On Christmas

I don’t really like Christmas anymore.  It’s been a long-formed opinion, and I think it’s been especially solidified by working close to the retail world during the past two holiday seasons.  I love how this time of year brings people together.  I like how it inspires ordinarily uninterested people to focus on aesthetics – decorations and such, for example.  I enjoy the cozy atmosphere a lot of places seem to adopt.  But, the senseless and meaningless consumerism depresses me.

About three years ago I started requesting that family and friends stop giving me Christmas gifts.  I was at a point in my life where I was breaking away from a lot of traditional “capitalist society” thoughts and actions.  I didn’t want any more possessions beyond those that facilitated the things that brought me joy – a bike, a laptop, books, and a bed.  Anything more than that would do nothing for me but clutter my surroundings.  A simple act of cutting possessions out of my life connected to so many other things I cared about.  Generating less waste.  Living in a smaller space.  Spending less money.  Having more time for social interactions.  The list is endless.

And the trend has stuck.  I think people have finally caught on to what it means to me.  But it’s a lifestyle choice that means so much to me, that now when I see the opposite happening all around me with such intensity, I’m disgusted.  It makes me want to run far, far away from it all.  In nine months, the chemicals from the disposable electronics will start seeping from the landfills into our ground water.  The plastic packaging will be there in even less time.

And for what?  The idea that the act of gift giving can somehow replace a social disconnect between gift giver and gift receiver perhaps.  People spending too much time working, so they can afford to fill their homes with more worthless possessions, in turn ignoring those they know they should be paying more attention to instead.  Maybe it’s just habit, or maybe it’s a chicken vs. the egg cycle of reciprocity that has no end.  I don’t know.

Whatever it all means, I’m certainly not participating.  I’ll do my best to keep the holiday spirit rolling – to see and talk to as many friends as possible, and to be warm and friendly.  I’m just not buying anything…