By Terri Andersen
“Did you finish your Christmas shopping yet?,” I’ve been hearing one co-worker ask another since the day after Thanksgiving. The answer is usually something like: “Almost. I still have two or three more presents to get, but those I did buy are all wrapped and ready to go.” - How did I ever get mixed in with these organized souls? I haven't even made up my Christmas list yet!
Every year I tell myself I refuse to succumb to the crass commercialism of Christmas and that if the family and relatives can just get together, that will be enough to make my day. And as often as I tell my kids not to expect much in the way of gifts since “money is tight this year” (applies to every year since I can remember), they go on counting the days and showing me all the items they'd love to have from the catalogs that come in the mail. Hope definitely spring eternal for them, and since they refuse to believe me when I say “no presents this year,” I always find myself giving in and promising, “OK, but just one gift a piece.” The trouble is, after I purchase that “one gift a piece,” I usually see something that Johnny just has to have; then if he gets two, of course Jimmy has to get two, as well as Billy, Karen and Rick. And since the Outfit I couldn’t resist for Karen cost more than what I got for Johnny, naturally I have to add a little something for him. Let's see, that makes three for Johnny, so I'll just have to get another “little something” for each of the other kids—and so it snowballs. By December 20 it becomes a mad rat race to make sure each child is gifted equally, to blazes
with the budget, suffer the consequences come January. After all, they tell me, Christmas comes but once a year (while the bills linger on and on). In July I swore if I did any gifting it would be only homemade items, but July became December before I knew it, and out I’ll probably go to add to the coffers of big business. Compared to other families of our acquaintance, we definitely do not go overboard (how well our youngsters know what the Jones kids got and they didn't), but in these days of high prices, even a “little something”
carries a “large price tag.” What always bugged me more than anything was to see someone who got three out of the four presents hoped for complain that the fourth one was the one he really wanted most. One year I thought I'd played it smart when I shopped early for a toy the youngest begged for since October. After it was all wrapped and secreted in a closet, a new set of commercials came on TV and suddenly the longed-for toy was no longer longed-for. When I brought up the subject of the now-almost-forgotten toy, the response I got was, “Yuk, I don't want that any more. That's a dumb toy!” What did I do? What any self-respecting supplier would do—I stooped to the technique used on TV and extolled the virtues of the already-bought toy until it once more became the most desirable (then made every attempt to keep the TV turned off before any more brainwashing could take place).
The following year I waited until the last minute so no mind-changing could take place, only to find all the stores completely sold out of the No. 1 desire.
Why do we put ourselves through this? Who started this whole thing anyway? Is it always more blessed to give than to receive? Sometimes I think I would love to just receive and not have to give anything. As I go about my rounds each year, trying to find just the right gift for Aunt Harriet, I have the hardest time finding something suitable for her but I see a hundred things suitable for me, which naturally I have to forego in order to present Aunt Harriet with something she would probably just as soon do without. Why can’t we change the whole system to make it possible for each of us to go shopping for something we always wanted but didn't dare buy for ourselves? Just think how satisfied we’d all be, and how many less returns there would be the day after Christmas. I know, I know—that’s not what it's all about, but it sure would save a lot of hassle. (Shame on me! Where's my Christmas spirit?)
Of course if my idea took hold, there would be no suspense and excitement the whole month of December; no holding your breath each time one of the kids passed your secret hiding place; no thrill of satisfaction when you discover you chose “just what was wanted”; no forgetting self to think of others, (and no big profits for the merchants).
OK–so it's not perfect, but for now it's what we’ve got. Christmas should be more than just gift-giving—it's a holy day as well as a holiday and should be treated as such. I guess for the imperfect humans that we are, it's our feeble attempt to celebrate the spirit of joy that the first Christmas brought into the world, Maybe as the human race progresses, we'll find a better way—in the meantime, have a happy giving season, and a Merry Christmas!
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