I’m not a last minute shopper. Every year I try to get my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving, so I can relax and enjoy the simple things at Christmas time…friends, family, music, baking, and the list goes on. I generally succeed at being ready far in advance.
It’s been a few years since I’ve hit the mall in the week leading up to Christmas, but I headed there on Saturday. I had a $10 off JCPenney coupon I wanted to use. JCPenney was busy, but people were friendly. I found a great sweater, paid for it (only $4.99 after the coupon!), and headed to my car.
I needed a few drugstore items, so I figured I’d take the shortcut through the mall parking lot to Target. It’s usually a shortcut, anyway. Traffic was backed up like it was rush hour in Los Angeles. By the time I realized how bad it was, I was stuck in the middle, and there was no turning back. It took me, and I’m not exaggerating here, an HOUR to get out of the mall parking lot.
By that time, I just wanted to get home, so I skipped Target and the UPS store and headed straight home. But while I was sitting in my car, singing The Revelation Song at the top of my lungs (yes, as a matter of fact, I did get some strange looks), I began to think about what Christmas has become. And it made me sad.
People are Rushed
I spent an hour and a half at the mall to buy one thing. Though annoying, it was OK for me. I didn’t have any other plans, and my Christmas preparations are pretty much done.
But my guess is that most people who were at the mall on Saturday weren’t out for a leisurely afternoon. They were scrambling to buy last minute Christmas gifts. Amidst the crowds and stress, I’ll venture that they weren’t putting a ton of thought into what they were buying. They were just trying to get DONE. Furthermore, because the crowds and traffic were so bad, shopping that would normally take an hour was taking 3 times that long, not helping the holiday stress.
People are Rude
My experience in JCPenney was actually pretty good. Both the customers and the employees were very friendly. But once I got into the parking lot…watch out!
The drivers were ruthless. At one point I had to make a left turn across bumper to bumper traffic going in both directions. The car going the opposite way of my destination stopped for me, but the lady in the car in the lane I needed to get to gave me one nasty look and hit the gas. Fortunately I was able to squeeze in behind her.
Then I proceeded to watch her be rude to many other drivers, as she tried to make a left turn…and nobody would let her in. She definitely wasn’t the only rude driver in the parking lot Saturday. Even the guy in front of me, whom I personally let in the traffic lane, was a jerk when it came to letting other poor drivers try to get into the slow moving lane. So much for paying it forward.
People Miss the Meaning of Christmas
Whether you believe in Christmas as a celebration of Christ’s birth, as I do, or whether you celebrate it as a secular holiday, I think most people agree that Christmas is about giving. Christ gave his life. Santa is based on St. Nicholas, who was said to have given many secret gifts to those around him.
Christmas isn’t a time to “get through.” It’s not a time to be rude to others, so you can get your parking spot, space in the checkout line, or trinket first. It’s not a time to buy loads of meaningless junk, just so you can say you gave a gift.
It’s a time to reflect on all you have…relationships, health, salvation. It’s a time to show kindness to our friends and neighbors. It’s a time to give to those who are less fortunate.
What has come over us as a country? Even during Christmas it seems that things are more important than people. Instead of looking out for our fellow man, we look out for number one. Instead of stopping to appreciate all that we have, we long for all that we don’t.
Please stop. Take a breath. For this week slow down and take time to appreciate all that you have.
Photo by Christiano Betta.
IT is so true. Christmas Shopping just isn’t enjoyable anymore. Everyone is tired from fighting crowds, Mothers exhausted with kids in tow fighting, cashiers exhausted from being trapped at the cash register.
I personally do the majority of my shopping online and start in October/ Early November, Just so I don’t have to fight with everyone in the month of December.
I also try to shop at odd times. Like at 8:00 at night. Or shop at walmart in the middle of the night.
What happened to the carolers that used to sing door to door. What happened to friends to gather during the holidays.
Do you go to Gateway? My very dear friend’s husband just joined the Gateway Worship Staff. They moved from WV to the area in the summer.
People do get amazingly rude at Christmas time. I remember being in line at the store and a customer just cut right in front of me with her items. I think that she just “pretended” not to see the huge line and hoped to get away with it. I may be being unfair to her but I don’t see how she could have missed the line since she cut right in front of it.
I had somebody honk at me for daring to switch lanes. I wasn’t cutting them off or anything but I guess they were mad that I dared to want to get in their lane.
Now it’s after Christmas and the return lines will be horrible. I like to challenge myself to smile and be polite to everybody….drives ’em nuts, lol! Seriously, I just try and remember how the Lord would want me to act, but it’s so easy to forget and let “self” creep in.
Merry Christmas! You can still make it about Jesus in your house!!! -Becky R in NJ
I don’t know, I think heading out on the holidays is what you make it. I prefer to avoid crowds, but my hubby is one who has to get out in the crowds and the hustle & bustle to get into the holiday spirit. He and my teenager had a blast at the mall and the traffic on the way out, well according to my son, hubby blasted Christmas music and opened the windows in the freezing temps and sang along. My son thought it was hysterical.
Excuse me, that was Limited Too, and not Clair’s. And if you subscribe to the Daily Green, you must of already ready that. Here it is other wise:
http://www.thedailygreen.com/e.....l-47103102
There is a site that has all the ones from last year, and will probably have more from this year. Just want to keep the kids safe, with what we give them, since they trust us to protect them from things that could harm them. Didn’t mean to be a downer with this, at a time of joy!
I am not going home to meet with my extended family until this weekend, so the celebration of the day, will be other than the 25th. Larger families have to do this, as do the people now stuck in airports all around the country. God bless us all.
At the beginning of the US, xmas celebrating almost died out, so the founding fathers thought of how people could make money off it, and it would help keep it alive. So here we are now. Xmas got commercialized from way back then. It is sad, because families that can’t afford it, their kids see the same commercials of what “they should all have”. And with the downturn in the economy a lot more of them won’t have much. And in a way, it will take us back to the real reason Christmas is, Jesus’s birthday…not the world’s birthday. I have been getting the kids in my family things they will need this year, not a lot of trinkets that I might find out are being recalled later, with having lead in them. There are some items from some places at the mall, like Clair’s, that are already on the list for lead content. Other than all the muss and fuss, when my family gets together, now that is great!