REASON FOR THE SEASON
Extravagant gift-buying and gift-giving at Christmas makes sense in some ways, experts say, but it also can be done differently.
"To me, it seems highly symbolic as an expression of abundance, and that can be a good thing," said Stephen Webb, author of "The Gifting God: A Trinitarian Ethics of Excess" and professor of religion at Wabash College in Indiana.
"The celebration of abundance is built into religion and Christianity that God is the source of all good gifts, that we are given everything we need, so surrounding ourselves with presents is one very legitimate, concrete way of acknowledging the gifted way of all reality.
"On the other hand, it does seem to lack a certain kind of reality, because most of these gifts are things that we don't really need, and we tend to overgive to children nowadays to compensate for the busy-ness of our lives and lack of times we spend with them."
Bill McKibben, author of "Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas," said the last thing that Americans need is more "stuff."
"We need quiet, time with our families, time for reflection, time in nature - all the things obscured by a mall-oriented commercial Christmas," McKibben said.
Yet, with U.S. retailers depending on spending for the winter holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwaanza - for an average 19.8 percent of their annual income, a drastic cut in Americans' spending at that time of the year might come as too much of a shock to the economy, McKibben said.
"If it happened overnight, it would take its toll," he said. But, he added: "It's obviously not going to happen overnight, and so I have no doubt that capitalism will adjust accordingly. It's hard to imagine that our national economic system would depend on celebrating the birth of a man who told us to give our money to the poor and follow him by awarding each other motorized spice racks and five irons."
Gift-giving, especially in excess, doesn't just have financial and material impact, though. It affects relationships, according to Dr. Leigh Eric Schmidt of Princeton University.
"There's always this sense in which the gift embodies the relationship, so people are anxious that they find the right thing that can somewhat represent what the relationship is like," Schmidt said. "The gift becomes a symbol. The danger is that it won't quite fit or won't quite work or that you won't quite find the right thing.
"These things are all there and in play on Christmas morning. If all goes well, relationships are confirmed and even enhanced."
The tradition of gift-giving at the end of the year is old, Schmidt said, but the excess is more recent.
"It's clear that from 1850 on, this really takes off," said the author of "Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays."
"It really changes the psychology of the day, the experience of the day," Schmidt said.
If a child doesn't get a certain thing, for instance, the day seems incomplete and disappointing, he said.
"So you can get a kind of consumerist sensibility about it all," he said. "It's about longing for a particular thing or a particular good, hoping for it to be requited."
Changing the focus of Christmas helps, Schmidt said.
"There's a different feel to it if it's all focused on a family gathering or a community event or a worship service," he said.
And thinking about the poor, which many people do at this time of year, also should be an essential part of Christmas, Schmidt said.
"It does seem to me there is deep in the Christian message an attentiveness to 'the least of these,'" he said. "Any part of the celebration that can continue to honor that, that's to the public good and the good of the civil society and social fabric."
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