Merry Christmas!
10 October 2007
It's that time of year when all of the shops get out their Christmas displays and start encouraging us to get out our credit cards to buy presents. A lot of American shoppers prefer to start their shopping at Thanksgiving, while I prefer to do my shopping the weekend before Christmas. As a result, the Christmas displays that are going up at the moment can seem a bit overkill.
There are a couple of stores in my hometown that sell Christmas items year round. I always wonder how they manage to survive. Who wants to buy Christmas decorations on February? But survive they do, which demonstrates how big Christmas is.
This year, some of my family will be visting from Australia. I will be asking them not to but me a present. It will be nice just to spend time with them, and I don't want them to get me anything material. And that's what Christmas should be about - spending time with those you love, and not worrying about problems, money or consumerism for a whole day.