Posts Tagged ‘christmas’

Is this the best Christmas ever?

You cannot escape Christmas anywhere: streets are lit up with coloured lights and neon stars, and it seems every second house is adorned with dazzling lighting displays that seem to be part of some great social competition – more expectations. So what if you’re just not into Christmas and see it as just another holiday? Is it really necessary to get caught up in all the hype?

I have been contemplating Christmas and the effects of the economic slowdown, with several points coming to mind. Buying gifts for all and sundry is out for many people this year due to tighter finances, and many of us are looking for other ways to add value to the holiday other than just throwing money at it.

Why do we get stressed out at Christmas?

A lot of stress is created when our situation doesn’t line up with our expectation. This is especially true at Christmas. For a lot of people, the family tradition of buying nice gifts for everyone we know has been a lifelong one, and learning to break it or replace it with something new has created an air of uncertainty – can we really change the way we do things and be happy with it?
For some of us, not knowing what to expecxt, or at least, expecting a bad experience makes us want to run and hide, or just flip the calendar; roll-on New Years!
Our materialistic society has made us value the gifting aspect of Christmas too much, with all the messages of how it is “better to give than receive”. We all know that warm glow when you give someone the perfect gift. So how are you supposed to feel when you are unable to give anything?
Of course, for the wealthy, this is never a problem. Are we right to assume then that those who can afford lots of nice presents this year are better people than those of us who cannot?

Should we boycott Christmas altogether?

For some of us, Christmas is and has always been a great time of year. Families getting together having lavish feasts and joyful times. At the core of the holiday though, is a religious celebration.

So what do we do if we’re not “religious” christians?

If we decide not to get into the spirit of Christmas, we are labelled as anti-christian, or grinches. Whatever happened to the live-and-let-live philosophy?
Surely anyone espousing the virtues of christianity should be able to accept other people’s right to have nothing to do with the holiday. I see the whole expectation element as a judgmental and hypocritical concept; just another way for self-righteous people to impose their will upon others.

Personally, I hate this time of year and can hardly wait for things to resort to normality.