Today I’m going to tackle another Christmas tradition: shopping. Christmas shopping is definitely a modern tradition, and perhaps an American-influenced one. In past decades and centuries, shopping wasn’t something people did much of. I remember the pilot for the television series The Waltons, back in the early 1970s. I don’t remember the name of the pilot, but I want to say it was The Homecoming. The Waltons quickly became my favorite television series—which made me somewhat of an oddball among my age group.
But I remember in the pilot, John-Boy had to go out and help someone in the snow, so Mama Walton gave him his gift to open early: hand-knit mittens. Okay, so it was the Depression, and people were poor. But similar themes play out in Little House on the Prairie, The Gift of the Magi, and countless other beloved stories across time. Gifts were hand-made things, store-bought candy, and very simple things. Pricey items were the exception.
So what that has to do with me…I simply don’t like shopping. In past decades of my own life, I actually did enjoy Christmas shopping, because of the festivity of the experience, and the chance to buy stuff that would make other people happy. But I didn’t like the time pressure or the fear (every year, the same fear, although never realized) that I wouldn’t get it all done. It seems the talk these past few years has focused on buying less, giving gifts of time, shopping at thrift stores, etc. So the rest of the world is getting in step with me.
Old goal out: start sooner. New goal in: buy less.
So, while I don’t like the idea of jumping on the “it’s the economy” poverty-mentality bandwagon, the “new” American tradition of not shopping suits me just fine. This year, I started my Christmas shopping exactly 11 days before Christmas. And I’m not worried about not getting it all done. Really.