To me, it seems that Christmas in Bermuda is way too much about the buying of presents and less about what the time of year should represent. I haven't heard as much of the "spend time with loved ones" nearly as much as the "what are you getting for Christmas" bits.
Sure, the retailers are probably more than happy to point out the importance of gift-buying to this time of year, but the emphasis on material things appears to me to be far too great. This Slate article kind of sparked me to comment briefly on it. I mean, whining about not getting everything you wanted or the like? Woy.
And this quote from the article:
"Overwhelmingly today, we assume that the way to make people happy at Christmas is to give them what they have told us they want."
- I agree. This doesn't sit well with me.
Oh yeah. While I do like buying gifts for people, I'm not fond of the experience. It's mentally draining, to look for things that may or may not be appreciated by the recipient. This is why the gift certificate business has taken off, I think. Not as tacky as cash (despite my sister telling me cash is great), but heck. This is applicable especially to clothing, where you run the risks of seeing an item as nice in your eyes but possibly not so much to the recipient's. Especially if it's a colour he/she doesn't like, too small, too large.
Yes, I have bought clothes for people this Christmas. And I'm damn scared they won't be appreciated fully. So they're disappointed in your efforts, and you're disappointed that you couldn't please them. Sigh. Next year it'll definitely be the gift certificates.
No comments:
Post a Comment