You know what? Scrooge was right
The Age
Friday December 18, 2009
HERE'S what I love: Christmas pudding, Christmas cake, Christmas carols, Christmas trees and Christmas drinks. Here's what I hate: Christmas.Yes, I'm with Scrooge. After 52 years, I'm over Christmas. I mean really over it. I hate being obliged to buy presents for people who already have too much. And I hate receiving presents when I already have too much and have nowhere to put anything.I hate the fact that the tawdry Christmas decorations and all other paraphernalia are mostly made by people in China who don't celebrate Christmas and who don't get toilet breaks, let alone holidays. I hate the fact that while the future of humanity may depend on emissions trading, the future of our economy depends on Christmas trading.And I hate the fact that, having been lured into this season of gluttony and having spent hours planning, shopping, and wrapping for it, someone else gets all the credit. Behind every successful man is a woman €” and Santa Claus is no exception.This was brought home to me when my son was about seven years old. After opening his presents on Christmas morning, he sat back on his haunches and declared: "Gee, just as well you didn't have to buy all this stuff €” it would have cost you a fortune!"Christmas is an ode to gluttony. This year, predictions are that Christmas spending will be down on last year €” just $37 billion. That could be equivalent to the gross domestic product of several African nations.In ancient times, this celebration preceded a period of forbearance and frugality resulting from harsh winters and limited food sources. Today, fruit cake, plum pudding, turkey, and shortbread are available all year round €” just without the Christmas wrapping €” and frugality means eating one mince pie, rather than the whole packet.I am not alone. Lots of people hate Christmas, most of them women because they mostly do all the present-buying and social organisation. "I actually leave the country at Christmas because I hate it so much," my friend Debra says."I remember driving home from a family Christmas, when we had three kids and hardly any money. I'd spent hundreds of dollars on presents for my extended family and at the end of the day, I came home with a whole bag of presents, all of which I hated."The epitome was a pair of Homy Ped sandals, which she knew she would never wear. It wasn't that she was ungrateful; it was just that she felt unknown."It underlined the fact that all these people who were my family had so little knowledge of what I might like. I would have been happier with a jar of marmalade, which I love," she says. "Presents have poison in them. They can serve to make you feel much worse."I know. When I was a child, Christmas in our household was always a simple affair, simply because there was no money. My mother scrounged what she could to provide a few modest gifts, such as clothes we needed, or a book.When I was 12, this consisted of a tin of watercolour paints, like those you used to buy at the newsagent, a packet of peppermints, some Indian cow bells on a beaded rope and some summer "shortie" pyjamas.When my friends, Alison and Sally from across the road, came over to tell me what Santa had brought them €” a sackful of toys, including the latest board games, Mousetrap and Green Ghost €” they surveyed my small booty with puzzlement. "How come you don't get much?" Sally asked. I couldn't tell her that the size of my Santa sack was directly related to the size of my mother's purse.These days, children's expectations are even more heightened, thanks to television. Pawnbrokers report that January is their busiest period, as parents, reeling from Christmas debt, hock what they can to pay for school books.These days, like everyone else, I get too much, eat too much and spend too much.So here's what I really want this year: a Christmas that is more meaningful and modest.That doesn't mean you have to make biscuits, or candles, or bread-dough decorations for friends, or, as the website www.buynothingchristmas.org suggests €” tree ornaments out of old CDs. Nor does it mean having to summon a bout of religious fervour, unless of course you are a true believer. But it might mean having a sockful of presents rather than a sackful.Myf Warhurst's column will be on the Melbourne Life page on Monday.
© 2009 The Age
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