Just before Thanksgiving I looked in my post office box and saw it overflowing. I sighed in resignation; this was a day I had been expecting. The catalogs had begun to arrive.
It was like this for weeks. As they started to pile up around my house, I found myself glancing at them out of the corner of my eye. In years past I’ve browsed through some of them, but mostly they’ve gone straight from the mailbox to the trashcan. But this year, in the flurry of getting ready for guests to arrive for Thanksgiving, before I chucked them in the bin I made a concerted effort to look through them.
The more I looked I realized that maybe this year catalog shopping was the way to go. After all, I can’t just run out to the nearest mall or big box store to get a last minute present. Many of my presents are going to relatives across the country, and you can’t beat those free shipping deals. The more I thought about it, the more determined I was that this year I would not just browse through the mound of catalogs for ideas, but for actual purchases.
Thanksgiving passed; Black Friday passed and Cyber Monday arrived. This is usually a day I ignore, but because of my pre-Thanksgiving organization I pounced. In fact, I bought most of my Christmas presents that day or in the days that followed. It appears as if I wasn’t alone either. Americans everywhere descended upon their computers as Cyber Monday morphed into “Cyber Week.” According to the digital analytics firm comScore, in the week following Thanksgiving Americans spent $6 billion Christmas shopping on-line (no that’s not a typo, it says billion).
This is a staggering amount of money, but it seems lavishing your loved ones at Christmas is rooted in history. Perhaps it can be traced to the Christmas song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” This year, if you were to replicate the song you would spend $101,119.84 on your true love. Who can live up to such expectations? Does love demand that we buy such rare gifts as a partridge in a pear tree or send your sweetheart 12 lords-a-leaping? What happened to a simple fruitcake or tin of homemade fudge? Are we expecting too much out of our Christmas giving?
My shopping, or shall I say buying, is just about completed and I pat myself on the back for being so organized. But to be completely honest, I feel a slight sense of loss. I’ve always had an abundance of Christmas spirit, and this is a time of year I look forward to with great anticipation. I like the baking and the decorating, the cheesy music and the twinkling lights. I like to stroll through my favorite local shops thinking of my favorite people. In my flurry of online shopping this year, instead of feeling wrapped in the Christmas spirit, I feel instead as if I were simply checking people off a list. Is searching for the best deal taking away from the Christmas spirit, or is it that bottom dollar deal that makes it? Are the presents that we open on Christmas morning the best part about the season, or is it everything that leads up to that moment?
There is a song that says “we are all children on Christmas Day.” I’ve always felt this to be true. There is a special magic that materializes around Christmas that smacks of the unexplained we once believed in as children. Now that I’m buying and preparing for my own child, I understand that the gifts she opens on Christmas morning will enhance the magic of the season for her. But I also understand that my thrill for the twinkling lights on our tree, the special once-a-year treats we’re making together, the frenzy of looking for the perfect gift in a crowded mall, and the anticipation of a visit from Santa are just as magical as the latest deal I found online. And if “we’re all children on Christmas Day,” then I’m not expecting a partridge in a pear tree, but just a small sparkle of that old magic.
Previously published in "The Star," Grand Coulee, Washington. December 14, 2011
I love your blog about keeping the spirit alive! I made a horrible mistake of regifting some lotion that was given to me from a family from the school to a family friend who came to Christmas dinner. Like a dummy, I forgot to remove the little tag that had the name of the family who gave it to me. Before the friend read the tag, I ripped it off and I am sure she knew what I was doing.... This sad experience made me stop and think about the importance of what gifts say to the person receiving the gifts. I didn't buy her the lotion nor do I know what lotion she likes... This sad experiencing will always make me stop and think about the meaining of giving gifts that show how much we care about others.
ReplyDeleteSo I agree with you, let's not check off people's names just so we can say, Done. Let's give those gifts that show how much we love those people around us! That's the spirit of Christmas. Thanks Daniel!