And again I find myself re-thinking the whole concept of the Christmas Spirit. For some it is truly alive and well, for others it is another excuse to spend money for the sake of spending money. I figure, if you aren't going to put some real thought into the gift, don't bother. Throwing money at real people doesn't show love. But we all know at least one of those fake people who will wear or consume anything as long as it is affiliated with a celebrity and has a brand name. Those people who wouldn't be caught dead wearing or owning something from a discount retailer let alone physically going into Zellers or Wal-Mart. I feel sorry for them. True happiness is a state of mind not a state of bank account.
The commercialism of Christmas becomes more and more of an issue with each passing year. It really started to hit me with the Cabbage Patch Doll craze of the 1980's. People went crazy trying to secure one of these dolls to put under the tree. After countless hours spent on the phone looking for the store that was expecting a delivery, there was the line up outside the doors, the stampede in and the physical fights to get one in your hands and keep it. I don't know what started the craze initially but it was nuts. Top story on the news nightly. Sad really, punching someone and knocking them to the ground because they had their hands on the same doll as you did...that's some Christmas spirit...lol! And the kids who got the toys, did they even get that this toy was so "special". Probably not, because it wasn't. But it was great marketing that has been used again and again since to create similar frenzys. Remember Tickle Me Elmo?
These days we have expanded this insanity not just to a product but a day. What has become known as Black Friday, the day after the United States Thanksgiving holiday is when the consumers have been told that they must go shopping in preparation of the next Holiday. So for a full month, retailers can get people worked into a "spending" mentality. Brilliant! Thanksgiving dinner is wolfed down so that people can begin lining up outside their favourite retailer to lay their money down on crap they are told they must have.This year it was a waffle iron on sale at Wal-Mart for $2.00 that created a stampede, people were crushed, thrown to the ground and trampled on. Seriously how often do you eat waffles that you need an appliance just for that? Do you eat them often enough to shoot your fellow shopper over it? But it was $2.00! If you want one, wait until spring garage sales, I am sure you will be able to pick on up - barely used if at all - for $1.00.
I don't care if the latest and greatest, technologically superior television is on sale for 80% off if you already have more than you can possibly watch? But people will buy to have new and then throw out perfectly good products to make room. What is sad about a lot of the technology is that the commercials themselves tout them as solitary usage. Consider cell phones and the family. I admit we were guilty of using the text messaging to speak when we were all in the house together but spread out in different areas. Fortunately it wasn't our only form of communication and it did cut down on the screaming. But there are people whose voice I haven't heard in months. But I am an adult: is this what we want for our children with their young impressionable minds. One of the latest gadgets for children is a product that promises to teach your kid to read on their own. I heard this and was immediately saddened, for teaching my kids to read and love the written word was one of my favourite ways to spend time with them.
But there is good to be found. Consider the 22 year old couple who have decided that since they lived a life of never wanting or lacking the necessities and luxuries of life that they would share some of their fortune with the less fortunate. Why is it so hard to come up with that list of things you want for Christmas? Because in the impatient world that we live in when we want it we go and get it there is no waiting. But if you struggle to survive with the basics, there are things you really do need. So beyond picking up a few special toys for the single mom and her young son, the young couple saw on the list bed sheets and thought how sad that was. They don't want Egyptian cotton with a thread count of 900, they want sheets without holes. And because someone is not selfish, they will get it. And what I want, they have and are willing to share...
All I really want for Christmas can't be bought in a store.
All I really want is the same thing I always wanted all my life.
All I really want doesn't come just at Christmas.
All I really want can be given by anyone reading this. But you have to want to...
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