The view from my chair - The Christmas Spirit
- Details
- Published on Friday, December 5, 2014
By Alan Gillies
G.E.M. Media
鈥淚 hate Christmas.鈥�
I鈥檝e heard many people say that, just as often as I鈥檝e heard many others state that they love this time of year. Personally, I鈥檓 not at present all that fond of the season. It's cold, it's expensive and it's far too hectic.
Charles Dickens鈥� ghosts have never appeared to me. What usually does appear now is malls and big box stores crowded with shoppers searching for 鈥淏lack Friday鈥� bargains with holiday background music on a perpetual loop. Participating in it this year, it wasn鈥檛 long before I was so frustrated that I could鈥檝e strangled a caroler.
鈥淏lack Friday鈥�, as shoppers and retailers call it, is the day following American Thanksgiving. Abraham Lincoln created the holiday, with its roots stemming back to the Pilgrims in 1621.
And other than the single bird 鈥減ardoned鈥� by the sitting President each year, turkeys must roost in fear of roasting as the day approaches.
Meanwhile, for those of us in Canada, it鈥檚 just the fourth Thursday of November, with mid-week NFL games and a Charlie Brown special on the tube.
However, even though our own Thanksgiving is celebrated the previous month, with cross-border shopping an ever-concerning issue for our nation鈥檚 retailers, we鈥檝e adopted the 鈥淏lack Friday鈥� sales concept.
What most people don鈥檛 realize is that cross-border shopping only accounts for an estimated 2 per cent of Canadian consumer purchases.
鈥淏lack Friday鈥� is also known as 鈥淏uy Nothing Day鈥�.
Founded in 1992 by Vancouver artist Ted Dave, 鈥淏uy Nothing Day鈥� has been called 鈥淥ccupy Christmas鈥� by Adbusters magazine.
Just when I鈥檇 thought that commercialism had taken almost all of the fun out of the holidays, the anti-consumerist lobby has attempted to finish the job.
As expected, the 鈥渆fforts鈥� had as much impact as the 鈥淥ccupy Wall Street鈥� movement from which it borrowed its nickname; essentially, none.
Boxing Day sales used to be fun, when I was younger. A day off, spend a bit and save a lot. Buying for everyone else had been done prior to the day before, so it was somewhat self-indulgent.
I used to love Christmas. Two weeks off from school, a guaranteed annual visit with distant relations, cookies and candies and presents. Toys and turkey and presents. People smiling and hugging and playing in the snow. Toboggans and sleigh rides and snowmobiling. Parties and church choirs singing. Oh, yeah... and presents.
Getting them was nice, giving them was fun. I usually got all my last-minute shopping done in an hour. It certainly never took an entire calendar day.
鈥淏lack Friday鈥� is no longer a single day. Corporations and their advertising executives have extended the savings madness in both directions, starting earlier and ending later, with Friday apparently a week long, and carried into the next.
For a decade, 鈥淏lack Friday weekend鈥� has been immediately followed by 鈥淐yber Monday鈥�, created in 2005 to encourage online shopping. At least it鈥檚 a way to avoid crowds, but that, too, has been extended to include several successive days.
Meanwhile, actual stores continue their own sales in effort to compete and/or match the online binge-shopping.
And yet, as I was watching my TV last week, and still now in December, the word 鈥渂lack鈥� was used less often to describe sales as it was in reference to the unrest throughout the United States following the grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri.
Rioting and looting, underneath a street-wide 鈥淪eason鈥檚 Greetings鈥� sign. How festive.
Rather than gather 鈥榬ound the yule log, protesters chose to make do with a burning police car.
ISIL. Ebola. Kim Kardashian鈥檚 butt. All big things in the news right now.
I really need some Christmas spirit right now, and I鈥檓 not referring to Jacob Marley.
Not even Bob Marley鈥� although he did release a very cool version of Irving Berlin鈥檚 鈥淲hite Christmas鈥� back in 1965, which I find ironic for so many reasons.
Tonight, after I finish decorating a few trees, hanging hundreds of lights and wrapping a few presents, I intend to be sitting in my studio recording 鈥淥 Holy Night鈥�. Saint Augustine said, 鈥淨ui bene cantat bis orat鈥�, or 鈥淗e who sings well prays twice鈥�, so I鈥檒l be giving it my best effort, now that my voice has returned.
I鈥檝e always resented those who feel obligated to say 鈥減ut Christ back in Christmas鈥�, even if perhaps their motives may seem pure. It feels like having religious zeal thrust upon me, even if it鈥檚 a religion I myself share. To me, He鈥檚 always been in it, by definition.
Despite the extension of 鈥淐yber Monday鈥� past the 24-hour mark, the day after has been called 鈥淕iving Tuesday鈥�. That鈥檚 the day that should be lengthened.
It鈥檚 not Christ that needs to be put back in Christmas; it鈥檚 His message of peace, love, and joy. Ergo I鈥檓 hopeful that making 鈥渁 joyful noise for the Lord鈥� will help to renew the childhood enthusiasm I once had for the holiday season named for the celebration of His birth.
