Shopping malls have undergone a steady decline in recent years, with the ever growing popularity of internet shopping. They have vacillated from being outdoor malls, to indoor malls, and back again to outdoor malls. Each time a mall underwent these changes, it was at considerable cost. The old buildings were often completely demolished and new structures built to accommodate the new vision of happy shoppers.
I found Christmas shopping to be a dreary undertaking. As malls grew larger, it was a considerable trek to trudge from one end of the mall to the opposite end. Already laden with a heavy winter coat and a purse that continually fell off my shoulder, I was further inconvenienced with each gift I purchased and then had to carry through the store – with three children in tow who wanted me to carry their coats as well. My legs would begin to ache as I perused store after store in search of the perfect gift for those “hard to find gifts for” people on my list. By this time, the children were generally cranky, too. The stress of holiday shopping, pretending that I actually enjoyed all of the extravagant spending, chipped away at the real meaning of why I put myself through the ordeal year after year. Added to the shopping frenzy, was the scurry to clean and make the home look festive, buy or cut and decorate a tree, wrap the far too many gifts, bake cookies, plan meals, attend company parties – and make that final trip to the liquor store because by Christmas night I really needed that drink.
As my daughters grew and began families of their own, I retired from the yearly madness, adopting instead, the quiet, contemplative celebration of the Winter’s Solstice. I do not miss the shopping malls, nor the chaotic Christmas bustling about. I am grateful that this is no longer important to me. This year, amidst a global pandemic and strained finances, I believe that more and more people will begin to question why they go to such extremes for a single day that has been blown all out of proportion. What the world truly needs, is recognition that each day has worth in its own right, of quiet celebration. I believe that our modern obsession with holidays is an unsatisfied hunger for all that we have given up in the name of capitalism. We have paid too high a price for our material luxuries and in the transaction, we have lost our peace of mind.
