It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas … unfortunately

By Danny Wenger

A little more than a week ago I found myself wandering through department stores in the mall. While circling JCPenney, I happened to stumble upon shelves covered in ceramic snowmen and snowwomen alongside holiday bears bundled up in red, white and green attire. Some of the figurines already had thin layers of dust on them.

The commercialization of Christmas comes earlier every year. Many stores stock shelves with holiday cheer before Halloween.

In the rush of the holiday season, one of America’s better holidays, Thanksgiving, would be lost in the fray were it not for the four-day weekend that accompanies it.

A documentary scheduled to come out later this month takes on Christmas consumerism in an interesting manner. “What Would Jesus Buy?” follows the antics of Rev. Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel choir as they travel by bus across the nation preaching of the Shopocalypse.

Although the messenger could be viewed as – well, ridiculous really – the message is solid (not the Shopocalypse directly but rather the overhyped consumerism of the season).

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Every year millions of Americans swarm malls wielding credit cards like sabers trying to hack their way to happiness and the joy of giving. Consumer debt rides a rocket to new heights that turn shoppers’ bank accounts a festive shade of red.

Somewhere in the tumultuous sea of consumers elbowing their way to checkout lanes while swearing at each other and stealing items from unattended shopping carts, the true spirit of the season is on a sinking ship.

While many of us enjoy the annual showing of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and feel we have a good grasp on its message, we act more like Scrooge than Tiny Tim, despite the decorated tree in the living room.

Somewhere along the line Americans began equating love with gifts and thought the only way to show said love was with a nicely wrapped present. This notion claims the minds of many would-be sensible parents and taints many would-be unspoiled children.

The only cure to Christmas consumerism I can see is shifting the focus.

The only real tradition my family had while I was growing up was a Christmas Eve dinner. Every year on Dec. 24 we would turn off the lights, the phone and anything that might distract from the meal, and then my family would eat a simple supper by candlelight. The food was plain: bread, fish, nuts, honey and some grape juice. The idea was to only eat foods mentioned in the Bible.

The best part was being able to slow down and be with family completely uninterrupted by the outside world. We would talk and laugh while we ate, and the process helped us focus on what is really important.

Regardless of what religion or denomination you belong to, I’d invite everyone to focus on what is really important during the holidays: family. Instead of waking up the day after Thanksgiving with the sole purpose of fighting crowds, traffic and your personal spending limit, sleep in, eat some turkey and talk with your mom, dad or whatever family members happen to be close.

If you are a religious person and have a holiday you celebrate, make sure to focus more on the meaning of the holiday in your life than the gift you need to or want to get.

There’s nothing wrong if you want to buy gifts for friends and family; just don’t let the process jade the purpose.

Most of us don’t really need what we put on our lists; we won’t die without them and they will most likely be forgotten in a small amount of time.

Who knows, if enough people focus more on the sentimental side of the season instead of the consumer side we could actually go through an entire October without seeing Santa.