{"id":3887,"date":"2011-11-03T18:23:56","date_gmt":"2011-11-03T22:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timscogitorium.com\/tinblog\/?p=3887"},"modified":"2011-11-03T13:52:56","modified_gmt":"2011-11-03T17:52:56","slug":"the-evolution-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timscogitorium.com\/tinblog\/2011\/11\/the-evolution-of-christmas.html","title":{"rendered":"The Evolution of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Evil<\/a>Halloween was several days ago, which can only mean one thing.\u00a0 Christmas is upon us.\u00a0 Yes, yes, I know Thanksgiving is in there somewhere, but so far our WalMart overlords haven’t figured out how to commercialize that day beyond a good sale on canned cranberry jelly.\u00a0 So it doesn’t count.\u00a0 It’s Christmas dammit!\u00a0 Why aren’t you out shopping?<\/p>\n

Actually several members of my family (those with a preponderance of X-chromosomes), started the Christmas season months ago.\u00a0 I know this because they started pestering me in July for what I wanted for Christmas, and for what they should buy my teenage sons.\u00a0 Some consider themselves behind if Labor Day comes and goes and they aren’t wrapping presents yet.<\/p>\n

I don’t believe for a minute they simply enjoy gift shopping so much they have to start 6 months early because they can’t wait.\u00a0 Catch them overtired or with an extra glass of wine and they’ll even admit that while they love the idea of Christmas gifts, the reality is a pain in the tuckus, and they are just trying to get it out of the way.<\/p>\n

In fairness, it’s not all downside. Pretty much everyone relishes seeing the unmitigated joy on a young child’s face as they open a Christmas gift.\u00a0 And kids’ needs and desires change so frequently in those early years that shopping for them is often fun.\u00a0 But shopping for anyone over 15 gets a little dicier. When shopping for older folks, gifts tend to fall into one of two categories.\u00a0 Stuff they don’t want, and stuff you can’t afford.\u00a0 Which explains why on Christmases-past you may have wanted an HDTV, but instead exclaimed, “Yay! Socks!” while quietly dying a little bit inside.<\/p>\n

Retailers recognized this problem, and in recent years the advent of e-commerce and online wish lists have made things easier for shoppers to buy gifts people actually desire and value.\u00a0 In theory, you just hit up your intended’s Amazon Wish List and select from the bounty of gifts he or she has expressed an interest in…\u00a0 And a couple of clicks later, you’re done.\u00a0 Which would be bloody brilliant except that most of us don’t bother adding things to our wish lists.\u00a0 All of which earns us the ire of our loved ones who berate us for depriving them of the opportunity to conveniently show us how much they love us.<\/p>\n

So now, instead of struggling to find the perfect gift for Mom, you struggle to find the perfect gift for Mom to give you.\u00a0 It’s not clear this is better.\u00a0 And whatever element of surprise there was in the giving of gifts has vanished.\u00a0 “Oh look!\u00a0 The new razor I picked out for me.\u00a0 What a splendid wrapping job you did on it.\u00a0 Is there any pie left?”<\/p>\n

It’s tempting to argue that maybe us older folks should just mutually agree to wallow in each other’s company, embrace the warmth and the strength of our familial bonds, and forgo the whole gift exchange… but apparently that’s just crazy talk.\u00a0 “These are traditions dammit, and it wouldn’t be Christmas if you didn’t get to open something.\u00a0 So, just shut your heretical pie hole and tell me what to buy you!”<\/p>\n

Looking at the evolution of gift giving on Christmas we see the following progression of things we give to others to celebrate the day:<\/p>\n