It’s finally the holiday season after some arduous final exams. Lots of studying, stressing, and constantly awakening pre-exam nights kept this month quite busy thus far. Now I’m finally on my holidays and I’m looking forward to sleeping in, all the chocolate, and the chance to catch up with friends and relatives.
Of course, when people think of meeting up with “annual relatives” during the holidays they often think of gifts! It’s amazing how much marketing has changed the mentalities of consumers and made Christmas an almost purely commercial event. It’s as if everyone says, “let’s give the economy a big push before the New Year!” I’m not opposed to the idea of gift giving or having a period of the year where we promote economic growth, but there’s no reason why we couldn’t have that same amount of growth spread out over the entire year instead of at the end of the year.
It is because of the commercialization of Christmas that everyone justifies not giving gifts throughout the year except on birthdays or other occasions. And now the general consensus is that we are almost expected to give gifts during the Christmas season and when we give gifts at other times of the year, we must have some ulterior motives. At least this makes guys look good if they give gifts laced with the line, “just because.”
The holidays should really be about rest, family, close friends, and welcoming the New Year after twelve months of hard work. Not everyone will feel the effects of my claim, but it wouldn’t hurt to consider the aforementioned as a possibility during the last weeks of December. We don’t get as much opportunities throughout the year to make the memories that will last, take the photos we will remember, and share the special meals we get to enjoy on an annual basis. It is without a doubt a special set of days, and it would do us all good if we had a safe, relaxing, and planned holiday season.
I wish you all the best in the coming year, and may your goals come to light despite the darkness of doubts.