Has Christmas become too commercialized?

[Beanieboy]

I understand giving children toys for Christmas. It is a very magical time, and no matter how much kids talk about celebrating the birth of Christ, the kids want to get the birthday presents.

As an adult, I no longer think that it is about gifts. Sure, I may exchange a few gifts with close friends, but I find that Christmas is much more about remembering to live in peace, with peace on earth and good will to all men. I enjoy Christmas far more without all the stress of shopping, and focusing more on spending time with family and friends. If I do buy a few more gifts, it is for kids who have few toys, so that they can still share the fun of Christmas, too.

However, it seems that over the years, people talk about spending as much as a couple thousand on gifts at Christmas. People often equate the amount spent with how much the giver loves you. While I bought the few gifts I did buy, people were stressed out, yelling at clerks, being snarky, and generally unpleasant. Most people say that the season often makes them stressed out or depressed and lonely.

So, have we just lost the meaning of it?

 

[Meepy]

I think they have. Happy Holidays to try to secularize it really gets to me

 

[corvus_corax]

Actually, I love the lights, the decorations, the sappy TV specials and even (in some cases) the commercials (I love the M&M commercial with Santa "they do exist").
Of course Im not a believer, so my opinion may not apply.

 

[Hipsterz]

Christmas is fun. Secularization is part of the fun.

 

[corvus_corax]

I understand giving children toys for Christmas. It is a very magical time, and no matter how much kids talk about celebrating the birth of Christ, the kids want to get the birthday presents.

Yep, that's what kids (and many adults) want, and have for decades. Not much new.

As an adult, I no longer think that it is about gifts. Sure, I may exchange a few gifts with close friends, but I find that Christmas is much more about remembering to live in peace, with peace on earth and good will to all men. I enjoy Christmas far more without all the stress of shopping, and focusing more on spending time with family and friends. If I do buy a few more gifts, it is for kids who have few toys, so that they can still share the fun of Christmas, too.

So you do indulge (even a bit) in the commercialization of Christmas, yes?
No prob, most people do, no matter how much or little they spend.

However, it seems that over the years, people talk about spending as much as a couple thousand on gifts at Christmas. People often equate the amount spent with how much the giver loves you.

6000 dollars? Well for me and mine, that's a bit crazy.
But we spend 300 per person, and Im sure there are those who think that is insanely high.

While I bought the few gifts I did buy, people were stressed out, yelling at clerks, being snarky, and generally unpleasant. Most people say that the season often makes them stressed out or depressed and lonely.

Online shopping baby!! A couple hours online, and I'm DONE by the end of November.
Black Friday? To heck with that.

So, have we just lost the meaning of it?

What is "the meaning" of it, and how should it be properly celebrated?
Back in the day Christmas was outlawed more than once due to simple accusations of gluttony, drunkenness and rampant sexuality, and accusations that it was a Catholic holiday.

So how should we celebrate it? What is "the meaning" of a holiday not described or celebrated in the very Bible the holiday (kinda sorta) comes from?
Just asking.

 

[Meepy]

Christmas is fun. Secularization is part of the fun.

how bout atheists have an atheist day and then see how they feel when Christians come to try to 'christianize' it...

is that an evil snowman?

 

[yasic]

how bout atheists have an atheist day and then see how they feel when Christians come to try to 'christianize' it...

is that an evil snowman?

We do . . . we put up this decorated tree, and we have this myth of a jolly fat guy, and we give each other tons of presents...

Unless you want to call of those things Christian ideals?

 

[SithDoughnut]

how bout atheists have an atheist day and then see how they feel when Christians come to try to 'christianize' it...

I imagine it would work in a similar way to when Christians took December 25th, a holiday for other religions, and 'christianized' that.

 

[Hipsterz]

how bout atheists have an atheist day and then see how they feel when Christians come to try to 'christianize' it...

Atheists have enough fun with Christian holidays.

is that an evil snowman?

There are 2 movies called Jack Frost. One is about a dad that becomes a snowman and the other is about a serial killer that becomes one.

 

[Eudaimonist]

So, have we just lost the meaning of it?

The gift-giving is an integral part of the meaning of the holiday for me. If you are made unhappy by gift-giving, you're doing it wrong.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[quatona]

how bout atheists have an atheist day and then see how they feel when Christians come to try to 'christianize' it...

Great idea! First step first.

 

[quatona]

how bout atheists have an atheist day and then see how they feel when Christians come to try to 'christianize' it...

Like back when the pagan solistice was christianized into christmas?

 

[Eudaimonist]

how bout atheists have an atheist day and then see how they feel when Christians come to try to 'christianize' it...

We already do. It's a secular holiday called Christmas.

But my reaction is simply to let Christians celebrate it however they want, as long as they let me celebrate the holiday however I want.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Eudaimonist]

"The best aspect of Christmas is the aspect usually decried by the mystics: the fact that Christmas has been commercialized. The gift-buying . . . stimulates an enormous outpouring of ingenuity in the creation of products devoted to a single purpose: to give men pleasure."

-- Ayn Rand


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[FreeSpirit74]

but I find that Christmas is much more about remembering to live in peace, with peace on earth and good will to all men. I enjoy Christmas far more without all the stress of shopping, and focusing more on spending time with family and friends.

I agree with you. In the last couple of years, the Christmas season has, for me personally, become a time for introspection, thinking about the year that is coming to an end as well as the one to come. I look back and see if I have accomplished the goals (pertaining to the Body, Mind and Spirit) I set for myself - this year was a very good year for me in that respect - and look ahead to top and better those goals in the coming year.

 

[FreeSpirit74]

how bout atheists have an atheist day and then see how they feel when Christians come to try to 'christianize' it...

As another poster already pointed out in this thread, Christmas is basically a holiday that was piggy-backed upon an already existing Pagan holiday, called Yule. Most of the "Christmas traditions" actually had their origins in Yule.

 

[Bushido216]

I watched the Claymation Christmas special on You Tube. Someone commented that mentioning Christ in the program was wrong and too religious.

I think sums up this thread nicely.

 

[tulc]

Mine isn't, yours doesn't have to be either!
tulc(tries to do what's right, seldom succeeds, but still tries)

 

[lisah]

I never noticed any of the stress you speak of. However, this is the first year I've done most of my shopping online, and when I would shop at stores I did it at hours when there were not a lot of people out and about.

So, I suppose that I missed most of that stuff. So, it did not exist for me this year.

I also spent more money this year than usual, but most items were things that would have been purchased anyway, but were put off until the x-mas season to take advantage of the better pricing.

It might be that way for most people.

I don't think that things are any different than they were when I was a child. I don't see any change in what people do, except for shopping at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.

 

[Gecko King]

Well, of course it's commercialized; we live in a consumer society.

People might have given less before, but then again, they were more self-sufficient back then. Less possessions and means to buy them.