Present etiquette

From the 1st to the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me... well, nothing. And the feeling’s mutual. I didn’t get my boyfriend anything either. This may come as a shock to some of you, as did a friend of mine when she asked what I had got him. "We don’t really believe in giving presents for the sake of it," I told her.

If only her now ex-boyfriend lived by the same philosophy. He "chucked a sook" having received a canvas print from her one Christmas. My guess is that he was wondering where the other nine parts to his gift were.

How did we come to breed kids with attitudes such as these anyway? Then I thought back to my shifts in retail this Christmas season, and how I’ve swiped many a parent’s credit card for upwards of $500 on one child.

I trolled the internet hoping to point fingers at who got us into this mess.

According to Articles Base, "in the Christian faith gifts… represent the presents the wise men brought to the baby Jesus." Since then "gift giving became a symbolic reminder of the birth of Christ."

Then, “Christmas shopping was encouraged to overcome the depression during the period 1839-40” (All Things Christmas). There’s not much difference in 2009, with recent news coverage lamenting that this year’s Christmas expenditure won’t be enough to undo the damage of the global financial crisis.

Ironic how materialism rides on spirituality.

Love, Noeline.
xox