What is Christmas Really About?

Does Christmas still represent what it was initially created to?

Personally, Christmas is and always has been my favorite holiday. The Christmas season is especially sentimental to my family, and we have several traditions laid out in the weeks leading up to Dec. 25. When I was a little girl, presents were a small part of the excitement, but now I find the meaning disconnected from wrapping paper.

And yet, a season supposedly representing the joys of giving, serving and gratitude is overshadowed by the monster of consumerism, which grows larger each year.

A survey of 2,000 American adults revealed the majority of Americans will spend at least one full paycheck on the holidays this year––an average of $1,908. A startling 22 percent said they plan to spend two full paychecks, 6 percent plan to spend three full paychecks, 3 percent plan to spend five full paychecks and 9 percent plan to spend six full paychecks.

Six full paychecks.

Just the medium line average for six full paychecks is $11,448––not including the more affluent households, and yet 9 percent of 2,000 American adults are ready to splurge.

Christmas has become an oxymoron over the years. On the one hand, Christians claim this holiday is about our Savior’s birth but at the same time, they are happily a part of the greedy masses filling shopping carts and fighting over iPad deals. The same is true for non-Christians. Whether you believe in Jesus or not, Christmas is about more than presents.

I find myself often feeling like Cindy Lou Who in the classic Christmas movie “The Grinch.” Everyone seems to truly believe Christmas is one of the most wonderful times of the year, but the vast majority celebrates it by buying, buying, buying.

Shopping is not inherently wrong. I enjoy buying and receiving gifts just as much as anyone, and I also appreciate a good deal. The problem is when we sacrifice the true meaning of Christmas for a plastic version.

Many Americans are also discouraged by the consumerism mentality of Christmas. When asked if Christmas is destroyed by consumerism, 72 percent of individuals who answered on Debate.org said “yes.” Respondents lit up the comments box with statements such as “Christmas is now a joke” and “I can’t see with all this advertising.”

Consumerism has surely infested the holiday season, but what is important for us cynics to remember is Christmas cannot be destroyed. Even if everyone else in the world is obsessing about the gift aspect of this wonderful season, we have a choice whether or not to join in.

For those who feel as though Christmas is being tainted by selfishness and money: Choose to remember what this season is truly about. Hold your loved ones close. Sing your favorite carols. Decorate cookies and gingerbread houses. Read the story of Christ’s birth. Make memories.

For those who are caught up in the rush of Christmas gift buying and finding the “perfect” presents: Do not allow stress or finances to take precedent. Find joy in giving, but not just in giving gifts. Give your time. Give your presence. Give your smiles and laughter.

And for those of us who are blessed beyond measure by always knowing we will have a bountiful Christmas: Remember those who may not have a happy Christmas. There are opportunities all around us to give what we have been given to make someone else’s holiday season shine a little bit brighter. Serve in a soup kitchen, donate toys to children in the foster care system, bake cookies for your neighbor, send cards to those who are deployed––any act of kindness is never wasted.

Does Christmas still represent what it was initially created to? Well, for those of us who choose to see it, yes. Christmas will always be what we choose to make it, so let us choose well.

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