Every year, when the temperatures drop and before the last of the leaves even fall away, the holiday fever emerges.
Already, I know of one person whose Christmas shopping is complete, while another has put finishing touches on the tree.
We haven’t even hit Thanksgiving, yet Christmas is quickly invading, and it’s no wonder — considering how commercialized the holiday has become.
As soon as August comes around, stores become lined with gaudy decorations that could only have been created to embarrass the buyer.
Is it really necessary to line our yards with snowmen, Santa, reindeer and the nativity scene?
What happened to just putting up white lights and a wreath?
According to an article by Brad Dorfman from www.reuters.com, retail sales growth is expected to rise 2.3 percent during the November-to-December period this year, despite the current economic condition.
I’m not a Scrooge, but there’s no denying how much wasted money is spent on meaningless gifts and pointless knick-knacks.
Christmas has basically become the biggest scam for companies to make billions of dollars off consumers, and it’s not going to change.
During this time of the year, we are bombarded with the demand to spend, spend, spend.
Christmas has become about excess. I don’t know about most people, but college students are not made of money.
Many of us are guilty of the buying epidemic that comes with preparations for Christmas.
We’re tricked into buying gifts people don’t need just so we won’t feel humiliated by not providing them with something.
Companies also start causing mass hysteria in people, using shopping malls as a conduit, especially with Black Friday.
I’m not one to disregard a good sale, but it is ridiculous how people will wait in a line at 4 a.m. just to buy their children the latest Hanna Montana merchandise.
Most of the time, people are too burned out on buying to even enjoy the holiday.
Children have also come to expect excess when Christmas arrives. They have been conditioned to the attitude of “gimme, gimme, gimme.”
Nowadays, companies gear their products toward children.
They use advertisers to trap children and parents into the buying fever.
Most children just want more, but it’s not really their fault.
Of course there are always those brats who finish opening all of their presents and ask, “Is this it?”
Companies also create a lot of pressure for the parents because they want to be able to give their children everything. Instead of purchasing a couple of items that have significance, parents often get every little toy on the shelves.
A lot of it has to do with the Santa Claus concept we were all raised to believe.
If you were good, Santa brings you presents. If you were naughty, better luck next year.
But children aren’t able to understand the “poor” factor. If certain children don’t receive what they wanted for Christmas, it must have been because they were bad — not because the parents couldn’t afford it.
I’m not pessimistic when it comes to Christmas, but the whole meaning behind it has been lost to consumerism and commercialization.
I genuinely enjoy giving gifts to everyone, just not when it’s trivial or empties my bank account. Christmas is supposed to be about spending time with family and friends, not about wasting all our time spending money we don’t have.
By CLAIRE MUNN
Features Editor
clamunn@umail.iu.edu