Addie Conway
AddieConway@wgecho.org
Christmas time; a time when good cheer, good will and spending time with family and friends is everything.
Lately though, it seems the Christmas spirit has disappeared. Did someone kidnap it, because I sure can’t seem to find it anywhere in this town. Sure, people have lights set up, and some even have their trees up, but where’s the Christmas magic this year?
I’m a pretty corny person, and Christmas time, in my eyes, is the best time for being corny. I get to shop for other people, sing along to Christmas songs, watch Christmas movies, decorate the house and bake, as well as eat, delicious snacks.
That, to me, is the magic of Christmas. Considering we haven’t had a white Christmas in years, snow isn’t mandatory for the magic to be complete, but it is nice. This looks to be another year without snow (hey weather, if you’re listening, I’d appreciate a white Christmas for once), but it also looks to be a year where no one is really happy.
Then again, what is there to be happy about? I have started worrying about college acceptance letters and scholarship applications, watched as the fiscal cliff threatens the economy’s stability and seen that the weather can’t seem to make its mind up between freezing cold or pretty toasty. (Dear weather, I’ll tell you what I want. Cold weather, preferably with snow involved, but I’m not picky. At this point, I’d even appreciate slush or 12 degree weather. Just give me something, instead of flip-flopping all the time.)
Still Christmas should give us time to forget about the daily stresses, focus on your friends and family, even if you don’t have the money you’d like to spend on them, and bundle up in winter coats to go sledding, even if it means sledding in the grass.
With all that said, I think the part that has me most upset is the way that Christmas has been marketed this year. Stores started pushing Christmas decorations, Christmas presents and even Christmas drinks before Halloween even happened! Understandably, the set up for Christmas is a timely one and considering how it is one of the biggest jumps in the economy, I can see why setting up would be so important.
However, I think that this right here is what took the magic out of Christmas. Christmas shouldn’t have to be marketed to anyone. Whatever happened to Christmas carolers, to seeing a tree or lights in everyone’s house and to spending time amongst family and friends, eating sweets and being thankful for our blessings?
Christmas is a time when we focus not on ourselves but on others. We give money to the Salvation Army, we buy candy cane sleds from the German National Honor Society to support Adopt-A-Family and we sing Christmas carols with the choir, hoping it will excuse our non-choir voices. Maybe it’s because I watch Netflix more than actual television but where are the Christmas movies this year? Even the Christmas music in Walgreens or Schnucks seems quieter this year.
Have corporations exploited Christmas for profit? Of course! That’s not a new subject but even with the Christmas’ commercialization, there always seemed to be a hum in the air, the feeling that Christmas was coming. This year, all it feels like is that it’s another day.
Perhaps once finals are over and ACT results have come in, I’ll be able to sit in a comfortable chair, watching “The Polar Express,” drinking hot chocolate and hearing the snow fall. Maybe, just maybe, if the snow comes, and it’s heavy, though at this point, I’d settle for half an inch, I’ll even be able to make snow angels.
“Meet Me in St. Louis?” No, meet me at Art Hill, with some type of chocolate, (really, I’m not picky. I like hot chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate. You name it, I’ll eat it.) your best green and red high socks (for once, I’ll excuse the Kirkwood color red, because Christmas is when petty things like that fall by the wayside, Turkey Day having come and gone. Thankfully with a Webster win!) and a Santa hat. Let’s find the Christmas spirit, the joy that that permeates everyone’s lives around Christmas time and relieve it from its kidnappers.
I am grateful for your thoughtful article. This year, I seem to be having the same problems with actually feeling any kind of Christmas spirit. The whole thing seems like nothing more than a marketing campaign for companies to hawk their wares, but thanks to you, I may be able to find some Christmas spirit again.