Christmas spirit in mean times

Retailers have a different perspective on the holidays. It’s not that we’re a curmudgeonly bunch – well, maybe some of us are; I know I am. But by the time the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear, we’re already dreading it.

Starting sometime in July or August, suppliers send out the first of their frequent, and increasingly alarming, order-now-or-forget-Christmas appeals. Most retailers don’t go into the black until December; yet we must dedicate considerable sums of our meager earnings to stock purchases that won’t pay off for another few months, then pray to the gods of consumption that this year’s seasonal buying frenzy doesn’t suffer a premature ejaculation. That particular money shot is virtually worthless if it goes off in your pants.

Forget for a moment that the Big Boxes have already decimated your market with their near-limitless advertising budgets and eye-popping discounts. (That’s more a problem for unwitting Wal-Mart employees, whose only protection from the deal-maddened mobs are a pane of glass and a faulty hinge.) Forget also that many consumers this year will defer their Christmas expenses in favor of simpler luxuries – like food, or heat for their repossessed homes.

Forget all of it. Because by the time those first holiday orders arrive at your transom, you’re already cringing from the mere insinuation of Christmas carols. You’re strapped for cash. You’re doing your best to ignore suppliers’ first (second/third/whatever) overdue payment notices. You’re stressed out and barking at your dog. Acquaintances come to greet you with a hearty handshake, but glimpse the madness in your eyes and fearfully retreat. Your only comfort is that other shop owners have the same haggard expression written across their faces. And there’s still three weeks left to Christmas.

So it is that I find myself wishing the holidays over, before they start. Which, truly, is stinkin’ thinkin’ but can hardly be helped.

I fear many shell-shocked consumers are of the same mind. When the news is nothing but bad – (Did you hear? Canada’s government is about to collapse. Happy holidays!) – it’s difficult to find joy in the spirit of these mean times.

But find it we must, all of us. Look for it in the company of friends and family. Look for it in the warmth of home after a long day’s labor. Look for it in the faces of your children, because Christmas still holds magic for them – and presents need not be expensive, or many, to fill their hearts.

We are not our credit cards. We are not our Calvin Kleins, or Perry Ellises, or Ralph Lauren Polos. We are whom we love, and how we love. We are conscious living things who can, if we wish it, find meaning enough in any small moment.

There’s snow now outside my window: huge, fluffy puffs of it drifting soundlessly everywhere around me. It’s breathtaking…