MODERN CHRISTMAS Bah Hum bug !
For the past week I have had these ever constant thoughts about the way the modern world celebrates Christmas. So here is my rant about the subject.
If you have ever given much time to thinking deeply about something in a philosophical way, you know that before the whole picture is made clear in your head, there is that time of confusion before its all worked out as to just what your philosophy is. You have the gist of the idea down pat but there are the deeper elements that need to be worked out.
That's just about where I am right now on how I feel about the way Christmas has become some sort of monster of obligation with no joy for most people.
There are commercials that show a woman wondering how in the world she will get all her shopping done as she enters a store. It is apparent her list is quite long. Her mother however has the solution, runs right over to the gift card display and gets a handful of them, and they are shown happy in the car leaving the store. Didn't take long at all.
Well, just where is the thought in that ? For the person receiving those gift cards, what love do they feel attached to that gift ? Are gift cards just a way to "pay our dues" shall we say and get a gift with no thought of what the person needs, would like, would enjoy ? Now there are some exceptions to this gift card thing. I love Starbucks, but can't afford to pay $4 a coffee on our little homestead budget. So, when I get a Starbucks gift card from a family member, I know they KNOW me well and KNOW what I would like. And there are some other gift cards that work well too. My husband loves Home Depot. Its his candy store. So gift cards for him work, since folks don't exactly know what he has in that shop of his as far as tools go. I think you all know what I am talking about in regard to gift cards. Attitude and thought.
There is a big part of me that wishes we would step back about 150 years in time and go back to Pa carving a mantle for Ma for Christmas, and the children getting a handmade doll or a pair of knitted mittens. A stocking with a gingerbread man, a peppermint stick and an orange in the toe. Planning for months what to make for a loved one that they will love and enjoy. Perhaps need ! I guess we all have too much and hardly anyone NEEDS anything.
Now I am going to be honest here, part of the problem for me with this simple Christmas idea, would be, having just a few packages to unwrap and not much under the tree. I am just as greedy as the next person when it comes to seeing tons of presents under the tree. I like that look. But part of the reason I like that look is a throw back from when I was a kid and got things I wanted and needed. Including hats and mittens.
I just am not sure when Christmas became such a pain in the neck for people. My sister and I were talking the other day how we don't even care to spend much time on wrapping packages. Gift bags will do. Then I was thinking about it. It is almost another gift in itself to see a lovely package under the tree, to have it in your hand, look at it for how pretty it is, be amazed at how much time the person spent wrapping it for you. Oh I see that same theme coming out...wrapping the present to be pretty is not about our time, its about the person we are giving it to, same as the gift shopping and giving ! Things are coming together. Christmas has become about us, not them, the gift receiver. We don't have time to shop, time to pick out, time to make, time to think about what is needed, wanted etc. We are too busy, doing what though ?
Wrapping is the same. We are too busy, no time, too tired, a waste of time. What joy will it be in the future when we buy gift cards for everyone on our shopping list, then put the gift card in the little gift bag and put all these tidy little packages under the tree, all looking alike ? To me that is a very frightening scene.
So I say, scratch the modern way, go back in time. Stay home more. Know your family better. Give gifts to the people you know. Spend less. Have fun hiding a project you are working on for a gift from the one you are making it for. Adjust your children's and grandchildren's thinking that they MUST have something expensive and electronic. Give them tinker toys and watch them learn to play.
I am off to wrap some packages. By the way, I did make many of the gifts I am giving this year. And our budget was $25 for each person on our list. Our children included. As soon as Christmas is over, I am going to start making next years presents, so I am not buying anything already made.
I am once again, marching to my own drum beat and taking more than a few steps backwards.
I have no desire to chase away the fun of Christmas by letting it all become one huge obligation. That level of confusion in my head is a bit better, but I still think there is more to figure out. Christmas is supposed to be a season of Joy
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