Christmas is an interesting holiday in America.
On one hand, it’s a celebration of a specifically religious moment in human history — a time for Christians of all denominations to worship together in support of peace and the Holy Spirit.
On the other hand, it’s a time for Americans to buy sometimes-unnecessary plastic crap for one another in the name of awkwardly expressing love and meaning to the ones who mean the most to us. (Or, in the paraphrased words of one woman a NonDoc editor just overheard shopping, “My grandmother-in-law is the most ungrateful woman ever. So my husband and I agreed this morning we’d get her something from your store and be done with it.”)
Showing thanks and appreciation for emotions, feelings and humanity in general can be difficult to do on any given day, and people often find the task even more stressful when it is expected on a day like Christmas.
Gift giving is a major part of that process, though in American lore, Christmas gifts from 100 years ago were usually more practical pre-Walmart and Amazon. A fine handkerchief, a hair brush or even a pair of shoes would have made luxurious Christmas presents. Depending upon one’s location, a small bag of chili peppers might have seemed exotic.
Gifting, of course, can be a fascinating anthropological examination of any society. To quote the French sociologist Marcel Mauss in his book The Gift: The form and reason for exchange in archaic societies:
“Exchanges and contracts take place in the form of presents; in theory these are voluntary, in reality they are given and reciprocated obligatorily.”
Indeed, nearly all of us have surely bought a gift for a loved one and thought, “I wish I could think of something better. Something practical. Something that doesn’t cost $30 and that more accurately represents the love I have for the person receiving it.”
That, of course, is the true ruse of Christmas in America — high expectations, varying degrees of obligation, but an overarching reality that connecting with each other and remembering the least among us is most important. When we put $0.50 into a Salvation Army red kettle, we should avoid feeling guilt that it could have been more; that the quarters could have been shinier.
So whatever your Christmas Day holds, here at NonDoc, we hope you view it positively and remember all the good that exists in this weirdest of all worlds.
Merry Christmas, however you choose (or choose not) to celebrate it.
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