gleku citsi
Dec. 22nd, 2004 11:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nemorathwaldko ba gleki ca'o le citsi means "Imperative-you future-tense be happy/merry/glad/gleeful during the season/cyclic interval," in Lojban. :) This holiday season, I am dabbling in Yule, Solstice, Luminas, HumanLight, and a little $antaTreeGiftmas. I'm even smiling magnanimously at expressions of TotalitarianCultOfPersonalitymas such as live mangers and "Jesus Is the Reason For The Season." (I have very little objection to empty symbolism. It keeps the moral majority complacent and quiet in a comforting illusion their society is somehow "based" on god. All the while I and my cohorts are like the American soldier during the conquest of Baghdad who was overheard to jubilantly say "I do believe this country is freakin' ours!" My fellow secularists are strategically mistaken to challenge mere gestures. It stirs up a religious backlash that puts god in government for real.)
I appreciate the gifts I've received from those who rejected my statement that they don't have to give me anything. They chose well and I love them. Granted, I would have gone out and bought the stuff anyway, but I'm stingy enough to delay gratification until I get it for free.
My holiday season this year is avoiding the typical pitfalls. Perhaps yours is not. Is there conflict where there should be togetherness, depression where there should be joy, exhaustion where there should be relaxation? Is there pressure to prove your love, where there should be forgiveness? Is there mounting debt and tons of wasted storage space? If so, then here's your new Christmas morning tradition: just sit in the living room and everybody passes a $20 bill to the person on their left. They may take a moment to decorate it festively with a ballpoint pen, but only if it's not too much trouble. Whether or not you do it that way, lower your standards. Don't be a slave to unreasonable expectations and rose-colored nostalgia if that would mean creating an annual disaster.
Am I the only one who sees many holiday traditions as a marketing ploy? Isn't it evident that tradition can become more stress than it's worth? I have very strong feelings about this. My rule is that I must only observe any tradition or ritual when it is beneficial and skip it when it is harmful.
Anything I want to have, I can go out and buy for myself and do it right, instead of having somebody else do the shopping and get it wrong. Even friends are ill-equipped to make your spending decisions for you, which is why cash is the perfect gift. Gift certificates are just a marketing ploy to lock in the profit to that store, preventing the recipient for shopping around for the best model and price.
It follows from this that you should never give a generic Christmas gift to a distant acquaintance. It is a lose-lose proposition: the only one who benefits by it is the retailer! Consider for instance the fruitcake. Who eats this stuff? Like the Tub 'O Popcorn, it is an example of Chri$tma$ gifts created and marketed exclusively for those who have no idea what the recipient wants, but make a gesture out of misplaced obligation. Each Christmas season everybody ends up with some thoughtful gifts, and also an endless supply of junk they never would have bought for themselves, which is either kept out of guilt or thrown away.
And why do we have to wrap presents? So the retailers can sell lots of ridiculously overpriced wrapping paper. Bags are a no-fuss alternative, and you can get pretty ones or draw on it yourself.
The time of year ought to have nothing to do with it. If you know someone well enough to know their needs and desires, you can buy them a present at a convenient opportunity any time of year. It is stupid to feed the commercial machine when the stores start commanding you to.
Decorations are another case. It amazes me how much money and storage space some people give to things they don't even use eleven months out of the year, and so much of it is tacky. Last year, when I had a little plastic tree, I didn't even put it up in the window because every available surface was occupied. When I do put it up (which has not been this year) I only put up white lights, a little white tinsel, and identical ornaments, maybe two colors if they match. But never a motley conglomeration of weird looking ugly sculptures with no rhyme or reason! What's up with that? (OK, this part is just me being a yuppie snob.)
I appreciate the gifts I've received from those who rejected my statement that they don't have to give me anything. They chose well and I love them. Granted, I would have gone out and bought the stuff anyway, but I'm stingy enough to delay gratification until I get it for free.
My holiday season this year is avoiding the typical pitfalls. Perhaps yours is not. Is there conflict where there should be togetherness, depression where there should be joy, exhaustion where there should be relaxation? Is there pressure to prove your love, where there should be forgiveness? Is there mounting debt and tons of wasted storage space? If so, then here's your new Christmas morning tradition: just sit in the living room and everybody passes a $20 bill to the person on their left. They may take a moment to decorate it festively with a ballpoint pen, but only if it's not too much trouble. Whether or not you do it that way, lower your standards. Don't be a slave to unreasonable expectations and rose-colored nostalgia if that would mean creating an annual disaster.
Am I the only one who sees many holiday traditions as a marketing ploy? Isn't it evident that tradition can become more stress than it's worth? I have very strong feelings about this. My rule is that I must only observe any tradition or ritual when it is beneficial and skip it when it is harmful.
Anything I want to have, I can go out and buy for myself and do it right, instead of having somebody else do the shopping and get it wrong. Even friends are ill-equipped to make your spending decisions for you, which is why cash is the perfect gift. Gift certificates are just a marketing ploy to lock in the profit to that store, preventing the recipient for shopping around for the best model and price.
It follows from this that you should never give a generic Christmas gift to a distant acquaintance. It is a lose-lose proposition: the only one who benefits by it is the retailer! Consider for instance the fruitcake. Who eats this stuff? Like the Tub 'O Popcorn, it is an example of Chri$tma$ gifts created and marketed exclusively for those who have no idea what the recipient wants, but make a gesture out of misplaced obligation. Each Christmas season everybody ends up with some thoughtful gifts, and also an endless supply of junk they never would have bought for themselves, which is either kept out of guilt or thrown away.
And why do we have to wrap presents? So the retailers can sell lots of ridiculously overpriced wrapping paper. Bags are a no-fuss alternative, and you can get pretty ones or draw on it yourself.
The time of year ought to have nothing to do with it. If you know someone well enough to know their needs and desires, you can buy them a present at a convenient opportunity any time of year. It is stupid to feed the commercial machine when the stores start commanding you to.
Decorations are another case. It amazes me how much money and storage space some people give to things they don't even use eleven months out of the year, and so much of it is tacky. Last year, when I had a little plastic tree, I didn't even put it up in the window because every available surface was occupied. When I do put it up (which has not been this year) I only put up white lights, a little white tinsel, and identical ornaments, maybe two colors if they match. But never a motley conglomeration of weird looking ugly sculptures with no rhyme or reason! What's up with that? (OK, this part is just me being a yuppie snob.)
