Christmas – is it about the Gift, the Giving or the Receiving?
As the Christmas season approaches, I have recently been thinking about how many people out there associate happiness with a product and how many children learn, not the power of giving nor the grace of receiving, but instead the lesson of entitlement. My enduring believe is that true happiness is not to be found in a product.
Perhaps it lingers in the thoughtfulness and consideration of the giver (at best) but not in the product itself. Maybe there are other words that people confuse with happiness and which, perhaps , might better describe their feeling. Perhaps contentment, satisfaction or even delight are better words for the feeling one gets from the emotional consumption of a physical product.
There are some who consider the commercialisation of Christmas to be a good thing – that it creates employment and generates money for large groups of people. There are others who despair at it and, at least with regards Christmas, calling for people to think more of Christ and his message to the world (rather than have a mug, DVD or the latest XBox game ).
As I explore my thoughts on this, I actually don’t care that people buy or give gifts – if they genuinely care about their recipients of their gifts and feel that it is a suitable expression of their love then great. What I am in total disagreement with is the sense of entitlement that I observe people to have about whether they will get a present or what present they will get. I am also in disagreement with what seems like a social compulsion to give gifts – even to those you actually care very little about.
What do you think? Is your happiness dependent on receiving fancy products at Christmas (birthdays or whenever)? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
On that note, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and sincerely hope that wherever you are this Christmas, that you are not lonely, nor sad but full of Joy and Hope.