Shopping Bag People, by Martha Thomases
As you read this, the shopping malls are jammed. Many opened in the dark, with special sales to attract the first shoppers. The news programs will have stories about how many people got trampled trying to buy an item marked down a lot, and perhaps a heartwarming piece about a child who buys something for a poor family.
It’s the holidays.
Most of the world’s religions, major and minor, celebrate the passing of the Winter Solstice when the days stop getting darker and the light begins to return. It is a hopeful time. Whatever your traditions, you probably enjoy gathering with family and/or friends, eating and drinking, celebrating the return of the sun.
In the United States for most of the last century, the holidays are also the time to balance the books. Stores that might lose money all year count on the fourth quarter – October through December – to turn a profit. The day after Thanksgiving is dubbed, “Black Friday,” because that’s the day the red ink should stop.
Now, I enjoy getting presents as much (if not more) than the next person. I like to know that someone was thinking about me, and trying to make me happy. I enjoy the feeling that I’m a queen, receiving tribute. I like this enough to want it all year round.
I also enjoy giving gifts. It makes me feel close to those I care about to seek out something they want, or don’t yet know they want. One of the best parts of knitting is that, when you knit something for someone beside yourself, you can imagine your friend using your gift. It’s like spending extra time with your friend.
But I hate the holidays. I hate the decorations that start to appear just after school starts. I hate the commercials that suggest that if my husband really loved me, he’d buy me diamonds or furs or perfume. I hate the suggestion that I have a responsibility to make the holidays perfect for all the children I know by buying them whatever plastic crap has most recently been shipped here from China. I hate the crowds on the sidewalk (but then, I hate that all year round).
I hate the politicizing of Christmas by the right wing, the suggestion that a person who says “Happy Holidays” is being politically correct instead of considerate. I hate Christmas being a national holiday when it celebrates the alleged birth of Jesus, and I hate the attempt to make Hanukkah, a relatively minor holiday, its equal. If I were Hindu or Muslim or Buddhist or pagan, I’d be even more irked.
Now, I don’t hate the holidays as much as Denny O’Neil. Denny usually starts hating them in May or June, because for years he had to write Christmas stories for Superman, Batman or Spider-Man that far in advance. He hates the holidays as one can only hate them with a six-month head-start.
“But Martha,” you say. “What about the spirit of the season? What about peace on earth, good will towards men? Isn’t that what this time is really about?”
No, it’s not. If it were, people would try to do something about it and we would have peace and good will. Instead, we have decorations and credit card debt.
I’m not shopping at a mall this weekend. I’m at Mid-Ohio Con, my first time there, and I’m meeting people who share my love of comics, some of whom are old friends and some I haven’t met yet. Good comics celebrate the possible, tell stories about anything the creative team can imagine.
Let’s imagine better days ahead.
Martha Thomases, Media Goddess of ComicMix, thinks Alan Moore graphic novels are excellent gifts.
I hear you Martha.This year I shopped for two Christmas parties, one at church and the other the local VFW lounge.In typical un-holiday fashion I bargain-shop the clearance end caps all year long to make the dollar stretch to as many kids as I can.My goal is to done by Black Friday before the craziness starts.My kind of tribute and protest to the holidays.Have fun in Ohio.Kissnoise.
It sounds like you're more than ready for Morgan Spurlock's new docu What Would Jesus Buy?. I guess I'm kind of lucky, I only shop for holiday gifts for my husband, and we sort of combine that with birthday and anniversary gifts as all of those days are in December. As his family is in England and mine's Jewish, we save a lot of money and aggravation by not shopping for Christmas gifts.
What burns me is that, in recent years, we get sales reports on the first weekend and how good/bad it was with the additional suggestion, if the sales are not what they were PROJECTED to be, we MUST go out and spend more for the good of America or, by ghod, the terrorists will have won.Let me tell you what was maybe the BEST Christmas gift i ever gave. I was really oin the short end of the check (SOP then and now). I was expecting a good check just AFTER Christmas but was short for the day. My sibs and I weren't exchanging presents at that point but my oldest sister had three kids and I was going to be empty-handed. Instead, I created a tcket for each them, hand made, that promised all three an afternoon at the movies with Unca John,their pick, popcorn and soda included and ice cream afterwards. (One of the perks of being an uncle was you get get the nephews and nieces wired on sugar and then hand them back to the parental units.)This worked out so well that, for the next couple of years, it was an annual event. It was the EXPECTED gift. We had such a great time at these outings! And the bonds created by them have lasted right into their adulthoods.– JohnPS Actually, now that i think about it, I gave Kim an engagement ring on Christmas Eve so THAt probably was the best gift I ever gave — or the smartest — but these are right up there!
John, in a moment of brilliance/insanity, I saw that the word you used—ghod—could be pronounced as if broken into 2 separate words…gee hod.Eerily similar to jihad, methinks.
I realized Thursday that I'd set up a lunch date for Friday at a giant mall. I left half an hour early expecting to wait for a handicapped spot, but one was open. I went in and waited on a bench and people-watched until my friend came and I handed over the wedding attendant hair ornaments for her daugher's wedding while we ate. So I got out of that better than I expected. Handed over the beaded veil to a bride last Saturday; now I'm done with weddings. I'm an atheist so I don't buy presents this time of year.
I don't think I could love you any more than I do at this moment, Martha. I agree with every word in this article, more than 100% if allowable by law.
If you made up the story of the American economy, no one would believe you. That signpost up ahead . . .
re: John's gift above. That is the best gift you can give a child; what a wonderful uncle you are! Martha and Lillian, the movie comrades, know this, for sure.