I Drew This

You can’t have Christmas—not a real Christmas—without those self-righteous types who say it’s all just one big money-grabbing fiesta by the retail sector. There was a letter in the paper the other day; something along the lines of “Oh, they didn’t move xmas to coincide with the pagan winter festival, they moved it to coincide with the Christmas sales”.

They’re essentially saying that if you go out and spend money at Christmas, you’re somehow diminishing it by turning it into something commercial.

And I think that’s a load of merry shit.

I hate the conceit of this attitude; this stuck-up pretension that says “I celebrate this holiday in a more pure sense than you”, or “you may think you have Christmas but I really have Christmas”.

Does anyone think it’s really possible to have a holiday based on the tradition of gift-giving without getting the retail sector involved? I actually enjoy buying gifts for my family. It’s fun in itself coming up with ideas, conferring and colluding with other siblings to make sure we’re not doubling up (something that failed miserably this year but that’s another story), then the happyfest that takes place when we all open them (after the obligatory family portrait in front of the tree).

Do the anti-retail-xmas fanatics expect me to develop an interest in basket weaving come December 1? I tend to think my brother will actually be happier with Season 6 of Cheers than he would have been with a small wicker basket to keep all his spare buttons, paper clips, used batteries and 5-cent pieces in.

And I hate that attitude that somehow says you can’t do the retail thing while also having a very meaningful holiday, whether that meaning is based around family, religion, or whatever. Giving gifts bought from a store does not diminish whatever you want to make of a holiday (unless it’s buy-nothing day) and it’s nice to be given something you wouldn’t normally have bought for yourself. We all work hard these days. It’s nice to have someone say ‘here, have this, spoil yourself a bit, you deserve it’ and it’s nice to give a gift to someone that implies the same.

I know it’s a bit late so I won’t wish everyone a merry christmas but I would like to wish a happy new year everyone (to all four of my regular readers) and I hope you all got lots of cool stuff and spent the day in a way that was meaningful to you.