Christmas is
upon me, three days to go!
I usually
hit the department stores as early as the 28th of December for
sports shoes and items clothing particularly as there isn’t that much in my
comfortable size. By the 3rd of Jan the computer specials have gone
back to normal price and have reduced a little more – there are some reasonably
priced items I need available. If not, stuff it.
I stopped
giving presents years ago when I saw the forced smiles and the filling
cupboards. Instead I moved to giving each child an envelope with a description
of what I would be giving them for Christmas. That left it open for negotiation
and they’d have a shrewd idea of my budget – at sales prices of course because
that’s now the normal accounting way in our household. We don’t allow ourselves
to be ripped off anymore, after having been ripped off for years.
Because I have
no guilt in opting out of supporting some retailers holiday overseas or his
HSBC haven by buying pre-Christmas ‘reduced by 20%’, stuff.
‘Dad, look the sign says …’
‘Darling look 20% reduction …’
But we know now it is 20% off a vastly higher profit expectations. Credit card companies are big winners …[1]
‘Dad, look the sign says …’
‘Darling look 20% reduction …’
But we know now it is 20% off a vastly higher profit expectations. Credit card companies are big winners …[1]
Forgetting
the Christianity mumbo-jumbo, in the northern hemisphere the Winter Solstice
was the time humans looked forward to spring and the renewal it brings, a time
for celebration and drawing together, for thanking the earth for its bounty. Today,
in competition with Ramadan, Christmas[2]
is the most expensive waste producing, relationship damaging, health destroying,
and environmentally degrading time of the year.
It’s a
holiday for the better off only (they can afford it), but such is the hype to
spend and be merry that all too many are hit with catastrophe. It’s in March/April
that the credit card bill will arrive. Essentials like the house loan, school
fees, insurances, car servicing, colon cancer checks, the planned move to
eating better, get delayed. Family stress levels hit the roof,[3]
gastric illness is normal and alcohol induced listlessness destroys the gift of
family get togethers. The waste of wrapping paper alone, never mind puked up brandy
and cheaply produced expensively sold broken toys, puts a smear on something
that once was beautiful.
Last year I
spent Christmas in Australia. My daughter’s planning was brilliant. Presents
were a simple acknowledgement and what was left over was designed to minimize
cooking for the rest of their off-days. The day after Boxing Day I wandered
about their Middle Class suburb looking in dustbins. My realisation: if every fourth
neighbour swapped bins (so none too close) there would be food (different so
you’d feel you had been out) for a week and an interesting enough find of
discarded presents (and other stuff) to entertain all for another afternoon. Pity
it was all mashed up with the real rubbish.
Christmas
was always for those who could afford it, paid for by those who can’t. It’s time to do it differently.
How about
hand-made gifts – make dad a mud pudding, mom some flowers from the garden - or
at least something purchased from a local business? How about just a hand-drawn
card for the adults and something simple (perhaps one gift only) for the kids?
How about pulling back a bit, focusing on the connection and love between us
rather than the need to make sure our kids have as much as their school mates,
who may seem well off but are actually struggling under their own debt?
How about
smiles, hugs, a family getting together after the year’s work in a refashioned Christmas
that is a celebration of each living other rather than growing the pile of
plastic floating in the ocean, and the stream of cash flowing to unscrupulous
global corporations?
Merry
Christmas.
[1] http://fixmydebt.ca/blog.php?CHRISTMAS-SHOPPING-CHRISTMAS-DEBT
[2]
‘It's time to cut the obscene amount of Christmas food waste ...’
theguardian.com back in 2012. ‘Up to 270,000 tonnes of food go to waste during
Ramadan ...’ says thestar.com.my … in Malaysia alone!
[3] ‘Christmas
is up there with divorce, moving house and changing jobs as the sixth most
stressful life event.’ See prnewswire.co.uk
