Tis the season for decking the malls and jingling all the way to the cash registers! As another holiday season makes its way around the corner and into our homes, it’s blatantly obvious of the materialistic pressures that come along with it. Millions of people spend billions of dollars to decorate their homes and satisfy the need for presents from every loved one. Christmas is supposedly the season for giving but it’s become the season for intense consumerism that leads everyone nearly penniless. As this holly jolly costly season begins every year the entire world seems to fall into these materialistic habits. Is there hope for change? Will Christmas ever revert back to being about something more than presents and greed?
The idea of Christmas has gradually shifted into something more materialistic, but what caused this shift? In General, Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. The holiday is also meant to be a season where you spend quality time with loved ones and show compassion and generosity towards them. According to the Washington Post Christmas initially began in the fourth century, it was a fest created by the Roman Church. This feast marked the end of the seasonal harvest and the beginning of “Winter Solstice”, which was deep-rooted in pagan traditions. The winter solstice fell on December 25, the same day that Christmas is celebrated today. At this time Christmas was a time to celebrate, party, and simply have a good time, but gradually included the birth of Jesus Christ as a part of the celebration. As societal expectations became stricter and Puritan beliefs became more relevant the holiday transitioned into a Christian-based celebration that included everything holy and old traditions of drinking an excessive amount on this holiday seemed to no longer be accepted. This all changed in 1822 when a man named Clement Clark Moore, a 19th-century scholar, wrote a poem that transcended into a whole new meaning of Christmas. The poem was titled “A Visit from Saint Nicholas”. Many people today are still familiar with the poem stating, “’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.” These rhymes have become a classic that represents the spirit of Christmas. The story of the jolly “Saint Nicholas” describes the holly jolly man with red cheeks and a round belly that shakes like a “bowl full of jelly” that we know well today. The story of Saint Nicholas influenced parents to get gifts for their children to influence them to believe in the tale and the magic of it. Originally this gift-giving was never a time of stress or a solution for greedy children, it simply brought families together and created a magical time of year. Today’s society has made “Saint Nicholas” into “Santa Claus” and has mutated the pure holiday into something that it was never intended to be.
“How can we fix this problem?” you may ask: the solution is relatively simple. Choose to make your Christmas about family, generosity, and peace. Don’t let yourself and your family fall into the well-calculated moves made by corporations that only want your money. Christmas nowadays is a stressful time when millions of people hope that the gifts they buy will be good enough for their loved ones. Big corporations feed off of these worries and convince people all over the world to empty their pockets. According to an article titled “Opting Out of Consumerism at Christmas” by Julia Ubbenga, 41% of Americans are willing to go into debt from gift shopping. The consumerism aspect of Christmas has gotten out of control and affects nearly everyone and their wallets. All you can do to avoid falling into these traps this Christmas is to remember what the holiday means to you. Teach your kids generosity rather than greed and let yourself feel generous instead of stressed this holiday season. This Christmas strive to focus on spending quality time with loved ones while you can instead of spending every dime you have.
