The Physical Movement, Lifestyle: Christmas - Not As Expensive As I Thought!

That was overheard at the gym Dec 27th.

“How was your Christmas Bob?”

Bob: “Not as expensive as I thought” .

Ummm.

That made me stop and think.

Interesting reply.

Is the reply a reflection of the personality?

Is the reply a reflection of where our western Christmas culture has evolved (or digressed)?

Perhaps both.

My first reaction is “what a sour puss!”

But then, as I moved to my next exercise, I thought about it more.

A couple of days prior to Christmas, I noticed the level of stress rising within the masses. Little things like impatience getting cars around parking lots and off at green lights.

Ah, yes. The green light race. If you don’t get off the brake and on to the gas in .01 seconds, someone behind you will let you know that is not acceptable.

We all must hurry off to spread Christmas cheer, now get out of the F****** way!

In my generation, our parents worked so hard to create a special time at Christmas. We had gift exchanges of course, but also took time to see the Christmas lights, visit with family, enjoy beautiful meals, get some spiritual time at church, give to those less fortunate and generally pressed pause on our lives to give thanks.

That was the essence of the Christmas spirit then, and what we try to instill with our son.

It seems with the constant connectivity and drive through mentality, that seems to be lost. The day after Christmas in Canada is Boxing Day. It evolved from hundreds of years ago, this is when the rich gave boxes to the less fortunate, and the working class had the day off.

Boxing Day madness in Canada : image courtesy canadianbudgetbinder.com

Growing up, it was a 2nd holiday almost. 2 for 1. Another day of celebration after Christmas. Stores were closed again and life was still on pause.

In 2019, December 26 represents a massive rush to the stores to get special shopping deals. Visuals of people battling for discounted items run rampant on social media.

The expectations around Christmas seems to have changed. It seems the expectations around gift exchanges have risen form many.

I guess if you let it, it can get expensive.

I still think that is one’s perspective to view it as a negative time.

I hope, and will continue to hope that Christmas can be and is so much more than just a financial strain.