Christmas is NOT Too Consumeristic! / Jeff Heidkamp (Minneapolis, MN)
Let me add a caveat- of course, in general, US culture is way too consumeristic. And, of course, in general, there are places and times when too much is spent on any celebration. But that said, I would argue that Christmas has great potential to redeem consumerism. I think a great deal of popular anti-Christmas sentiment has more to do with cynicism, self-righteousness, and overall Grinch-iness than any kind of actual moral virtue.
First of all, charitable organizations of every stripe know that Christmas is a great time to raise money. Almost every church I know does some kind of special outreach to the poor or the lonely at the holidays. That is, there is something about the celebration of God's great giving that spurs people of faith to extra acts of charitable-ness. And I don't think this is limited to people of faith.
Second of all, at Christmas, people are spending gobs of money ON OTHER PEOPLE. I think many people hate Christmas shopping, not because they really oppose consumerism, but because they prefer to spend money on themselves. People talk about "all the stress of picking out the right presents." In my book, thinking and working hard to give gifts to other people would be defined as an act of love, not of stress. It's pure gnosticism to think that the act of spending money on another person is somehow a lesser act than a kind deed that doesn't involve cash and shopping.
Third of all, at Christmas, people spend a lot of time and money on getting together with other people to eat and celebrate together. This is one of the healthiest things in the world to spend time and money on. Again, people complain about the stress of putting together nice Christmas events. But I would argue that love is usually costly- it isn't easy to love well. And there is nothing unspiritual about good hospitality and great times of being connected to friends and family. As far as all the commercial accouterments- well, it's America. I would simply suggest that attacking Christmas is attacking consumerism in the wrong place. People dump tons of money on themselves ALL the time. Christmas is the one shot we get at encouraging people to spend money to show love to other people and spend time being connected to the people that matter most. If that means I have to listen to the Chipmunks Christmas album at the grocery store in October, so be it. And if you don't like it- bah humbug on you.
