Why does the anticipation of Christmas begin so early these days? It's over a month away, and already the companies have unleashed a full Holidays assault. I don't even celebrate that particular holiday, but I have to live with the cultural anticipation/awareness, and it feels like it all began right after Halloween.
Is that too soon?
Is commercialism demeaning the spirit of Christmas by essentially turning it into a commercial season?
What can be done?
Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :
This has been the most talked about subject for me this past week. It seems like everywhere I go, people are commenting on how Thanksgiving is getting steamrolled by Christmas. I know the store decorations go up early but even I was surprised to see the local pharmacy employees putting up trees and Santas on November 1st.
Personally, no amount of commercialization will ever ruin the Christmas season and the meaning it has for me and the people I love.
Though the burn-out factor is HIGHLY annoying. The turkey hasn't been stuffed and I'm already tired of Christmas music.
On the retail end, I don't think anything is going to stop the lengthening of the Christmas season until shoppers let their frustrations known. Not quite sure how that's going to happen when I think about how many giftcards I sold today for stocking stuffers.
Posted by Elmer's Glue (Member # 9313) on :
It happened the week before Halloween here. I don't think they should sell Christmas stuff until Thanksgiving.
Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
It's even worse in a country where they don't have the natural buffers of Halloween and Thanksgiving - nothing to stop stores from putting up decorations in SEPTEMBER. !
Posted by Amilia (Member # 8912) on :
The most wonderful time of the year is after the grocery stores start stocking peppermint ice cream and before they start playing non-stop Christmas music.
It lasted a month or so this year.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
Same for me, Amilia, except replace peppermint ice cream with mint M&Ms.
I look forward to them every single year. This year, they changed them and made them bigger (they used to be plains-sized; now they're about the size of the peanut butter ones). I am pleased.
Posted by EmpSquared (Member # 10890) on :
My mother used to ask me for a Christmas list in September - because she wanted to get her shopping done before Black Friday and the subsequent horrors of shopping in December.
I've always loved the feeling of Christmas, gifts or not-- but I do have to admit that the fact she asked for my list so early does speak of how commercialism has impacted the spirit of it all so irrevocably.
Posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick (Member # 9302) on :
quote:Originally posted by erosomniac: Same for me, Amilia, except replace peppermint ice cream with mint M&Ms.
I look forward to them every single year. This year, they changed them and made them bigger (they used to be plains-sized; now they're about the size of the peanut butter ones). I am pleased.
Hell. Yes.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
quote:Originally posted by EmpSquared: My mother used to ask me for a Christmas list in September - because she wanted to get her shopping done before Black Friday and the subsequent horrors of shopping in December.
I've always loved the feeling of Christmas, gifts or not-- but I do have to admit that the fact she asked for my list so early does speak of how commercialism has impacted the spirit of it all so irrevocably.
That's crazy, I get tons of great shopping done on Black Friday! I can't seem to get anyone to get up with me at 4am though. You have to Black Friday shop in teams! You have a list, you fan out, you attack, and then have a team member circle back to stake out a place in the checkout line while others finish the shopping, otherwise you spend an hour in line and then you can't make it to more than two stores before either all the good stuff is gone or the Early Bird specials end!
My problem is that I end up getting half my presents for people and then I spent the same amount on myself, which is very unusual for me, I rarely splurge on myself...but there're so many good deals!
This year I probably won't be going out as early as I'm doing most of my shopping at Amazon.com (they have online BF shopping too!), but there's one thing specifically that I'm going out to get, a digital picture frame for my best friend's parents. Other than that I just plan on hitting Best Buy for their seasons of TV sale (insane!) and the mall to see what clothes I can get (also insane!).
I love it when one of my local stations starts playing only Christmas music, but for the love of God, Bing Crosby is great and all not every other song? I realize there are only like two dozen Christmas songs total, but there's a 100 different versions, let's have some variety! More TSO, less Bing.
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
It bugged me a lot more back when I was a Christian. I stopped giving or requesting Christmas presents back in my early teens, as I felt that this sort of thing was a crass exploitation of my religious beliefs.
I don't see how so many Christians put up with it. Wal-Mart spends an increasing chunk of the year telling all of its patrons, "Jesus created the world, and then he died for your sins, and now he wants you to buy your cousin a DVD player, conveniently located in our electronics department. You don't want to disappoint your Lord and Saviour, now do you? We take Visa and MasterCard." And the sad thing is, the reason that they extend Christmas a little farther every year is because it works.
I'm not saying I hate everything about Christmas. Any excuse to spend more time with one's family and donate time or money to charitable causes, whether it's religious or not, is good enough for me. And I really like some of the songs, at least until I hear Mariah Carey screech them out for the seventieth time in a month. But even as an agnostic I feel that the story of Jesus deserves a little more respect than to be used as a sales pitch.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
As far as I'm concerned, there's two things: There's Christian Christmas, and there's secular Christmas. Take out the parts about Jesus and you get the secular version, take out the economic part and you get the religious version.
But let's face it, Christmas has been like this for more than a century and a half, well maybe not like THIS, but this ongoing debate over how it's too commercialized has been going on for almost that long. If it weren't for the secular economic side of Christmas, I'd be surprised if it was a federal holiday still, as it'd probably fall under the establishment part of the first amendment, but you'd have to ask Dag's opinion on that one.
My point is, Christmas is the way it is, and it's not going anywhere, so take from it what you will, because it's huge, and there's plenty of facets so that everyone who wants something from it can probably find it there. It's been through a 2000+ year journey, from Saturnalia, to Yule in Northern Europe, to being outlawed in the US and then just plain falling out of favor as a "British" holiday, to a resurgence and commercialization in the 19th century. And all that has brought us to the present, at the beginning of the 21st century it still bears most of the marks that has defined it for the last 20 some odd centuries. The fact that stores spend crazy on Christmas decorations and pleas for sales does nothing to stop you from volunteering or giving in charity, or from enjoying the company of loved ones.
quote:It bugged me a lot more back when I was a Christian. I stopped giving or requesting Christmas presents back in my early teens, as I felt that this sort of thing was a crass exploitation of my religious beliefs.
I don't see how so many Christians put up with it.
See, the irony there is that the non-Christian aspects of Christmas, the crazed gift giving and economic side, can be traced back to pagan holidays and festivals co-opted by Christians especially to make the "hethens" more easily converted to Christianity. So, ya'll more or less dug your own grave 1000 and so on years ago. With the exception of religious imagery, nothing about it is an exploitation of your religious beliefs, because it has absolutely nothing to do with Christ, and everything to do with centuries old traditions that were dovetailed onto Christianity that slowly and I think independently became what they are today, and if Christianity had never come into being, would probably be there in some form still today.
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
I understand where all these elements of the holiday come from. But I'm talking about the form they've taken today, and in today's culture, they're all lumped in under the same holiday with the name "Christ" right in the title.
And for me, the most ironic aspect is that if you try to remove the pagan and commercialist aspects from the holiday, many Christians treat you like you're wizzing all over the cross.
Consider Bill O'Reilly's "war on Christmas" tirades. "Wal-Mart changed their greetings from Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays, and I don't want any of my minions shopping there until they change it back." As a Christian, why on Earth would he be offended by removing Jesus' name from the sales pitch.
But corporate influences have been so successful at incorporating this aspect of Christmas into the completely unrelated life and death of Jesus that many Christians not only accept it, but they'll treat you like a heretic if you try to separate the two.
Every December the question on everyone's lips is, "are you ready for Christmas?" This is a question you'll answer 10 times a day for the last two weeks of the year. And what do you think the question means? Is it an inquiry of your spiritual well-being, how you've familiarized yourself with the scriptures or tried to live by the example that Jesus set? No, it's just another way of asking if you've wandered around Target until you've found some worthless bauble for every friend and relative on your socially-obligated list.
And if you respond to that question with any indication that you haven't put yourself into debt keeping a bunch of chain stores in business, people will react as though you told them that you've prepared for Christmas by killing babies and making them into soup. Believe me, I've tried. And after a great deal of trial and error, I've found that, unless you've spent six months salary on presents, the best way to respond to the question is with a simple "yes" and absolutely no further information.
So yes, I know that this was originally a part of some pagan rituals. But if you try to tell a Christian today that Jesus doesn't want you to max out your credit cards buying people a bunch of crap that they probably don't even want, it's likely to be viewed as heresy.
[sorry this response is so rushed--I'm late for work. I hope it makes sense. If not, I'll edit for clarity in about 12 hours.]
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
As someone who works in retail, I have two things to say.
First, things have been this way for about 20-30 years. Every year my dad, who was a store manager for JCPenney, would receive complaints about his store "setting up Christmas earlier and earlier" each year, but in reality the dates haven't changed much over the past 20 years. His set dates were always about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, and he worked for JCPenneys for 37 years.
Second...logistically speaking, you HAVE to have things already set by the day after Thanksgiving or you have no chance of hitting your sales goals for the year. Most companies operate in the red for the year until Black Friday....hence the name. From Black Friday on you make your entire profit for the year.
It takes weeks to make sure the sets for the holidays are correct and well stocked. Things will never change regarding that....if anything they will become MORE demanding.
Posted by Qaz (Member # 10298) on :
I also find it annoying to see Christmas decor and hear Christmas music before Thanksgiving. Unless I'm in a Christmas store.
However, if I consider Christmas "too commercialized," I can consider the places that this is true about: stores! Of *course* everything in a store is about selling, because that's what stores are! What did I expect?
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
quote:Originally posted by Qaz: However, if I consider Christmas "too commercialized," I can consider the places that this is true about: stores! Of *course* everything in a store is about selling, because that's what stores are! What did I expect?
Good point. However, I don't blame stores for trying. I just think it's a shame that Christians have allowed them to succeed so spectacularly.
Posted by Fyfe (Member # 937) on :
Christmas is completely my favorite holiday. I get so sad when everyone hates on the whole buying presents furor, cause I love presents. I love getting presents, and I love seeing other people get presents (it's so exciting! what could be inside?), and I love, love, love, love giving presents.
What's not to love about presents? (This refers to presents in general, of course, not presents designed to make you feel guilty or presents designed to make you feel beholden to the giver.) If you give them to people, they become happy, and if you get them, you become happy, and if anyone near you gets them, you can watch them be happy and have the surprise, and if they are your friend, you can borrow them.
Another point about Christmas: The year before last (totally an excellent Christmas), after all the present-wrapping was done, I had fourteen new books. FOURTEEN. And like eight or nine new movies. And FOURTEEN NEW BOOKS. In the course of the year, I do not buy that many new books, and then on Christmas, lovely lovely Christmas, I get FOURTEEN new books. Plus if my sisters get books (and I need hardly say that they do), then I get to borrow those too! And any films they get! And I have new films too! There is a film-watching and book-reading extravaganza in the aftermath of Christmas. How can that be bad?
In sum, my family is Materialism Central on Christmas, but we all get really happy because we think a lot about presents to make each other happy, and then indeed we are all happy.
Posted by Hank (Member # 8916) on :
I'm with Fyfe. I think it's possible to give tons of presents without letting your personal Christmas become commercialized. I bake for Christmas, and I already had most of my Christmas presents wrapped before I ever saw Christmas stuff in stores. But I rarely give gifts out of obligation. For me, Christmas is the time of year when I can give something to everyone I love, so that, in case they were wondering, they can be reminded that I love them. And last time I read the New Testament, Christ seemed pretty much in favor of both love and giving.
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
Abhi and I are skipping Christmas this year, and I am so glad. We're headed to India on December 21st and won't be back until January. I'll get my friends and family a bunch of unique handcrafted things in India that will probably be more appreciated than the latest junk from the mall.
One thing I really dislike about Christmas is the fact that most people in my family have enough money to buy whatever they want for themselves during the year. Which means that the lists people give are just things they've held off buying for themselves lately. Sometimes I end up finding the perfect gift for someone - something they didn't know existed - but most of the time it's just something off their list.
The economist in me shudders at all the dead-weight loss at Christmas time.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
quote:Originally posted by Kwea: Second...logistically speaking, you HAVE to have things already set by the day after Thanksgiving or you have no chance of hitting your sales goals for the year. Most companies operate in the red for the year until Black Friday....hence the name. From Black Friday on you make your entire profit for the year.
Yeah, maybe. But in July? Because that's when at least one store in my area starts putting out its Christmas merchandise. I'm sorry, but that's just ridiculous.
And as far as holiday decorations in malls and parking lots and painted on the windows of businesses...I don't think that should happen until the day after Thanksgiving, as it used to. I can remember when I was younger that one of the cool things about the day after Thanksgiving was that you could go out and watch them put the decorations up.
Thirdly, I never, ever participate in the worship of consumerism that they call Black Friday. Too many people, too few parking spaces and too many bad tempers. I used to work in retail, and I remember the day after Thanksgiving as the worst day of all for people going from zero to enraged in no time at all.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
quote:Is commercialism demeaning the spirit of Christmas by essentially turning it into a commercial season?
I don't look at commercial entities to define for me what is the spirit of Christmas.
There's almost two Christmases for me - the madness of the consumerism and the religious significance. While I do participate in the madness, buying gifts and celebrating with family, the second part is of far more significance to me. I don't think the commericialism can "ruin" Christmas if one understands that a religious faith is not to be defined by the secular society. Same way gay unions or rampant divorce rates can't "ruin" marriage, as far as my belief about what marriage is is concerned.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
I am a huge fan of Christmas.
The giving of gifts is crucial in the story of the birth of Jesus. The same reasons for giving gifts to the baby Jesus- love, devotion, respect- are the reasons for giving gifts or cards at Christmas to those that we care for.
I strongly reject the idea that buying gifts and gathering with family or friends for Christmas is being shallow and materialistic. It is very possible to celebrate Christmas in a way that does not need to regress to plastic Santas, but still allows participation in society's interests. I think it is very possible to have a 'pagan' or secular Christmas that does not buy (literally) into the situation described above.
Although I am an atheist, I can find in the story of Jesus' birth quite helpful (like I mentioned above) in interpretation of the season- the gift giving, a long difficult journey ending in new life and enlightenment.
Taking from pagan, more Northern, traditions, a Christmas tree represents the continuation of life through the winter months (perhaps it is easy to see this when you live in a place where things do die off at Christmas). Topping it with a star or an angel reminds us of enlightenment. Lighting it, putting it in or near a window, same thing. The consumption of a meal and unusual, extravagant foods is simply part of the communal experience of celebration and saving all the best things to be eaten at once and savoured and enjoyed together without guilt.
Decorating in general I think is best indulged in as a way to change the environment from the normal world/home into something that is new and different- if you will, a magical world in which the year's normal troubles can be forgotten- or at least somewhat sidelined.
I think stories and music specific to times of year are important, and remind us of a variety of stories that should come to mind. They can remind of us of other Christmases and they can contribute to the 'other' Christmas world we enter into around Christmas time.
Christmas is a marker in the year, essentially taking a week or twelve days or so to set them apart from the rest of the year. Families and friends often do things once a year- at Christmas. My family meets up as a group with another set of family once a year on Boxing Day. It can be a time to take stock of what happened in the year, of what has happened since three, four, ten, twenty Christmases ago, what we have lost and what we have gained. It's a shame that we don't set aside specific days in the 12 days of Christmas, for specific things- deaths, births, hopes, families, friends. Or perhaps- subconsciously and slightly- we do (Boxing Day, New Years).
I think Dickens hit the nail on the head when he personalized Past, Present and Future in A Christmas Carol. Like any ritual, perhaps even more than any other ritual, Christmas orients us in time and it should be thought about as such.
I don't think it has to be pious and severe to be spiritual and meaningful. It can be joyful, carefree, generous, indulgent, colourful, wonderful, magical. It is perhaps best that way.
Being indulgent, however, does not mean forcing plastic Santas on everyone and spending masses of time and money to make 'the perfect Christmas', and it does not mean that we should extend Christmas. I personally do not think Christmas should begin until December 1st and I do not do any of my ritualistic things until then.
This somewhat idealizes Christmas and forgets the stress and anger that surrounds it. I think that more can be done to reduce the stress. I think that the fact that Christmas is like an ever-growing octopus with an endless string of expensive demands doesn't help. I think starting in November just makes this extreme. Obviously, you need to start thinking about Christmas then, especially with relatives overseas and Christmas cakes and puddings to make, but I think the more Christmas is extended, the worse it gets because any unpleasantness that may occur is merely stretched out.
I also think a lot of people expect gatherings of people they rarely see to be pleasant, and that this is rarely the case. My family has always celebrated Decemeber 25th alone, and saved friends and family for later. This means less cooking, less uncertainty, less need for mad cleaning. Despite what I've said above, I do not think Christmas should be revered. It should not be polished until it is speckless, and it should not be treated as so special that everyone forgets entirely who they are. I do not think that people who do not and cannot get along should celebrate Christmas together. To me, that just seems like trying to shove a square peg into a round hole, forcing it to embark on a desperate attempt to become square- not pleasant. However much Christmas may want to be about forgiveness and brotherhood, it should not be expected to transcend human nature.
Anyway... ramblings over now.
Posted by Iain (Member # 9899) on :
Well, I started my father's Christmas gift in July. Now I am seriously worried that I won't get it finished in time. I am bulding a model of CSS North Carolina. In July I started researching her. I started the actual model in early October.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
The thread title reminded me of the Merle Haggard tune "If We Make It Through December." Gosh that's awful.
Posted by C3PO the Dragon Slayer (Member # 10416) on :
When the state lottery starts saying their new scratchers are the perfect gift, Christmas has become officially commercialized.
I have insisted that the TV remain off until 12/16 because those commercials have been going on during December for a couple years now.
Christmas wouldn't be so bad if the TV didn't turn green and red for two months and say every little absolutely unnecessary diddy is the perfect gift, the radio didn't play random Christmas tunes from dawn until dusk so that you must vomit, and nobody tried to bring political correctness into it by saying "Happy Holidays."
Now please don't turn this into another violent religion debate; that's NOT what I'm getting at. But it seems like ever since Ramadan and Hanukah started adapted the gift-giving theme, it's been a tool for the commercial industry to capitalize on a not one, but several religions and ethnicities all competing to show which is the most spirited in the art of giving. It wasn't all that great an idea for Christmas to become a free advertising theme either.
I love the idea of celebrating a holiday by giving to others, but what the media has turned it into is something far from spiritual.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
I just don't understand why they have to have wall-to-wall 24/7 Christmas music already. That's what ticks me off. Some early Christmas music is okay. Nothing but Christmas music starting Nov. 1 = thinking about sending angry letters. Maybe I will, after I get back to FM 106.5 about the song that made me cut them off my presets.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:But it seems like ever since Ramadan and Hanukah started adapted the gift-giving theme...
Um. The commercialization of Christmas has been a complaint since at least the late 1700s.
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
quote:Originally posted by erosomniac: Same for me, Amilia, except replace peppermint ice cream with mint M&Ms.
I look forward to them every single year. This year, they changed them and made them bigger (they used to be plains-sized; now they're about the size of the peanut butter ones). I am pleased.
Mint M&Ms are bigger??? Wooooohooooooooooo!!!!
Now if only we could convince M&M/Mars to make them year round again. I miss my Royals.
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
I think Christmas can be separated into three parts, the Christian, the commerical, and the other. The other is what I love about Christmas: giving gifts but not going crazy abuot it, the stories, the "spirit of the season", the gathering of the family, the feasting.
I'm perfectly fine with subtracting the Christian elements of the holiday. It bothers me that people seem to be assuming that all this leaves you with is commercialism.
---
Myself, I've long since come to terms with the fact that American culture will take anything and try to sell you something because of it. This is even more true in cases where the thing is dear, sacred, or important, because, if the marketing people do their job right, the thing they are trying to sell becomes an expected part of the original sacred thing. Marketers look at deBeers and the diamond engagement ring or Hallmark and the cards for everything, not as a shameless exploitation of sacred things for base profit, but the pinnacle of what they are trying to accomplish.
I've gotten used to it, is what I'm trying to say. To me, the issue is much less a matter of the commercialism itself, but the second-order phenomenom of people expecting commericialization and seeing your refusal to go along with it as a absence of the original sacred thing.
We had a thread about Valentine's Day earlier this year where I was called all kinds of a bad person because I very much dislike it and won't "celebrate" it. Fortunately, I tend to surround myself with people who at the very least try to understand why I deeply resent the equalization of buying things with the original thing.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
quote:Originally posted by C3PO the Dragon Slayer: When the state lottery starts saying their new scratchers are the perfect gift, Christmas has become officially commercialized.
See, it's always been a family tradition for us to get scratch-off cards in our stockings. And by stockings, I mean my dad's knee socks that we put in front of the fireplace. And since that's the only time of year I ever play scratch-off cards, I've always associated them with Christmas.
Me, I already put up lighted garlands in my living room. I really like the light they give off...it's the perfect cozy amount, since it gets dark so early now. Makes me feel all comfy.
-pH
Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
It's only inappropriate because I get sick of it after about a month. By the time of the actual holiday, I can't even bear the festivities anymore.
It's long been a house rule that no decorations go up until after Thanksgiving (most often that weekend), and no music is played until December. I can take it at the store, because I don't live there - it's only truly unbearable (and inappropriate for me) at home.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
My Christmas tree is up.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
quote:Originally posted by kmbboots: My Christmas tree is up.
Gah! I want a Christmas tree!
But I want a real one again this year so that my house will smell like Christmas.
....but I think the dog might eat it.
-pH
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
Am I the only one who is highly offened by the latest Best Buy ad? The one where the family goes to visit grandma, waves at her from the car which they never even stop and then rushes home to open up their Best Buy Christmas presents. Talk about pushing Christmas materialism to new extremes. Its one thing to push the giving of presents over the spiritual side of Christmas and another to push neglecting family and friends so you can play with your latest electronic gadget.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I laughed at that commercial, to be honest. I don't think it was intended that way, but its almost an ironic statement on how materialistic and STUFF oriented we are now, that we can't even visit grandma on Christmas.
Plus it was kind of funny anyway.
I can't imagine anyone would actually look at that commercial and say "Geez, THAT's what we should have done all along!" And if so, well, that's pathetic.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)