Oh, the memories of Christmases past. Driving around mall parking lots in an endless circle, desperately trying to find a parking space. The crowds at the stores, waiting in long lines to pay for the gifts I so thoughtfully picked for others. I can remember the frustration of stores never carrying anything I would want to give to anyone for Christmas. So many times it came down to succumbing to the default – a sweater or a scarf or something that wasn’t really personal. For so many years I went Christmas shopping only because I felt I had to get things for people. Rarely was it because I actually wanted to. It’s funny – the only pleasant Christmas shopping experience I can remember was when I had a handicapped parking permit and was able to park in the front row at the mall. Yippee.
These days you won’t find me anywhere near a mall during Christmas shopping season. The whole retail industry has, over time, worn me down and pushed me away from that scene. The parking, fighting the crowds and spending all day on my feet has turned me on to the big holiday shopping turn-off. The entirety of the thing is a pounding, throbbing headache that starts well before Thanksgiving, almost even before the Halloween decorations find their way into stores. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, pound pound pound.
The other day I went into town to pick up a few things at the grocery store. On my way there I was listening to a radio station in the car and I got stuck in a commercial break. The first words of every commercial were “BLACK FRIDAY SALE“. I was in the store long enough to get back into the car just in time for the beginning of another commercial break. Again, it was the same thing: BLACK FRIDAY BLACK FRIDAY BLACK FRIDAY BAM! BAM! BAM! KAPOW!!!!!
Later that night we were watching the local news on a local TV station and again, every commercial break was filled with spots for BLACK FRIDAY sales at every possible retailer in the area. Just freaking exhausting!
The effects of retail have forced me to take a completely different view of the whole Christmas thing. When I was young I thought it was about the presents. We weren’t a religious family, we didn’t attend church. Every year on Christmas morning I was shocked as I sneaked out of bed early in the morning to peek into the living room. It was amazing to me how many presents were around our tree. It was a magical, glorious thing, a wondrous feeling that set my anticipation of the day’s events at a fever pitch.
I grew up in an upper middle class household with three brothers. Christmas morning was really something to behold! Yes, we had our traditions like leaving cookies and milk out for the Big Guy. We had the traditional Christmas Eve visit to my mother’s parent’s house and the Christmas Day visit to my dad’s parent’s house. Year after year it was the same thing until the kids got older and other commitments starting eating away at our priorities or availability. Christmas to me, when I was a boy, was always a special time, a time I always looked forward to.
I’m not a religious person so Christmas has never really been about the hardcore religious aspects and meaning of the day. It’s more of a spiritual thing to me. The entire ball of wax, the season and the day itself are about reaffirmation of the importance of all of us on this planet and how we are all related as humans. It’s about the sharing of lives and appreciating how much we all have in common. It’s about family, and the importance of each day throughout the year and not taking anything for granted. It all boils down to each and every little thing that makes each day worth living and appreciating it as it happens. It’s about peace between people, nations, and mankind as a being in and of itself.
It’s not about ensuring department stores reach their revenue goals or setting new records form online purchases over the previous year. Like I’ve said before, if retail relies so heavily on their holiday season sales to carry them through their fiscal year, then someone isn’t doing a very good job in the marketing department.
You may not be acutely aware of the impact of retail on your Christmas psyche because although a lot of it is pushed relentlessly into your face over and over, there is also a large part that is cleverly and subliminally implanted into your mind. You’re not even aware that you’re being programmed by the retail machine. But yes, it is happening. I’m not being paranoid in this case – there are people who teach subliminal advertising and condition programming in marketing curriculum at colleges and universities all over the world.
Over the past decade or two, the retail push in the holiday season has literally exploded. It’s no longer just in newspapers, billboards or mailings. Now it’s all over your TV, computer, tablet, smart phone and even social media. It is virtually everywhere you look and we are bombarded by it constantly for periods of time that get longer each year. Kids growing up these days think it’s normal and they probably believe this is how it has always been. But it isn’t normal. It hasn’t always been this way.
Another big downer of holiday shopping is the debt hangover a lot of people wake up to after blowing their spending budget (if they even have one). The figures are pretty staggering when you look at how long it takes the average American to pay off credit card purchases from holiday shopping. In my house, we run a lean and efficient financial machine. We don’t use credit cards unless we can pay off the balance within one or two months. Whenever possible, we pay cash for everything. If we can’t pay cash, then we do the research to determine if the purchase is necessary, worth it, or prudent. I’m not going to run up $4000 in credit card debt for holiday shopping and string that out for several months. It’s just not worth it to me and it’s just bad economics.
Does all this mean you’re an idiot if you enjoy shopping for Christmas gifts? Certainly not. I know some people who get a serious rush from being first in line at Walmart when they open their doors on Black Friday or whatever insane day and hour they decide to open to signal the official beginning of holiday retail mayhem. There are some people who live for holiday shopping and that’s fine. I’m just saying it isn’t for me.
I am sure an attitude such as mine isn’t very realistic if you have a bunch of little kids. After all, they have been taught by the retail industry what Christmas is really all about, so to speak. But you’ll never see Linus as the spokesperson for Walmart at Christmastime. Linus really had it right when he let Charlie Brown know what the true meaning of Christmas is. It certainly isn’t about getting the best deal on an XBox or scoring the latest and greatest cell phone. It’s really about being anti-retail.
No retail chain is ever going to promote world peace – they don’t care about that. No retail chain cares if you get along with your neighbor. No retail chain cares if you have good relationships with your children or other family members. They don’t care if you donate food and clothing to shelters. They don’t care if you live your life everyday understanding that we can all make a difference in the world around us. They don’t even care if you have inner peace and want goodwill toward men (and women).
They just want your money. They want to please their stock holders, CEOs, and satisfy their bottom line. And that, to me, isn’t anything remotely near what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.
Related articles
- Black friday of the living dead (metronews.ca)
- Where Are You Christmas? (aka: Rants of a Holiday Cynic) (tiare75.wordpress.com)
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