Is The Commercialization Of Christmas Really A Bad Thing?

Before I start with the content of this post, I would like to point out for those who did not know, that this year all three of the winter religious holidays happened at roughly the same time. The first day of Hanukkah was the exact same day as Christmas Eve, and the first day of Kwanzaa was the day after Christmas, or Boxing Day as some call it. Kwanzaa and Hanukkah also both end on January 1st this year. Kwanzaa is always from the 26th of December though the first of January, but Hanukkah does not have an exact date every year, and I think it is nice how that all turned out. In a way, it's almost as if all three holidays put aside their differences and came together this year. Something we more of in the future, and less of the kind of people who are still mad other holidays have a right to exist.

To get on with the actual content of this post, for years people have complained about how Christmas time has gotten more commercial and the important aspects of the holidays are being slowly removed. Now, I'm not going to waste my time talking about the religious zealots who would be complaining about their precious holiday going away even if nothing was happening at all. This is not a post about the anti-PC crowd that are thin-skinned in their hypocrisy and their misplaced anger, as I said above, that is not this kind of post. What I will be discussing is the actual commercial aspects that have found their way into one of the biggest holidays of the year, and debating how good or bad of a thing that is.

Should this post be read by someone somewhere how has never heard of the holiday known as Christmas, the basic idea is split into two ways. For the religious side, it is the birth date given to Jesus Christ, whom the Christians consider to have been the true son of God, and you celebrate his birth by buying presents and giving them out on this day to your loved ones. On the commercial side, the gift giving is made the important part, and you see many stores both local and corporate reminding you to go out and buy all of your friends and loved ones something very nice for them to show them how much you care. Christmas cards also exist, but for years I have personally felt like they are going out of style. They are always cheesy, corporate, and the mail service gets most of it's business through packages so I have a feeling Christmas cards are not doing them the business it used to. More power to you if you still have a Christmas card list and mail them out, but cards aren’t my thing and I’d rather buy my loved ones something nice, but then again I keep my list of close personal friends very short so maybe I’d like cards more if I knew thousands of people.

On both sides of this, there is also a fellow named Santa Claus who magically rides on a sleigh every Christmas Eve, who brings presents to all the good little girls and boys, and depending on your country of origin, he either brings lumps of coal to the naughty children, or he has his magical monster friend the Krampus come and kidnap them. There are other slight variations of the Santa mythos, such as some countries have the children leave out their shoes and some hang stockings on a wall, but it is the same magical figure flying around the world giving gifts. Supposedly the religious types don't like Santa, for the sake of "keep the Christ in Christmas", but this is something I have literally only heard on TV.

I won't pretend I'm in a super-duper religious state, but it is religious enough that I would have heard people say this if these kind of people exist. Mostly it seems they are okay with Santa Claus, as it means they too celebrate Christmas, if they are the kind of person who wishes everyone believe the same things they do as well. Honestly, the biggest complaint I hear about the figure is that many adults have begun to question if it is alright to let your child believe he exists, the argument being that you are feeding them a lie for many years knowing the bubble will have to be burst at some point down the line. It's an interesting argument, but I've already brought up enough topics for today.

Personally, I love Christmas and I celebrate it every year. I'm religious enough, and I do like taking one day out of the year just to make sure we're all happy and doing well. In my worst years, the entirety of December leading up to the holiday would be my favorite month. I like the feeling of joy and good will, and even if I'm aware of some of the worst aspects, I still do love this time. (For an example, those people who ring bells outside of the mall for charity money don't always give to who they say they do, and some are completely homophobic in their cause. Don't let that ruin your spirit, but do feel free to let that be a lesson in researching where you put your money).

Growing up I did also have a few Christmas books we read aloud for the season. I believe one was religious in nature and the other was just a book about American Christmas, straight-up called Christmas in America. Forgive me for not knowing more, even though we do pull those books out every year to stand up and look at, we haven't read them in over a decade because my mother was the only person who thought they were interesting. My Christmas experience is truly no more religious nor commercial in nature than anyone else's, so I think I can add an easy argument here.

Now for the religious aspect, this is still a religious holiday to many and there is nothing wrong with that. No one is truly trying to take that away from you, and chances are the majority of the people who celebrate the religious version already know that, and tune out the fanatics just as much as the rest of the world. The loud and angry ones are never the majority that they think they are, after all. Personally, while having aspects of religion in me, I don't do much for the religious version because I am just happy to buy things for the people I care about, and I really love the atmosphere and the feeling. My family however does have their own traditions, and all-in-all, that is kind of how religious holidays work, with the people who celebrate it exactly how they think they should celebrate this time. Everyone does it differently, and it all means the same to them, as that is the point of religious holidays. To reaffirm your belief in God, yourself, the people around you, the whole world and all the people in it.

And so the question is if the commercialization aspect does in fact ruin all of the above.

In all fairness of course I understand having your feathers ruffled at the idea of trivializing a special time. That, in the end, is part of the process of commercializing something. Capitalizing on something with the intention of not just making a profit, but of trying to make a dollar out of as many people as you possibly can. This is not a niche market where they hope the crowd opens up, this is something where they plan on striking everyone's hearts and wallets at the same time.

We are talking giant inflatable Santas that are both on display and available for purchase, we are talking licensed Disney characters in Christmas clothes to place on your lawn, even made-for-TV movies about the holiday that are produced on a nickel and sold for ten or twenty dollars per DVD.

And I'll be real, I don't have a problem with this.

Businesses are businesses, they suck the money out of everything. We are talking about the very people who have invented holidays simply to grab our hard earned cash, we do not need to be surprised that they are trying to do so with the holidays they didn't invent as well. Personally, I always liked the upside to this. This really and truly does get as many people into the Christmas spirit as possible.

And, it does give the non-Christians a chance to enjoy something about the holiday as well.

Now like I said, there is nothing on Earth that could take away the religious section of Christmas. The only thing that could be done would be one of two things: It would be the businesses somehow buying all of the churches, or the death of Christianity. As for the former, don't get me wrong, I can think of many businesses of the top of my head that would gladly buy out every church in the world if they could, but the power of the church is something too strong even for the raw power of corporate greed. Even the ones that already go hand-in-hand with them, but I'll stop there. As for the latter, for any one of you that wants to point out it is not unheard-of for a religion to die, remember that no religion truly evaporates from existence, and also to be real, if Christianity is going away at some point it is not in your lifetime nor mine. It has been around for thousands of years even with it's detractors.

To get back on point, have any of you heard of how Christmas goes in Japan? Japan does not associate Christmas with the usually associated religion, but they do celebrate it, and it is very commercial. Lights and decorations everywhere, all the good cheer the holiday can bring, Christmas trees everywhere. I love this idea. While it may in the end just be the demand of the almighty dollar, we can still use this as a way to love and cherish everything about the holiday, no matter your own personal beliefs.

And not only will I say more power to you if you disagree, I am going to make you happy by adding something else. If you are so unhappy with the commercialization that you refuse to take part in buying the merchandise, than you are in fact doing exactly what the corporations are hoping you do not do. Their plan is you get your money, and by denying them your wallet out of protest, you honestly are hurting their end goal. You may only be one person, but the goal is not to just make money, it is to make everyone's money. They may not know your name, but they know, as corporations are more than ever ready to bleed everything dry, they know when they can’t get everyone, and some of them furiously hate that. Go ahead and have your small victory, but it may only feel small to you, believe it or not.

So, in the end, my point is that a holiday is a holiday. It is our own right to celebrate however we feel, and personally, I like knowing that my favorite holiday can reach the hearts of millions in any way they see fit. If you feel this has gotten out of hand, then again, more power to you, celebrate the holiday as you see fit.

It is too late to wish a Merry Christmas in this post, and both Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are roughly halfway done at this point so wishing a Happy Hanukkah or Merry Kwanzaa is a little strange I suppose. It is not, however, too late to wish a Happy New Year to all of my readers. There is a lot about the upcoming year. Some of it frightening, very frightening, although I do hope we can come together and try to understand each other a lot better. No matter what holidays we love, or how we celebrate them.