Sharon Kennedy: The crazy countdown is on
The 25th of next month is fast approaching, closing in on us like a giant monster eager to squeeze every cent from our wallets. For folks who have money, this is the happiest time of year. For others, it’s a nightmare. From now until the 24th, we’ll be bombarded with hype to buy Christmas gifts for everyone from the closest relative to the most distant acquaintance. That’s a great idea if our cash stash is plentiful. It’s not so great if we’re struggling financially.
I don’t remember when I stopped liking the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was probably in the 1980s, when I became aware of the shopping frenzy. Before that time, I didn’t pay much attention to the holiday season and all the ads for name-brand clothes and mountains of toys. Sometimes I drove home for Christmas. Other times I mailed gifts to my parents, my sister and her family. I got together with Detroit friends. We were in our 20s and did whatever we wanted. My girlfriends had secretarial jobs as I did. Male friends were artists.
Plans were haphazard and often spur-of-the-moment. We might gather at someone’s house and celebrate by cooking lasagna and drinking red wine. If we exchanged gifts, they were gag ones or something we had found buried in one of our drawers. Sometimes we waited a whole year to return a gift to the person who gave it to us which met with peals of laughter. Those were good times. No worries, no cares, good health, enough money to pay the rent and utilities and always some left over for entertainment. Only when I became a parent did I become aware of what Christmas was all about and how much it had changed since the days of my childhood.
When I was a youngster, it was about catalogs filled with toys. Yes, there was some mention of Jesus, but we didn’t go overboard with brightly decorated spruce trees, fairy lights and a plastic doll in a makeshift manger by the church altar. And, of course, there were no TV ads because there was no TV in our front room until I was 10 or 11 so my siblings and I didn’t know what we were missing. Fast forward 65 years and parents don’t stand a chance. Kids of all ages, from one through the teen years, are told they simply must own this-and-that or they’ll be outcasts. They plead, barter, beg and promise total obedience for a year if they get the gifts they want.
Because I didn’t have a child until I was 35, I didn’t encounter the problems parents face today. We had one television in our home. We didn’t have computers, cellphones, electronic tablets or any other digital devices. It was easy to monitor TV time. Reading took precedence over everything else. Shopping at bookstores was the main event. My disgust at non-stop ads aimed at children is not based on my experiences but on those of other parents.
It’s time to step on the shopping brakes. Use common sense. Gather your kids around the kitchen table and tell them the truth. Explain why each child will get one inexpensive gift. Be kind instead of angry. Listen to the requests of teenagers. Respect them and compromise. You might be surprised that older siblings will give up their gift so a younger brother or sister will get two. Do not be ashamed if you are poor. Love each other for who you are, not for how much you have.
— To contact Sharon Kennedy, send her an email at sharonkennedy1947@gmail.com. Kennedy's new book, "View from the SideRoad: A Collection of Upper Peninsula Stories," is available from her or Amazon.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Sharon Kennedy: The crazy countdown is on
