As a child, the holiday season always seemed so fantastical. I was enchanted by the way the lights glimmered during dark winter nights and the anticipation of seeing if we would be lucky enough to experience a December snowfall. In fact, some of my fondest memories from childhood include staying up late with my sister, trying to catch a glimpse of the jolly man himself, or driving around to see who had the best light display in the neighbourhood. However, as I grow up, the holiday season seems to become more and more dull. I suppose it’s possible you could chalk that up to the loss of childlike wonder, or that I now have the burden of finals in December, but I can’t help but wonder if the emphasis on consumption during the holidays has had an effect on the loss of that magic.

The Rice Gazette

Walking into basically any store after Halloween is always jarring. The calendar may read November 1st, but in the world of retail, it is now the prime-time money-spending event of the year. After all, spending copious amounts of money is essential to any worthy holiday celebration, right? Long gone are the days where the holiday spirit is about joy, giving, and passing time with loved ones. Welcome to the era of possession and greed. Are you really celebrating the holidays if you don’t have extravagant decorations? Do you actually care about your loved ones if you don’t spend your whole paycheque on gifts? Come on now! Where on earth is your holiday spirit? What are you waiting for? Max out that credit card!

The eagerness of corporations to take advantage of the holiday season has only been increasing. Every year has to outdo the last. It needs to be bigger and better. There needs to be a bigger profit margin. This sets the stage. Enter more holiday editions of your favourite products (limited editions, of course. Don’t miss out), more marketing campaigns to make you believe that the season will be merrier if you blow just a little more money, and more pressure at every angle to include consumerism as apart of your beloved holiday traditions.

Where does that leave us? We spend more and more, hoping to capture the magic again. Hoping that in our excessive consumption, we can recreate the memories of years past; we can recapture the magic that made us want to pour so much of our hard-earned money into the season in the first place. A desperation to relive our warmest memories comes together with the great machine of late-stage capitalism to breed the solution: just spend more!

(Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

Unfortunately, this solution is a band-aid coverup at best. Blinded by greed, we forget what the meaning of the holidays is supposed to be. I wonder why I feel so apathetic about this time of year now, but upon some reflection, the answer really is simple. It’s the plot of every cheesy holiday movie to ever exist. Material possessions are not what we crave. It is kindness, connection, and time well-spent with people we love that are at the core of all those memories that make the holiday season brighter. Without that, all these celebrations are merely a shell of what they can be. As consumerism takes centre stage, the most wonderful time of the year just seems emptier and emptier.

The grim reality is that the intense push to consume during the holidays is likely here to stay. However, the optimist in me refuses to close this article with a resigned, “abandon all hope” perspective. I encourage everyone to reflect on their happiest holiday memories. I am certain you will find that the common denominator is the people you were with during those times that make the memories so fond, and not the product that was surrounding you or the gifts you had received.