Christmas' significance eclipsed

APPARENTLY THE GOOD graces of Thanksgiving wear off in just a few hours, though the effects of a few pounds of turkey and stuffing do not.

The entire day is ostensibly devoted to gratitude but at the end of it, when we fall asleep in a tryptophan-induced daze, our dreams seethe with a feverish desire for toys.

Whereas Easter has Good Friday as its prelude, Christmas has Black Friday.

I don’t know which sound is more heartbreaking: the stone rolling into place as it seals Christ’s tomb or the department store orgy of cash registers, crowds and sappy music.

This week I planned on finishing my series on the statues in the Peace Garden, but seeing as how the pre-Christmas mania has already begun, I figured it would be important to publish this article a little earlier.

Now to start, I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with giving gifts.

I think giving thoughtful gifts is a wonderful practice that should be carried out year round and it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a holiday when everyone gets into the spirit of giving.

But “the spirit of giving” is a dubious term for a force that moves financial mountains.

How about calling it the spirit of having? And when you think about it, do you really get into the spirit or does the spirit get into you?

Because there’s a word for spirits that get inside of people; they’re called demons.

Immoderate gift giving is inconsiderate and irresponsible. I read recently that the average American spends $791 on Christmas gifts each year.

How is that possible? The average American family only has one child. Mom, Dad, and Junior must have some very expensive tastes, or more likely they want a lot of worthless toys just because they’re there to have.

There are a thousand better ways to spend our money than on next year’s garage-sale fodder and there are a thousand better ways to use our time than shopping, wrapping, unwrapping, reading instruction manuals and playing.

The Video iPod says more about American society than any other item on this year’s Christmas List.

Are we really so tied to our television shows and music that we can’t be without either of them when we walk to class?

Some people used to just walk in silence, but inside they were actually thinking. What a concept!

Now we can watch episodes of Lost on a miniscule screen and listen to Paris Hilton, Muse, Kanye West, Bach, or whatever we like, when we like it, and shut out 360 degrees of unpredictable sight and sound.

I talked last week about the ways in which we build boxes around ourselves and others to shut the world out; the Video iPod is just another box.

Is that the sort of gift you want to give someone this Christmas? Is that the sort of gift you want to receive this Christmas?

One of my favorite television shows is “The Office” and one great episode involves a Secret Santa gift exchange in which the boss, Michael, buys an inordinately high-priced gift for one lucky co-worker.

Michael explains that giving gifts tells a person “I love you this many dollars worth,” so you have to go all out.

But it doesn’t work that way. Gifts don’t define our relationships; they complement them and set them into sharper focus.

A simple, thoughtful gift says far more about our relationships and is often far more satisfying than a run-of-the-mill gizmo.

The staff of the office I used to work in bought me a beautiful pen and mechanical pencil set for Christmas a couple years ago.

I have used them nearly every day since and they often remind me of those people and times that have been so important in my life.

Small things that can be used or worn often, beautiful things that are always around the house, a piece of art that can be appreciated again and again, these are thoughtful gifts, important gifts, good gifts.

I think it’s worth saying again: gifts complement our relationships and set them into sharper focus.

For Christians, this is a time of year to think about God’s gift of himself to humanity and how that brings the relationship of God and humanity into sharper focus.

I know some of you reading this aren’t Christian, but you can’t miss the point that the Incarnation is of paramount importance to the world’s Christians and if you’re going to be celebrating Christmas it wouldn’t hurt to understand it as well as you can.

And if any of you, Christians and non-Christians alike, are thinking about giving gifts that really match the spirit of the season, consider this important part of the Christmas story: God gave himself to his beloved people as a virtual nobody born in a simple manger, not as a prince in a palace of gold

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