Would you feel terrible if you didn’t go to town as much this Christmas season, asks Deepa Desa
That 2020 has compelled us to ‘re’ almost everything and everyone in our lives is an understatement. Like it or not, we’ve had to suck it up, and face with grace an insane number of tumultuous moments that have defined this year.
This was one year – in all the years – one thought things would be different when it came to celebrations. Strikingly in contrast, the smell of an approaching festive season seems to gear us up. All the ‘’self and life and spend analyses’’ go for a toss as we dive into (online) shopping sprees, make copious quantities of sweets, splurge on festive treats and outfits. On the one hand, this does serve to release our pent-up frustrations and gives hope to anxious retailers and temporarily upswings a sinking economy, but on the other, one could observe that despite the serious hit to industry, job losses, salary cuts, and other overwhelmingly painful stories, as a culture we still seem to pull out all the bucks to indulge with gay abandon.
Granted that the year’s festivities have been considerably toned down, this Christmas do we still wish to observe the habit of decking up our lives to the fullest possible?
There are many views on this, varying from – “you can’t get too much of a good thing” to “an over- indulgence of anything can intoxicate.”
Depending on your perspective, you will be able to understand and answer the deeper question.
Quiet time at home with loved ones, family, and simple fun, may bring the sanctity and fundamentals of our festivals back to the place (read: devotion) they deserve. Where, for example, we as Christians believe (or are brought up to believe), that Christmas is more about the birth of a saviour and its meaning to the world, and less about the commercial trappings of gift giving and food over – indulgences.
What if we experienced Christmas in a more restrained manner this year? Would it be such a bad thing? Perhaps it would teach our kids and us that there is joy to be found in simple things which don’t break the bank, that next year will give us an opportunity to go to town, while we find gratitude and joy in life’s most simple things.
Maybe that’s one of the lessons of 2020. Perhaps we need to rethink how we consume and the extent to which we do so, and its larger impact on our environment. Teaching the younger generation restraint, and the ability to share with those that are not as fortunate, may contribute to their soul evolvement, and that of the planet at large.
Before we go rushing to deck our halls and fill our tables with feasts, perhaps we can take a step back, think of all that we consume – and spare a thought – to the thousands of lives and counting, that have left us this year, the millions who’ve lost incomes, unable to fund bounteous festivities. Maybe we can hold back a bit and share more with others; ending this year in the true spirit of ‘Christ’mas, giving deep thanks for what we still have.
