Yes, folks… the holidays are coming. I love…LOVE Christmas, but I dread the holidays. Even more so now that I’m working retail. That’s right I will be at work bright and early on Black Friday. It’s the first time I can remember leaving the safety of my home on the greatest Feast of the Consumer Religion, the Mardi Gras of capitalism. This most pagan of holidays will be made more interesting since I will be witness to followers of Jesus proudly celebrating it in that syncretistic shrine called the “christian bookstore.” It’s going to be an interesting day.
I really do love Christmas though. I love the birth narratives of Jesus. I love the idea that God humbles himself to become one of his creatures, that God participates fully in life with us. I love Christmas music, decorations, the glow of lights and the coming of winter, cold weather and hot chocolate. I love Christmas music so much I start listening in September. I love getting to spend time with my family and friends. Last year it waited until Easter to snow here in Texas, but I hope it at least gets nice and cold for Christmas. I love all of this about Christmas. I just hate the presents.
Look, I’m not against ever giving presents. Please don’t email me about how it’s your love language and I’m trying to deprive you. I love thinking of the perfect gift for my wife’s birthday or getting something for someone that really makes them happy. Let’s be honest…that’s not what Christmas is about. Giving presents this time of year is out of control. The idea that we need to give presents is an ingrained instinct that comes out this time of year.
We’ve been struggling as a family for a while now with how to reconcile the madness of the season with our own convictions about consumerism…and our tight budget. There’s some help out there from Adbuster’s Buy Nothing Day and the mennonite movement for a Buy Nothing Christmas (which has some excellent alternative gift ideas). Mary Nelson, one of my new heroes, reminds us recently to Don’t Scurry, Be Happy. My good friend Justin Tapp wrote a post last year about Christmas from an economic perspective called Christmas and Deadweight Loss. I also just found the Advent Conspiracy site.
So, how about you… share your story about either trying not to participate in the frenzy or getting sucked into the vortex of consumerism. Maybe we can help each other figure out some new ways to celebrate the incarnation without all the iPods and things we don’t need.
Lucas – have you heard about the documentary coming out called “What would Jesus Buy?” I’m looking forward to it. Definitely relates to what you are talking about here.
i haven’t heard of it, but it sounds interesting.
the website is http://wwjbmovie.com
Hey, I don’t have an iPod!
I feel the same way you do Lucas. I do not think I am as cynical about it as you seem to be. I do love the decorative atmosphere and the music of Christmas. Perhaps you are there for a reason? Maybe you can gently use your position to help those who are too caught up in the consumerism of it all?
I approach Christmas in two ways: celebrating the inacrnation of God and then the cultural part of giving presents. I have tried to keep them separated. I used to have that impending pressure of having to buy gifts and at the last minute throw money away trying to meet someone’s expectation. Now, its like I want to give, but give gifts that are meaningful and express the love I have for the individual to whom I give the gift. I try to be more discerning as to whom I should give.
i’m glad you recognized that ipods and things we don’t need belong in separate categories, lol, i’m kidding.
i too like to give gifts and see people’s reactions to a well planned and meaningful gift, but it’s hard to hit quality in a season of quantity. we’re not exactly sure what to do with our families, that’s the trickiest part, dang families. maybe i can make ornaments out of my car that doesn’t run
I’m even more cynical, sinfully so. I hate the whole thing, traditions and all. I should enjoy the birth narrative more, but it seems like so much is inevitably and permanently attached to it (traditions) that I don’t even like it.
It’s worse now that I know next year we’ll have a kid, and my wife wife LOVES Christmas and I hate it.
I think most of it is just selfishness on my part– i don’t want to part with the little money I have. I don’t want to accept other peoples’ presents and feel indebted to them. I really just don’t like to submit to the fact that sometimes you have to do things for the sake of other people rather than yourself. I hate relinquishing control over my own choices. Example: Someone buys me a gift, so I now need to buy them one too. I didn’t want to buy them a gift, but now they’ve forced me to go to the mall and find something.
I wish I could go live in the wilderness from Thanksgiving to New Years. I’ll give presents to people for March Madness or something. I’d be happier with that.
Hello. Don’t have much time, but just wanted to drop a line to all my my four walls peeps from Turkmenistan!!
Hey Lucas,
happy holidays man. I too find myself a little spent on Christmas capitalism.
would you mind dropping my book off at the Truett Student Services office when you make a trip to Truett.
thanks,
Josh Carney
You must have been bustin’ buns last week. In this ‘terrible’ economy, we were up 8% over last year for the post-Thanksgiving shopping spree. Either we are buying more for Christmas as a percentage of income or we are really doing well as a nation, either way I hope you are making the money you desire during the holiday break. That’s a good thing.
My father-in-law said he saw you at work and you were very knowledgeable.
carn-dog… your book will be in the student services today.
richie- i’m no economist, but i tend to be skeptical about anyone’s economic forecast. there are people saying we’re on the brink of recession and others saying that our economy is strong. i’m not sure i’m qualified to make a determination about that.
to move beyond that, i don’t believe that economic growth is the ultimate goal. that’s part of the problem with modern capitalism. it is based on the belief that the free market will solve all problems and that economic growth is intrinsically good. it seems to me that this does not ring true with reality…but i’m sure you disagree.
our resident economist should chime in about now.
The economy can always get better and can always get worse. One things is for certain, if people lose confidence it will go south. I always question people’s motives who produce negative forecast, especially if they are economists. They KNOW that theirgloom and doom is a self-fulfilling ‘prohecy’. All I know is that economy is robust, except for the housing market where people entered long term loans with adjustable interest rates. STUPID idea. There is always good and bad. The bad thing is that they gambled and lost -> foreclosure. The good thing is that housing costs drop and building costs drop. I have to live with both effects. I can’t sell my house but I am building so my costs are lower.
I don’t think a capitalist would say that the free market will solve all problems. I think that is an unfair representation of capilalism. Most capitalists would agree that some government control is necessary to prevent monopolies. Monopolies eventually would morph into a sort of company-run socialism vs. a government run one.
I think economic growth is always good in that jobs are created and people trade more. The more people trade, the more people stay employed. I think that a good thing.
I understand what you’re saying about the economy. I recognize that economics is a natural part of life. Literally it just means the way we order the necessities of life: food, shelter, clothing, social relationships.
Economists being overly optimistic or overly negative can both have negative impacts on the economy. Enron would be an example of what a denial of reality can do in economic terms.
The mortgage crisis is not the fault of the borrowers. It is clear from everything I have heard and read that lending companies were using predatory practices, preying on weak, vulnerable, poor people by pushing these risky loans on them. They told them they could just refinance later. I certainly understand that people have a responsibility to read the fine print and make good decisions, but that’s not a good reason to absolve these companies that profited off of other people’s misfortunes.
The other side of the mortgage crisis is that it does not affect only one sector. The economy is no longer neatly divided into pieces of the pie that are separate from everything else. This crisis is affecting economies around the world. I heard one story particularly about the impact in Asia. The way that globalization has structured the global economic system everything is intricately connected. When take out a mortgage the mortgage company allows people to invest in your mortgage and buy shares of it. The same way you can now invest in foreign currencies and governments. You can invest in almost anything these days. Sometimes it feels like an economic gambling problem.
So, there are immediate effects on the housing sector of course, but there is a much broader impact because of the nature of the global economy.
Some capitalists absolutely do say that the free market will solve all problems. Government barriers to trade and the free market are seen as a hindrance to the free market actually being able to function properly. of course this is not a monolithic universal view, but i think it is widely held.
of course economic growth is always good… the question is “Is it good for everybody?” We should be asking who benefits most and why some benefit more than others. It’s not enough to say that growth is good. We have to ask how economic growth can be more just for everyone. It’s not about throwing the baby out with the bath water… it’s about questioning some of the underlying assumptions of the system that just do not play out in reality “the rising tide will lift all boats.”
(I would ask our resident economist to please fact check and correct me wherever my armchair economist perspective is off.)
I thought Christmas Day would never come
But it’s here at last, so mom and dad, the waiting’s finally done
And you gotta get up, you gotta get up, you gotta get up
It’s Christmas morning
Last night I heard reindeers on my roof
Well you may think I’m exaggerating but I swear I’m tellin’ you the truth
And you gotta get up, you gotta get up, you gotta get up
It’s Christmas morning
Did my sister get a baby doll? Did my brother get his bike?
Did I get that red wagon, the kind that makes you fly?
Oh, I hope there’ll be peace on earth
I know there’s good will toward men
On account of that Baby born in Bethlehem
Did my sister get her baby doll? Did my brother get his bike?
Did I get that red wagon, the kind that makes you fly?
Oh, I hope there’ll be peace on earth
I know there’s good will toward men
On account of that Baby born in Bethlehem
Mom and Daddy stayed up too late last night
Oh, I guess they got carried away in the Christmas candlelight
And you gotta get up, you gotta get up, you gotta get up
It’s Christmas morning
And you gotta get up, you gotta get up, you gotta get up