buy everyone something,but because they don’t really know them that well they end up with tacky junk, that stays in the cupboard until its you can throw it away without feeling bad. At least take it to a charity shop or something.
Personally, I’ve never celebrated Christmas as a Christian holiday – although I certainly enjoy the songs, nativity’s and the core values of sharing, giving etc. However, I’ll certainly be teaching my children the core of Christmas – Christian or not.
Since moving away from home some eight years ago, Christmas to me is family. For most its simply a way of dealing with and justifying the terrible weather. There’s such huge pressure on us from the retailers its really tough not to get pulled into the hype and get carried away.
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I really hate the pressure that is associated with Christmas and the expectation that you will be buying gifts.
I like your idea of giving any excess to a charity. At least it will be doing some good.
I honestly miss the Christmases of my childhood. Sure we had toys, and as a child I loved that part. But my siblings and I also enjoyed Christmas Eve at church. Around 7:00 we’d go to church and act in the Christmas Play. Then afterwards we’d have dinner at my grandparents and watch old tv specials until 11 and go to candlenight service (as a kid it was pretty exciting to stay up until midnight at church. It was completely different than regular Sunday services). Then we’d sleep and awake to presents.
Church was my favorite part. Sadly, that seems to be missing from the season.
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I think you would agree with me then that those memories you described are cherished far more than any toy you received as a Christmas gift. And that’s my entire point, Christmas isn’t about presents, and the presents aren’t what you are going to look back on when you are old and grey. It will be the interactions you had with people and places that you will remember and cherish forever.
I feel it has become to commercialized. My family started a few years abck to only get presents for the kids and the adults do a secret santa. That why the kids still have fun and the adults get a little something special.
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Well… in a capitalist society and structure, anything with the POTENTIAL to become ‘too’ commercial aka relentlessly competitive and ruthless… will.
And, Christmas in its very nature was always ‘commercial’, as it was about the act of giving something of value; regardless of why.
As for it being a Christian holiday… well, yes, but Christianity stole it from Pagans and it’s essentially just astrological symbolism…
Those of us who don’t believe in such, mostly see it as a end-of-year relief, time to give and receive, be with family, you can’t blame businesses for taking advantage of that, that’s what they’re supposed to do… but yeah I don’t think it’d hurt if we all placed more value in the experience, the ‘getting together’ and relief aspect of it.
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