Celebrating the Commercialism of Christmas
There is nothing more predictable and cliche than the yearly denouncement of consumerism at Christmas. The Pope condemned the commercialization of Christmas at the Christmas Eve Mass last night and President Monson bemoaned the commercialization at Christmas at the annual First Presidency Christmas Devotional this year.
I think this yearly antagonism toward commercialism is wrong-headed and misguided. It ignores the nature of holidays, and ultimately, human nature as well. The criticism is generally based on the idea that in all the consumerism and commercialism we lose sight of the “true meaning of Christmas” and forget what Christmas is really “all about.” Nothing could be farther from the truth.
If you think about holidays for a moment, you will quickly realize that holidays are made by the traditions that surround them. Holidays with no traditions are not really holidays at all. The best holidays are the ones with the best (and most) traditions. Thanksgiving revolves around a big dinner, Halloween around costumes and trick-or-treating, the 4th of July around fireworks, Easter around baskets of candy and egg hunts. In a real sense, these traditions are the holiday. The second tier holidays have less traditions or traditions with a more limited appeal: St. Patrick’s day and wearing green clothes, Valentine’s day and giving chocolate to our wives and mistresses, April Fool’s day and playing tricks on people. Then there are the holidays with no widespread traditions surrounding them other than getting the day off school/work: Memorial day, Labor day, Columbus day, etc.
The impact of the holiday is directly proportional to the traditions that surround it. The impact is not just due to the existence of a tradition, but the nature of the tradition itself comes into play. Traditions that require more planning will have a bigger impact simply because we spend more time and attention getting ready for the holiday. Traditions with wide appeal will lead to a bigger holiday (costumes are funner than wearing green, which helps Halloween over St. Patrick’s day). There is additional weight to the holiday when the thing celebrated is of deeper significance (compare Memorial Day and Labor Day). It adds weight to the holiday when the traditions are congruent with the thing celebrated (Valentines Day+, Easter-).
It is instructive to compare the holiday observance of Christmas to Easter. Arguably, Easter is the holiday with the greater religious significance, but Easter is vastly surpassed by Christmas in our cultural and religious lives generally because of the differences in the traditions surrounding them. Easter traditions are obviously much less extensive than those at Christmas. The Easter traditions do not have a very wide appeal (Easter egg hunts are only fun for kids and even then not that fun. Peeps are treasured by a few sick souls, but most of us realize they are vile). The Easter bunny has no meaningful connection with the resurrection of Jesus. Most of Easter revolves around candy which is entirely commonplace. There are few if any beloved Easter songs. The question is: with Easter being less commercialized, is our observance of Christ’s resurrection more meaningful, pure, and complete than our observance of Christ’s birth? I think the answer is an emphatic and obvious “no!” Those who decry the commercialization of Christmas just fail to see the way Christmas is enhanced and embiggened by the traditions they denounce. If they had their way they would destroy the very parts of Christmas they themselves love.
Let’s think about how great Christmas is as a holiday. It has tons of traditions surrounding it including the most obvious tradition of gift-giving. We spend tons of time figuring out what we are going to give to others, purchasing gifts, and wrapping gifts. As a result we spend a whole month thinking about Christmas, seeing signs in every store that it is the Christmas season, and hearing Christmas songs when we are shopping. Most families have traditions surrounding their Christmas meals. Christmas has the best (and by far the most) holiday songs of any holiday. The traditions of Christmas have immense appeal even across religious and cultural boundaries (I was just talking with someone at work from another country who is not Christian and not American but will be observing a host of Christmas traditions this year because his children have been swept up in the cultural observance of Christmas and are demanding it!). The traditions surrounding Christmas are wonderfully congruent with the thing celebrated. This last point deserves its own paragraph.
Easter is the poster child for holidays with traditions that don’t match the thing celebrated. Its Bunny and colorful eggs don’t remind us at all of the resurrection of Christ. Attempts to link the two are strained and weak. Christmas, to the contrary, is positively enhanced by the tradition of gift-giving (which is the target of the anti-commercialization crowd). Giving gifts to others is a huge part of the Christmas spirit that everyone loves. In giving gifts we focus on the people around us and we have to think about them and what they might want (there is no standby gift of flowers/chocolate like on Valentine’s Day). Gift-giving spills over to a focus on lifting up the weary and oppressed. My largely atheist and non-Christian group of coworkers pool money every Christmas season to adopt-a-family and provide presents for a family in need. More people visit nursing homes during the Christmas season than at other times of the year.
Could this spirit of giving exist without all the consumerism and buying of gift? Sure, it is logically possible, but I would point out that it doesn’t accompany Easter. I think a big part of the reason is that as we anticipate a wonderful Christmas morning for ourselves with presents and fun, we think of others and want to give them some of the same Christmas cheer we anticipate. Santa, as opposed to the Easter Bunny, is a perfect secular stand-in for Christ as he keeps track of who is naughty and nice, dispensing gifts to all good children (which turns out to be everyone) and coal to the naughty. It is simply no stretch at all to see in Christmas giving a shadow of our Savior who gave himself and his Father who loved the world and gave his only begotten Son.
Jacob, thank you for the article. I appreciate the time and effort you put into writing it. Although I think you are spot on in regard to the significance of gift-giving and other Christmas traditions, I also sympathize with those who offer “the yearly denouncement of consumerism at Christmas”. I don’t think the Pope and President Monson have any problem with the giving and receiving of gifts; rather, I think they are concerned with our obsession over material things and how this obsession drowns out the message of Christ’s birth. As “Black Friday” pushes into Thanksgiving, as an 8-year old child sulks when he doesn’t get an iPad, and as people stress and fret about getting a gift for every family in the neighborhood, Christmas gets out of control. I really think that Christ’s birth as a part of Christmas is becoming more and more of a token celebration, and not the actual reason we look forward to the holiday. Don’t get me wrong–I love Christmas, and I love getting (and giving) gifts, but I think we miss the mark more and more each year.
Thanks,
Steve
mormonwookiee.com
Comment by Steve Dalton — December 25, 2011 @ 9:40 pm
This was the real war against Christmas and it was won long ago by the merchants. Railing against it now is a waste of time. That said, American extravagance at Christmas time is pretty disgusting, especially considering the growing inequality in America.
I find your comparison of Easter and Christmas particularly thought-provoking. The early Christians did not celebrate Christmas, but they did celebrate Easter.
Comment by don — December 26, 2011 @ 5:24 am
Brilliant. Giving chocolate to mistresses, nasty peeps. I find you case very persuasive. Giving gifts and the accompanying generosity is not such a bad tradition – as long as it is mostly about giving rather than getting.
Comment by Jay Jacobs — December 26, 2011 @ 9:59 am
Steve,
I think you are missing the main thrust of my argument. My whole point is that the gifts and the extravagance actually lead to more focus on the message of Christ’s birth than there would otherwise be. They don’t “drown out” the message, they give it additional prominence for a whole month of the year. Do you think there would be more focus on the message of Christ’s birth if we dramatically toned down the gift giving? If so, show me any evidence of that.
Comment by Jacob J — December 26, 2011 @ 6:37 pm
I’m with you, Jacob J., but I’ll go a step further and defend the getting.
Christmas is a big exercise in delay of gratification. But delay of gratification, without eventual gratification, is simply austerity. From the time we are kids, we learn to wait until Christmas for things we want. As an adult I often put off purchases–even some small ones–until Christmas. Birthday’s are the only other contender for a day of gratification, but they are usually smaller in size, and anyway it’s more fun for everybody to be enjoying the experience together. And, as you note, there are ways that this is congruent with the purpose of the holiday.
So yes. Like food after fasting, and sex after marriage, I like getting stuff on Christmas. And I don’t feel sorry about it.
Comment by Jared* — December 26, 2011 @ 8:16 pm
Amen Jared, great point.
Comment by Jacob J — December 26, 2011 @ 10:53 pm
Jacob J- I think there is a very real problem with the commercialism of christmas, and that is that it leads many to overspend and either the giver has wasted their moneys which otherwise could have paid rent, etc. or they’ve over purchased for some spoiled child who has more than they could possibly want or need. (I won’t confess which bucket I fall into). I think gift giving is terrific, however, It is a problem when social pressure pushes you to go into debt for things you don’t really need, like any apple product, for example. I think the call from catholic and Mormon church leaders is not a call to prohibition, merely a plea for moderation.
Comment by Matt W. — December 28, 2011 @ 2:14 pm
Matt, your concern strikes me as perfectly reasonable but I have a hard time believing this is really what President Monson is concerned about when he talks about the commercialization of Christmas. Surely going into debt for an Apple product is always a bad idea regardless of whether it is associated with holiday spending. I never hear these homilies turn to excessive debt (and we love to preach against debt). Overwhelmingly what I hear are concerns that consumerism somehow taints the holiday or obscures the true meaning of Christmas. Those are the sentiments I find to be wrongheaded.
There is this meme that we have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas even though any random person on the street can tell you without hesitation what the true meaning of Christmas is. I think it is just an imagined problem that we keep alive by repeating it constantly. Every show has a Christmas special and every single one is devoted to teaching us the true meaning of Christmas. South Park has a Christmas special that teaches us the true meaning of Christmas for crying out loud. To say we have forgotten what Christmas is about is simply absurd. Further, as I argue in the post, the net effect of the commercialism is positive (promoting awareness of the true meaning of Christmas) rather than negative.
Comment by Jacob J — December 28, 2011 @ 5:05 pm
Steve is the closest thing to a savior the 21st century has seen. While on his earthly mission, he invited us to sell all that we had (in order to afford his wares) and follow him. I can’t believe you missed the parallels!
Comment by Peter LLC — December 29, 2011 @ 1:48 am
“There is nothing more predictable and cliche than the yearly denouncement of consumerism at Christmas.”
Which makes them a significant part of the holiday tradition, right?
Comment by Bill — December 29, 2011 @ 3:52 pm
Setting commercialization aside, has everyone stopped fighting the promptings of the Spirit and bought the latest Michael McClean christmas album???
Comment by Riley — January 2, 2012 @ 12:19 am
You are so succinct and concise. You have to read a book called “I Believe In Santa Claus”. It’s required reading every Christmas in our house. Follows in the same vein.
One thing that I thought of is those old and overly quoted Love Languages. For some people, the choosing and giving of a gift is the single most meaningful thing they can do. Likewise, them receiving a gift from someone else is more meaningful to them than probably any other thing.
I know for myself, driving around and looking at other peoples’ Christmas lights on their houses is one of the ways I feel the Spirit the most strongly. They don’t have to be nativities or religious in nature. In fact, just staring at my Christmas tree with it’s flashing star and sentimental ornaments is meaningful. And no, I don’t sit there and catalog all the symbols and their meanings as I’m looking (candy canes=shepherd crook=reference to Christ as the Good Shepherd). I think of the wonderful memories of past Christmases and their traditions. Thanks for a thought-provoking discussion.
Comment by Maren — December 21, 2014 @ 3:40 pm
Interestingly, The church’s #sharethegift campaign from this year also seems to embrace the commercialism.
Comment by Matt W. — December 21, 2014 @ 8:01 pm