christmas consoomerism
Christmas, a time to spend with friends and family, eat great food, spend exorbitant amounts of money on gifts (especially that).
I'm not much of a Christmas guy. I like the lights and stuff, I like the nostalgic vibes watching Home Alone, etc. I like "the holidays" but I'm not big on Christmas itself. Maybe I'm just bitter that the holidays haven't been the same since my dad died. I do like Christmas, let me correct, I like what Christmas SHOULD be. A whimsical time to enjoy with friends and family, sharing food. Gift exchanges are fine, but come tertiary to everything else.
I feel like Christmas tends to become a big dick-measuring contest, who's house can be the flashiest, giving the best gifts, etc. And it always wants to start like 3 months early. Get back in the hole you crawled out of Mariah Carrey, it's the middle of October. Literally THE DAY AFTER Halloween, my local Walmart already had Christmas shit all over the place. It's like they skip over Thanksgiving because it's not as profitable as Halloween or Christma- oh wait. That's exactly why.
The holiday season is odd to me, you have the aforementioned Yuletide Blitzkrieg. Then you have Thanksgiving where it's all about being thankful for what you have... followed by "International Elbow a Grandma for a Flatscreen at 30% Off Day". Black Friday following Thanksgiving would be comedic if it wasn't reality. Now because of the internet, you have Cyber Monday.
I'm kind of a hypocrite, I do like the annual deals, but that's mostly because I'm a cheap-ass and have been holding off buying DOOM: The Dark Ages (r/patientgamers). Also, my MIL got a killer deal on a Dishwasher-Stove-Microwave set, which is great because the shit we have in our house currently is old enough to remember the launch of the Nintendo 64, and the microwave is taking longer and longer to warm up my daughter's milk bottles adequately. What started at 15 seconds to get it warm is now cruising on 35 seconds, before too long I'll have to nuke that bitch for 10 minutes... or just use the oven.
Anyway, the problem isn't so much with getting deals on stuff. It's the rampant consumerism and the buying of shit you didn't (know you) want/need. It's the poor shaming for families who buy used to at least give their children SOMETHING on the season of gift giving. These are the same parents with kids who will scream at them when they got them the newest iPad, but in the wrong color.
I'm not against gift giving, one of my favorite memories as a kid was going on a scavenger hunt for clues to find a present, that present was a blue Epiphone Les Paul. My mom still tells me about the look of pride on my dad's face as I excitedly see this beautiful guitar hidden away and pull it out to start playing.
That's what gift giving should be about, giving something for a loved one because you want nothing more than to see the joy on their face. Creating core memories. Gifts should generally either be small if you're going to do it annually, or big but seldom and reserved for people you hold the closest. The thing about my guitar isn't the guitar itself, but what it means to me. It's a connection to my dad.
Especially in today's economy, it's hard to not spend a grip-load to get everyone in your circle a gift.
My wife and I are taking steps to reprioritize Christmas. We firstly want to travel more. We want our daughter to grow up with experiences, not things. We want her to have memories that will last her whole life. I don't remember a lot of the gifts I got, I remember the moments surrounding them. Another example, I really wanted a pair of black and gold Air Jordan's when I was a freshman in high school. My dad got them for me, but the thing I remember most is him recreating the scene from A Christmas Story. The one where Ralphie opens up "all" the gifts. His dad asked if he got everything he wanted, to which Ralphie says yes, slightly disappointed. The dad then turns his head and says "what's that over there?" to which Ralphie is surprised with the Red Rider BB Gun he always wanted. That's what I remember the most out of everything. The J's I was unable to fit in not long after we got them, and they hurt the hell out of my feet anyway.
My advice for those of you out there that may be stressing out over the holidays; don't feel guilty for not spending a lot of money on gifts, if people get mad because you didn't spend X dollar amount on them, then that tells you the kind of person they are. Don't feel guilty buying used, as someone with a record and console collection, buying used is a sort of given. Especially on young kids, it's okay to buy used, they don't know the difference. Used can still be nice. Hell, my cousin wanted a stapler for Christmas one year.
You hear the old saying "it's the thought that counts", and I feel like it's often used to soften the blow of "wow, this fucking sucks", but it really is the thought that went into the gift.
My wife is the person who doesn't care how much a gift costs or how nice it is, she cares that you put the effort.
The holidays should be people-centered, not materialism-centered. That's the true meaning of Christmas.
Pirate is wearing black converse, black pants, black American Idiot tee
Pirate is feeling tired
Pirate is listening to Return of Saturn : No Doubt
Pirate is playing Republic Commando
Reply via email: me@absurdpirate.com