On the first day of Christmas my true love said to me – get your wallet out because the season for spending has arrived!
No yearlong writing blog challenge would be complete without a Christmas
Blog! With two more to do after this, I could not resist the temptation to
write about my favourite subject… NOT! Christmas has come to town! Actually it
is Santa that comes to town in the song, but his arrival and Christmas arrival
are equally as expensive and commercialised as each other. And for those of you
who are thinking “airtight Grinch, get of your pedestal” it is not that I hate
Christmas (well may be I do) but what it actually means and not what is meant
to be.
The idea of writing about the never-ending commercialisation of this
season came to me when I saw someone on the underground with an I-phone 6,
which had a phone cover that made it look like an old I-phone! The cover was
big, bulky and square, but at the back of it there was a very intriguing picture
I could not make out. I am guessing he was attached to the cover because of the
picture and not the horrid shape of the ugly structure surrounding this
masterful piece of equipment that is the I-phone 6. If you’ve not seen the new
I-phone yet, it is a very slim, rounded design with a very delicate metal
structure very pleasing to both the eye and hand of its owner.
So why would anyone spend money on an ugly cover covering a very
expensive phone? This question is what inspired me to write about the season to
spend money. Trarlalalala tralalala! (see how I got the xmas theme going here? J) Manufactures of phone covers have
commercialised a market, which kind of doesn’t make sense. You spend thousands
of pounds in a new bit of gear which every time gets more and more sexier, and
then we go and spend more money to go and cover it up! Some times with
ridiculous covers that completely and utterly take away the beauty of the
device, which is what you paid for! It’s like the guys who sell antivirus; its
rumoured they are the once who produce the viruses! It’s all about making you
spend more money!
So let’s get back to our Christmas Carol story and why I don’t like
Christmas. The ghost of Christmas past comes to me every year to remind me of
my childhood and my experiences of this time when I was still at home with my
family. I guess back then I didn’t know any better and what child does not like
to have a visit from the white bearded man bearing gifts? I guess back then my
memories of Christmas where happy, as I knew no better. We used to have big
family gatherings, which somehow will always end up in some sort of trouble
with an uncle getting too drunk or some truths coming up fumed by alcohol
In my Christmas Carol story there is the Ghost of Christmas adolescence
that comes to remind me about my time in my late teens and early twenties. This
is the time I found myself away from my family when I moved to England and not
feeling the pressures of Christmas what it all means. I guess it was strange at
the beginning but pretty soon I got used to not having to turn my world upside
down for 6 weeks of the year (In Mexico we also celebrate all the way to the 6th
of January with the arrival of the three wise men, one more reason to spend
money!) and you know what? I liked being away from it all!
And so it brings me to my Ghost of Christmas present where I now have my
own family and they love Christmas! In fairness to me I am not as bad as I am
making myself to be (I’m fighting my own battle here, as I know some of you are
really thinking “Baa Humbug”) and I do get into the sprit of the season… a bit.
To prove this, I do buy Christmas presents, I do attend company
Christmas do’s, I do drink and eat holiday season food, and I do occasionally
sing Christmas Carols. I even tell my favourite Christmas joke every year:
What’s Father Christmas wife called? Mary – Mary Christmas! LOL!
What I do not like is the commercial drive to the festivities, which in
my country of residence, UK, starts from as early as October! That is insane!
When we have just taken down our skeletons and pumpkins people are begging to
display Santa and Rain Deer! We start to see television adverts tempting you to
“buy” for loved ones and closer to December the array of useless box-set gifts
begin to pour in the shops. People walk around possessed by the holiday season
demon carrying thousands of bags filled with gifts they “hope” the recipients
will like.
Buying for someone when you are pressured to do so, (secret Santa specially)
confused by the unusually large selection of bric-a-brac in the shops and a
limited budget, which has to be spread amongst all the people in your list, can
only be bad for your health! And in my opinion, unless you enjoy the experience
of shopping under these conditions, it takes away the important message that
was set, I am sure many years ago, as to the meaning of this time of the year for
many around the world.
I am not suggesting the world should stop and cancel Christmas, I am
only asking for all of us to take this as an example of how commercialised our
world has become. When retailers focus on how they can flog things to us we
don’t need and in some cases at ridiculous prices just because is the season to
be jolly (£4.50 for a small cup of warm wine called Mulled!), we are in danger
of becoming more and more the victims of a society that pressures us to believe
that by giving someone something you don’t really need at Christmas, you are
now in the spirit of whatever two thousand years ago was started and came with
a message of peace and love around the world.
PS – Dear Santa, this Christmas what I really want is peace on earth…
I’m not kidding… but if you really
want to give me a gift, come back in September for my birthday; here is my
list….
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