perfect material symbol of both my love for each special someone on my list and my joy at the birth of baby Jesus. And each year I happened to find at least a few of those gifts/symbols at places like The Gap or Best Buy. I was not alone. I know this because of the lines I stood in to buy my modern representations of frankincense and myrrh.
Yet, despite disciplined budgeting, each year I would always come out of the holiday season staggering. I made peace with it quickly, as I knew many of the friends I made standing in line at the Gap were also struggling come January. In fact, at my own job in the jewelry industry, we were warned that people would try to avoid taking out a credit line in January with the excuse that they had maxed out their credit cards during the Christmas season. Mind you, in serious retail this is seen only as an excuse. And if I were to accept that excuse from a customer, as a sales associate, I would be scolded and penalized for it.
On the lowest rung of the retail industry, sales associates experience how bloodthirsty corporations continue to grow, especially during the holiday season. And, like me with my July spreadsheets, the marketplace begins plotting early as well. Crafting all the ways they will win our patronage: whether it be warming our hearts and inspiring us to buy or simply wooing us with the lowest price. And, after frantically placing every last gift-wrapped piece of future garbage under the tree, we gather to worship and sing songs about a baby that arrived in the world to bring peace and love and deliverance...and free gift-wrapping with each purchase.
What?!
The documentary What Would Jesus Buy? follows a group of activists touring the country as the Church of Stop Shopping featuring a gospel choir singing spirited holiday tunes dedicated to the anti-consumer gospel. They were kicked out of shopping malls, Wal-Marts, and Starbucks all over the country as they spread their message of a non-consumptive holiday alternative. As both a choir dork and a member of the Church of Stop Shopping, I was very jealous of their travels.
But, thankfully, I was also inspired to continue to refashion my approach to and perspective on Christmas. I was lucky to grow up in a home with warm Christmas mornings and plenty of presents under the tree. Like many American Christian children, I was taught the story of the miracle of Jesus' birth alongside the story of the magic of Santa Claus. And after attending a candlelight Christmas Eve service and fighting back bored yawns amidst solemn worshippers singing "Silent Night" I would rush home to forget about Jesus and lay awake trying to hear the footsteps of my favorite Christmas character on the roof. Reinvisioning Christmas, without all the tissue paper, shopping bags, and wish lists is not exactly easy. Especially when hiding behind the evils of the consumer Christmas is the truly wonderful splendor of family and religious tradition. It is often difficult to separate them. Bucking the way our society approaches Christmas is like shooting the middle finger at my family.
Last year I approached my mother in August and told her about the recent conversion I had made to the Church of Stop Shopping. I suggested our family do an alternative Christmas. No presents we bought from stores: only homemade gifts. Instead of our traditional morning in our PJ's amongst piles of presents, we could work at a soup kitchen or help with a local charity. With the money we would have been spending at Target and Amazon.com we could instead choose charities that were meaningful to us and give to those truly in need. And for a little Christmas indulgence we could treat ourselves to a family outing, like a nice dinner together, where we could exchange homemade gifts and spend time loving one another instead of cooing at each others' store bought treasures. The idea was balked at and given an automatic veto. I was accused of attempting to ruin Christmas for my nine year old sister and the idea of perhaps working in a soup kitchen was reluctantly accepted as a sort of compromise.
Ouch.
So I took a different approach. In early November, just as the Thanksgiving sales were being advertised, I sent out letters to my family members, talking about my consumer conversion and asking that, instead of gifts, my family give donations to a mission in the Gulf Coast, where I worked for two months. On the back of my letter I included tips for responsible and sustainable shopping during the holidays. (One step above me getting on my knees and pleading, "If you're going to buy...at least do it fair trade! For the love of God! Literally!") Yet, only a small portion of my family honored my Christmas request. And I ended up receiving what seemed like more miscellaneous stuff on Christmas day. I stuck to my resolution of making all my gifts (with a few exceptions) and presented homemade gifts to every one on my list, while also gifting a few meaningful charities in my life. Yet, I still left quite a bit of gift wrap and even sweatshop labor in my Christmas wake. And my radical vision became a small, unsuccessful, one-man protest.
So, What Would Jesus Buy? inspired me to throw away my Christmas budgets of yore, and use my neurotic spreadsheet-loving energy to plan a holiday approach this year that will be as radical as the little dude whose birthday we are allegedly celebrating. And that calls for some real analysis of what that even means. How can I meaningfully celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus Christ, in light of who Jesus grew up to be and the message he proclaimed?
What this means for you is that this blog is...
...TO BE CONTINUED!
Stay tuned for my proposed birthday tribute to JC.
