The holidays are supposed to be a time of celebration, right?  They are a great time to talk to your families and reflect on what you have to be thankful for. However, things have felt a little different. Lately, religious holidays seem to be excuses to buy something. Izzy Armitage (11) said that, “religious traditions have been taken over by the desire to be approved by society with gifts.” And thinking about it, more and more holidays have become about buying things. Halloween? You buy candy. Christmas? You buy gifts. Valentine’s day? You buy cards, chocolates, and flowers. There are not be many holidays left that do not involve buying material goods.

Even more ironic is Thanksgiving, and more specifically what happens directly after it. Thanksgiving, a North American holiday, is a whole day dedicated to spending time with your loved ones and being thankful for what you have. This holiday is one of the few that does not involve shopping, unless you count shopping for the ingredients for pumpkin pie.

Funnily enough, the next day is Black Friday. Black Friday is the first day of sales at stores where people go insane. Hundreds of people line up outside their local malls or Walmarts, and eagerly await the doors to open. When they do, chaos ensues. Black Friday often results in exhausted people with discounted Wii’s, and tragic news reports about people being seriously hurt by frantic and desperate shoppers.

The rush to shop for Christmas gifts does, however, contribute to a boom in the economy. In the United States’, the retail industry generated over three trillion U.S. dollars during the holidays in 2013, that is about 19.2 percent of the retail industry’s total sales that year. As a result, over 700 thousand employees were hired throughout the United States to compensate for the holiday rush.

It is saddening that times that are meant for personal and familial celebrations, have become more of a celebration of spending money. With Thanksgiving coming up this month, and Christmas next month, our need to shop has begun. My family has already started worrying about what gifts they need to buy for others. Almost two months before Christmas they are worrying more about making purchases than anything else.

Nonetheless, there are many people who believe that gifts are the best physical way to show someone how much they care. For many people, giving a gift is an easier way to show someone affection, especially when the words can be hard to say. Sofia Meisburger (12) shared that, “holidays, especially Christmas, have become the time of giving. By giving gifts, no matter what they are, we show how much we care.” While this is a fair point, it is difficult to say that a mass marketed sweater is a good way to show your love for someone.

With sales coming in late November and advertisements coming out now, we are constantly being told that we need to buy the newest products, and we need to buy them now. We, as consumers, need to be aware of what is happening. Are we just buying blindly into this idea that we can only show our affection with material goods? We do not have to. While I am not saying to stop purchasing gifts, I think if we do give gifts, they should mean something.

So this holiday season, whether you are going to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or even Father’s Day, it does not matter what you buy people. What matters is showing your loved ones how much you care about about them, not how much money you are willing to spend.

Hanna W