On Christmas shopping...
So today Friend G and I are going Christmas shopping. Probably she will not have a car so we will just be taking the bus to one of the malls and wandering about. I know what you're thinking. That sounds awful, the crowds, the blatant commercialism. Shouldn't I just make a list, get in and get out? Not so. I LOVE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING.
I love the atmosphere in malls this time of year. There's this nervous anxiety mixed with sheer excitement. Moreover, it's the one time of the year when almost everyone is shopping for someone else, not themselves. And so you can practically hear people's brains working as they try to figure out who they need to buy for and what that person likes. I know there's this perception, and it's probably an accurate one, that Christmas time is becoming more and more selfish, but at the same time we spend an awful lot of energy trying to make other people happy.
I like the Salvation Army people ringing their bells (and am therefore over generous, though I don't generally prefer religious charities), I like fake!Santa in his fake!North Pole, I like waterfalls of red and green, I like line-ups, I like panicked men on Christmas eve, I like crying children and laughing children, I like paying someone to wrap my presents for me perfectly but I also like wrapping them crappily myself. I don't really go to shop. In fact, I think I'm mostly doing gift cards this year. But I like watching. If (sadly) malls are the last illusion of public space we have left I'm going to savour it, even if it does represent evil. And honestly, there's something almost quaint about going to the mall these days - everyone with the times shops online.
So Christmas has nothing to do with religion for me, but it is about a spirit. Everyone is happy around Christmas for no reason. Most of us know it's all socially constructed capitalist excuses to sell stuff, most serious religious folks know Jesus could very well have been born in June. Most of us expect to get all worked up and then have the actual day just end up a hassle and a let down. We know we'll have to put up with the alcoholic uncle, the screaming children, putting away the endless tacky decorations and that we'll feel guilty about all the trees our wrapping paper killed. And we don't care. By sheer force of will, against all logic, we're ecstatic anyway. Stubborn humanity at its best (worst?).
I love the atmosphere in malls this time of year. There's this nervous anxiety mixed with sheer excitement. Moreover, it's the one time of the year when almost everyone is shopping for someone else, not themselves. And so you can practically hear people's brains working as they try to figure out who they need to buy for and what that person likes. I know there's this perception, and it's probably an accurate one, that Christmas time is becoming more and more selfish, but at the same time we spend an awful lot of energy trying to make other people happy.
I like the Salvation Army people ringing their bells (and am therefore over generous, though I don't generally prefer religious charities), I like fake!Santa in his fake!North Pole, I like waterfalls of red and green, I like line-ups, I like panicked men on Christmas eve, I like crying children and laughing children, I like paying someone to wrap my presents for me perfectly but I also like wrapping them crappily myself. I don't really go to shop. In fact, I think I'm mostly doing gift cards this year. But I like watching. If (sadly) malls are the last illusion of public space we have left I'm going to savour it, even if it does represent evil. And honestly, there's something almost quaint about going to the mall these days - everyone with the times shops online.
So Christmas has nothing to do with religion for me, but it is about a spirit. Everyone is happy around Christmas for no reason. Most of us know it's all socially constructed capitalist excuses to sell stuff, most serious religious folks know Jesus could very well have been born in June. Most of us expect to get all worked up and then have the actual day just end up a hassle and a let down. We know we'll have to put up with the alcoholic uncle, the screaming children, putting away the endless tacky decorations and that we'll feel guilty about all the trees our wrapping paper killed. And we don't care. By sheer force of will, against all logic, we're ecstatic anyway. Stubborn humanity at its best (worst?).