DylanI hate Christmas! There, I said it!
Okay, now I’ll clarify, I actually quite enjoy Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the things that go with those two days. What I hate is the 6ish weeks that lead up to it and the hype, competitiveness and overall stress that starts somewhere around Nov 12 (Christmas lights should stay off until after Nov 11 but thats a topic for another day). It’s all so stressful and, I believe, results in people landing themselves in debt that it takes them half of the following year to dig out of.
While I am very careful not to dig myself into debt I also admit that I am an anxiety filled gift buyer when it comes to my kids or others (and not just at Christmas). Did I get enough? Did I get too much? Will they like it? Will they pretend they like it? The list of things I torture myself with go on and on and almost always end with me buying more than I planned simply because I figure if there are enough “things” then the one(s) I miss the mark on will have less impact.
I know things are unlikely to change, both in my shopping anxiety and in the never-ending quest to keep up with the Jones but wouldn’t it be nice if it did? If Christmas was more about the people and less about the commercialism that has overtaken it. I particularly worry about people this year with the rising interest rates, slowing economy and the impending recession that will cause an increase in unemployment and all the societal issues that go with that. I will, as I always do, make a donation to Feed Nova Scotia or some other organization that could use a little help. They almost certainly need a little more this year.
I don’t write this to be a downer, I just wanted to put it out there because I feel I’m not alone in this feeling and that if we all talked about it more then perhaps we could begin to do something about it and reclaim the time from the corporate marketing machine that bombards our senses.
How do you feel about the lead-up to Christmas? Do you love it, loath it or somewhere in between?
