Losing the True Meaning
BY STEPHEN MAHER
Sixty years ago Christmas was a
different sort of season for
Americans People decorated
their houses with greenery and
prepared for Christmas Day, the official
beginning of the holiday season, by
cleaning, cooking and gearing up for
family parties Only children under the
age of 12 received gifts although some
adults gave each other handmade
items called "holiday notions And
entertainment came from playing
games, particularly Charades and Blind
Man's Bluff, as well as Christmas
dances and parties.
Today, the holiday season is spent
bustling around from one store to
another, buying gifts, food and decora
tions In the age of the nuclear family,
relatives call each other with the help of
U S West or GTE And entertainment
on Christmas Day centers around the
opening of gifts, and the watching of
bowl games on television and movies
on video cassette recorders
For many people, the true meaning
of Christmas has been lost under the
glare of Madison Avenue inspired
advertising that urges consumers to
buy, buy, buy and to wrap, wrap,
wrap
"Christmas is very rich in meaning.
It’s got all the pagan associations and all
the Christian ones And although that
Stephen M<iher is assistant editor of Spectrum
mitganne
was kind of an uneasy mix, people
could go one way or another with that
and find some satisfaction But the
commercialism has overwhelmed both
aspects," says Jo Robinson, co author
of "Unplug the Christmas Tree," a
book published by William Morrow in
1982 that helps families make
Christmas more meaningful and less
expensive
Robinson, who also holds
workshops around the country with co
author Jean Staeheli. believes the com
mercialism of Christmas has become a
major problem
“It takes time, money and energy
away from everything else, which is
where people ultimately find the mean
ing It creates financial stress for the
people who can least afford it It gives
children the message that that's all
Christmas is I just think it puts the
whole thing on a really superficial,
materialistic level." Robinson says
"Most adults find themselves let
down by the gift exchange So you've
got maybe two months of effort and ex
pense for a two hour unwrapping,
which is going to leave everybody with
mixed feelings "
The commercialization of Christmas
is more or less an American
phenomenon, according to Robinson
Canada, she says, has similar trapp
ings, but the rest of the world doesn’t
celebrate Christmas with large numbers
of gifts
“I talked to an Englishwoman, and
she said she couldn’t believe to see all
these grown up women calling each
other up the day after Christmas and
saying. 'What did you get. what did
you get?’ To her that was something
only children would do The emphasis
on materialism was just amazing to
her," Robinson says
Gift giving itself has Christian origins
The three wise men delivered gifts to
the Baby Jesus, according to the Bible
In the Middle Ages, St Nicholas
became associated with the holiday
season because of his reputation for
kindness Many Christian religions also
stressed the belief that since God gave
his only son. people should exchange
gifts to imitate God’s generosity
There were other more secular
reasons for gift giving at Christmas,
too "There was the idea of generosity,
the humanitarian idea of giving that
(Charles) Dickens brought in, the love
of children which made people give
gifts to the kids,” Robinson says
Part of the problem with the holiday
season today, according to Robinson,
is that gift shopping has expanded from
a two week period to one that begins in
October and peaks after Thanksgiving
"Until about 1920 there wasn't much
profit made from the celebration so
there was very little involvement In
fact, merchants were anti Christmas
because people tended to stay away
from the stores during the holiday
season, and people didn't work So it
was the old Scrooge idea that’s why
they didn't like Christmas But now, of
course, they've found a way to profit
ffom it so they're the first ones out
there," Robinson says
At a time of year that can produce as
much as one third of a retailers’ annual
sales and one half of the profits, there
are those who disagree with Robinson
"I’rn sure some people feel that
Christmas has become too commercial,
although the people in retail businesses
probably don't feel that way," says
John Weston, assistant operating
manager for Sears Roebuck and Co
store in Eugene
In order to beat the high cost of
goods, many people shop sales
during September and October
“I’d have to say that the real true
Christmas buying doesn’t start until
after Thanksgiving Obviously you
have those people who come in and
start early, which is wonderful But we
really don’t push it," says Carol
Ongstad. marketing manager of the
Oregon division of Nordstrom
Some retailers also have noticed
people shopping for Christmas even
earlier Toys "R Us. the nation's
largest toy retailer, has found a surge in
the number of Christmas shoppers in
August because of the scarcity of items
such as Cabbage Patch Dolls and
Trivial Pursuit in past seasons
With the expansion and hustle and
bustle of the shopping season and all
the hoopla that has been attached to
gifts. Robinson believes gift giving and
gift buying has become the central part
of the holiday season
“Christmas has almost been reduced
to only the gift buying and to events
which are promoted by people who
want you to buy something,” she says
"One of the things we are seeing is that