A child walking down Newbury Street could easily be forgiven for thinking that the entire month of December was dedicated to fat men in red designer suits and thin models with expensive handbags. These ads, like those lining most commercial areas, beg consumers to buy a gift—for your parents, your children, your partner, or even yourself.
Now think back to the days when you still believed in Christmas magic, when presents would appear under a proportionally massive tree. Each year, you’d race to the glittering gifts, ready to shred through wrapping, expecting a Lego set or a new electronic. As time passed, we got older and our desires became more expensive and expansive, seemingly fueled by the marketing of rampant consumerism. Ads for extravagant products would be everywhere from the Thanksgiving Day parade to Christmas radio stations on a snowy drive home. This holy time of the year gradually morphed into a competition of who could buy the most fashionable gift. The joys of tradition became smothered in wrapping paper and tied off with a neat little bow. The Christmas tree became a peacock for the front window to display how much you bought into the Christmas frenzy. Giving gifts has become a competition of consumerism.
Once a holiday centered on reflection, charity, and the celebration of spiritual values, Christmas is now dominated by relentless advertising campaigns that equate joy with material goods. We have become prisoners of these holiday markets. Instead of the kids on the nice list, we have become the elves, cranking out profits for Amazon and other companies like it. What we see as a good gift doesn’t stem from our appreciation of its context, but revolves more around the prestige of big businesses that tell you the price will be equivalent to the gratitude of your loved one.
Christmas is not just a time for giving gifts, but for giving yourself to the ones you love. Baking cookies with mom, making gingerbread houses with your siblings, or even helping carry the tree with your father—these are the best moments of Christmas, ones that will sit in your heart long after all your gifts have been passed on. Even as we have drifted further from the emotional and traditional aspects of holidays, Christmas will still be Christmas as long as there are gifts and people to receive them. This holiday season, take some time to get cozy by the fire, sing along to a carol, or even dedicate this Christmas to passing on family traditions to the next generation.
