I planned to post this pre-Christmas, but time got the best of me. Who knows, this year’s Christmas experience, still fresh in your mind, may even help out my argument here! I don’t mean to come across as Scrooge – although I’m sure many of you will still be quick to put me on the Grinch-list. At least hear me out…
Before I get into this, for those who don’t know what the hell a white elephant is, Wikipedia has this to say:
A white elephant is a supposedly valuable possession [or perhaps a holiday!] whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) [or associated ‘obligations' - obligations involve personal resources such as time and money; therefore, cost!] exceeds its usefulness, and it is therefore a liability.
For more on White Elephants, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant
Now just suppose…
You’re going to get together with your large family for a big Christmas Eve dinner. There will be at least 12 children running around and you of course plan to buy them each a toy.
Small tangent, “gift giving” is interesting in itself… From the Economist, “Is Santa a deadweight loss?”, December 2001: “At the simplest level, giving gifts involves the giver thinking of something that the recipient would like-he tries to guess her preferences, as economists say-and then buying the gift and delivering it. Yet this guessing of preferences is no mean feat; indeed, it is often done badly. Every year, ties go unworn and books unread. And even if a gift is enjoyed, it may not be what the recipient would have bought had they spent the money themselves….”
Not to mention, whether the recipient of a gift enjoys it or not, do they really need it? Will they really use it to it’s full potential? In 6 months time? Would they go out and buy one if they didn’t receive the gift? How urgent would that purchase be for them to make?
I know, most of us love our immediate and extended families – at least most of them, most of the time – and buy gifts out of the kindness of our hearts, during the Christmas season and other times throughout the year… BUT WHAT IF:
- It has been a bad year financially and this holiday season comes at an inconvenient time
- Or, you dislike some of the children or simply feel some don’t deserve anything
- Or, another reason exists where you are unable or unwilling to splurge on presents
I don’t know if this applies to the masses, but in my relatively small world, not buying a gift for all 12 children of these would attract A LOT of attention, most likely negative attention, and certainly fuel the gossip engine(s) for the coming year. Sad to say, but for the sake of maintaining amiable relationships within the family it is in your best interest to buy the damn gifts for all of the children – whether you want to or not, whether you can really afford to or not – or risk the drama that not buying the gifts will almost inevitably bring.
You buy the gifts… but going back to that ‘What if?…’
OK, if you have financial issues, many will understand – although I actually know some who are too stupid to understand this or much else! My point is that I don’t think there should be any feeling of obligation to buy gifts whatsoever – especially if they’re supposed to be given and received “from the heart”.
1 Corinthians 13 tells us:
- Love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly – but the parents of children who don’t get a gift will have something to say – even if not to your face and I bet it won’t be anything nice.
- [Love] is not provoked – but I guarantee those kids will love you a little more as soon as they see you bought them a gift. And I can also guarantee a sudden drop in your popularity ratings if you don’t!
- [Love] does not take into account a wrong suffered – but again, I’ll bet those kids who don’t get a gift will be all kinds of pissed off!
Let’s also consider what the gift giver pays for the gift versus what the gift receiver would have paid for the same item on their own… or how much use the receiver will get out of the gift.
What about storage and/or upkeep on the gift. Yes, storage – the space an item takes up in your home? And yes, upkeep, just about every non-consumable (i.e. thing that you can use more than once) requires some form of upkeep! Anything requiring batteries or electricity? A puppy? A new car? A second set of golf clubs? Or any other of the infinite gift possibilities that are not free, and take up more space than a grain of sand that people will find wrapped up underneath the tree on Christmas morning?
What about the impact on our already sufficiently abused environment? Countless quantities of gift wrap, boxes, bags, bows/ribbons, and trees going into our landfills. Feasts that are sure to provide far more food than our already gluttonous society could ever possibly eat or need in one sitting. Gorging on leftovers for days and likely having to throw out and waste the balance – either because there is just too much to finish before it starts to rot or we just get sick of eating the same damn thing for a week straight and need to make room in the fridge for the New Year’s party foods…
Whatever the case, it is very hard for me to believe anything to the contrary; too many have too much economic interest in perpetuating – and expanding – this holiday machine. Even knowing this, the overwhelming majority of us will still follow the herd and indulge. Obligatory excess abounds!
Back to the wiki:
- It is estimated that in 2001 Christmas resulted in a $4 billion deadweight loss in the U.S. alone.
- Deadweight Loss: (also known as excess burden) is a loss of economic efficiency that can occur when equilibrium for a good or service is not Pareto optimal.
- Pareto optimal: Given a set of alternative allocations of, say, goods or income for a set of individuals, a movement from one allocation to another that can make at least one individual better off without making any other individual worse off.
The sources:
- “The Deadweight Loss of Christmas”, American Economic Review, December 1993, Page 83
- “Is Santa a deadweight loss?” The Economist 20 December 2001
In case you didn’t notice the underlined word in bold italic… yes, our excess (i.e. WASTE!) is being estimated in BILLIONS! Consider how BILLIONS of dollars could be spent to better our lives and our country as a whole if it were spent without the involvement of our self serving, commercially fueled interests.
Finally, take the 2004 film Christmas with the Kranks as an example. The Kranks were not anti-Christmas. In fact, they were known throughout their neighborhood for their Christmas Eve parties. They just wanted to take a break one year and treat themselves because it was the first Christmas alone since their daughter left home. I know, it’s only a movie, but many will agree that their neighbors’ reactions, were not too far from the expected reality.
In closing, I must confirm and reiterate my absolute love for Christmas and what it represents to me – the joyous celebration of the birth of Jesus. Not, a celebration that is incomplete without the widespread, universal excess that Christmas retailers and society have tricked us into believing defines our appreciation of the day our lord and savior was born!
For those with enough mental capacity to understand and realize this, I share my Christmas decoration with you:
Christmas Decoration
It hangs on somewhere in my house every year (against my family’s wishes of course). We still put up the Christmas tree and stack presents we bought for each other underneath. BUT, presents purchased because we were fortunate enough to have enough money to do so – and chose to purchase without any pressure from what anyone would think if we didn’t.
While on the Christmas topic, here’s my favorite coquito recipe. If you’ve never had it, don’t wait until next Christmas to whip up a batch. You won’t be disappointed!!
Coquito recipe
Feel free to send hate mail and leave your nasty comments. (Not that I’ll promise to read any of it, but feel free to send as much as you want if it’ll make you feel any better.)
