The Spirit of Christmas (and Christmas Sales)

Christmas might be an absurd consumerist spendathon fuelled by underlying feelings of guilt, insincerity and gluttony (wow, so much cynicism before breakfast can be harmful), but sometimes the simplest of acts can deliver something you know Hallmark would refer to as "the true meaning of Christmas". Last night, feeling hot, lazy and hungry, we stocked up on KFC and did the rounds of suburbia to gauge the tackiness of people's Christmas Light displays. There is an odd correlation between suburbs that receive the most letters from Centrelink and an abundance of lights and blow up decorations (as in, ones full of air, not weapons), and I think this year K-Rudd's generous donation to spur on the economy was mostly spent at Bunnings, where happy shoppers loaded their trolleys with "one of everything please" in the Lights aisle. This "one of everything" was then vomited haphazardly onto said shopper's dwellings, to create an epileptic display of random flashing, and I even saw one blow up santa coming out of a wrapped present, and then slowly lowering himself back in (in shame, one presumes).

Still, there were some displays that obviously had taken alot of hard work, and looked like those houses in American movies which probably doesn't represent America at all but that's what they want us to think. We pulled up to admire some of the displays and had our car window tapped on by little kids dressed as elves handing out lollies and little packages of cello-wrapped jellybeans, which quite frankly ws so simple and touching a gesture that it made me feel all festive and fuzzy. The kids directing traffic to their house in a cul-de-sac off a main street using a flashing light sabre also get my festivity vote (also because I nabbed a Flake from them, yeeaaah!). In one suburbs, I'm not sure whether it was the Spirit of Christmas or the Spirit of Competition that wsas over-riding, but nevertheless all you had to do was roll up, stick your hand out the window and receive more and more elaborate goodies. Quite frankly, we shouldn't have eaten before we left. They should take homeless people in those soup vans around to get the handouts, they'd be stuffed full until Easter. At any rate, the kids were loving it, my daughter's face was lit up brighter than any light display (what she was learning about accepting lollies from strangers I don't know) and we all came home in a jolly good mood. Our tree has all the presents under it, most of the decorations are still on there somewhere, and there are cards strewn across the bookshelf. It might be 25 degrees outside and too hot for mulled wine and roasted chestnuts (never too hot for chilled white wine and gourmet nibblies though) but at least it feels a bit like Christmas.....

Department stores may have taken their decorations down already, but it was a bit like once they did, and stopped forcing Christmas sales down our throats, actual Festivities started to struggle out from under the pile of bargain-filled catalogues and useless prepackaged gift hampers. Plus, it means stores are getting ready for the Boxing Day sales, which is admittedly what all of us spendaholic, materialistic gluttonous consumers are really excited about.

*cue note about Frock You Boxing Day Sale - yes it is happening, yes it will be huge, no it won't be on Boxing Day becuase we all deserve a rest! It'll be posted on here, Facebook and of course in the newseltter mailout on Boxing Day night, so I strongly suggest saving eveything you wish for in your favourites, and heading through checkout as soon as the discount code is active - our sales are excersises in insanity and the poor website groans under the influx of cyber traffic. It's first in, best dressed!*

Christmas: Scrooge or Spend?

I don't know about you but I thought the world economy was in the dunny, and we are all tightening our purse strings this festive season. Or, in a more positive spin, getting back to the good old fashioned notion of "it's the thought that counts" and just letting the tots play with wrapping paper and the older kids an outdoor cricket set. Or, if you are like some people I know, you could be well into the $000's with your chrissy spending. So far. Aside from the joy of giving, is it compensation for some form of neglectful parenting, fear of childhood deprivation, or some sort of bogan pride-cum-outdo the Jones'es mentality? If you don;t count the hoardes of food, we never spent alot on Christmas. We got bikes, rollerblades, a Playstation and all that at one point or another, but it was only ever one gift. Not a laptop, ipod, giant toy dog, swing set, trampoline and assorted cds/books/clothes, all at once. I mean, what the hell do you buy next year?! Charlotte has asked for a gingerbread man from Santa. And the other day Myer had a one-day only sale of 30% off Christmas trim, so she got her own sparkly bauble for the tree. So far her spend list is under $10. Although, she does want a bike too, which I can't wait to go shopping for. My partner will probably get a book and some shoes, I'd be happy with a day off and a Chanel purse (joke. sort of). A day off and lots of wine would do me nicely. Maybe it's an effect of getting old, or the result of the post-consumerism frenzy of this decade, but the thought of overspending just makes me a bit nauseous. And this is coming from a person who basically shops for a living. Mind you, I plan to hit the Boxing Day sales like a madwoman in heels, but you know, everything will be cheap. It's economical. A group of us are having Chrissy dinner later this month, and instead of $10 secret santa we're all giving $10 each to a business in a developing country through Kiva.org . $80 might buy you an annoying talking Elmo who has no point as he isn't programmed to a) shutup or b) do housework; but $80 to someone in the 3rd world makes such a huge difference. I recommend it - warm and fuzzy is where it's at. And I don't mean in a giant lifelike toy dog.