It’s that time of the year again: the season of good tidings, celebrated by Christians and non-Christians worldwide. A time filled with catchy Christmas carols, colourful decorations, and excited children.

It’s also filled with packed shopping centres, exploding cash registers, and excited businessmen with dollar signs in their eyes. All along the streets Santa Claus attempts to scale the classic Maltese balconies with a stream of shiny Christmas lights by his side. Don’t you just love the holiday season?

In reality, the situation at this time of the year may not be so jolly. Let’s face facts: over the years, Christmas has successfully been absorbed into the evil web of consumer culture. Our materialistic stance has turned a once innocent tradition of gift-giving into a multi-billion euro business worldwide.

A good question to ask would be how did our society become this way? Was it thanks to St Nicholas and his evil snow-white beard? Doubtful. Are we simply reacting to the environment around us?

While this is a hard question to answer given all the contributing factors, the finger can be pointed in one direction without hesitation. Any basic marketing book will teach its readers about creating demand among its demographics.

Huge companies have gained significant influence on our culture in recent years, and the increased pressure to buy present, and host extravagant parties at Christmas is just one example. One can also look towards Easter time and Valentine’s Day to gain an understanding of how capitalism has adapted itself to create other money-making schemes.

Perhaps we can analyse the ‘healthy living’ trend, which made gym subscriptions sky rocket and games such as Wii Fit gross millions of Euros. In fact, I’m sure the Wii would make a great Christmas present.

We should all be apprehensive, as this attitude taken at Christmas time may have a deeper lasting effect. While shiny ribbons and smiles all around mask the truth behind the situation, materialism is being reinforced through Christmas time – taking away from true family values.

The naïve man looks for happiness in things which provide quick stimulation, immediate satisfaction. Even though family has remained at the centre of what it means to enjoy a good old-fashioned Christmas, presents and Christmas parties are surely competing for the top spot. This is alarming to say the least, considering our situation these days. We seem to forget that the modern world is still emerging from a financial crisis.

On that note, many people don’t consider the sheer economic power that the Christmas period has. However, statistics indicate that, overall, Christmas spending is slowly declining across the continent. The recession may have put a dent in people’s spending power, but it definitely has not caused consumers to shy away from the shops.

The Centre for Retail Research, a company conducting professional analysis on retail outlets, says that Europeans are predicted to spend roughly €313 billion this Christmas. That’s a lot of money spent on baubles and Christmas pudding. With an average of about €600 spent per family, the economy is well on its way to receiving its annual boost.

Amid all the hustle and bustle, one would hope that Christmas still manages to maintain some form of dignity as a powerful holiday. Whether we are Christians or not, the holiday season has an important symbolic meaning, one of good-will, generosity, and genuine concern for others. What other holiday brings about such positive, altruistic values to the table?

Materialism may be on the rise, but Christmas’ true foundation will never be removed in our hearts, it is simply too powerful. Events such as Christmas, wholly embraced by countless societies worldwide, have powerful social effects on people.

Maybe the temporary increase in our moral values is due to the social influence, but it is welcomed nonetheless. The famous story of German and Allied soldiers in the First World War playing football together on Christmas day is a wonderful example of this.

Thinking back to our earlier, simpler days, can make us quite nostalgic: the feeling of elation, the sense of being delightfully surprised by the brand new presents that Santa Claus left for us. The look of joy in our eyes as we ripped through the bright red packaging is one our parents will never forget. I would certainly want my future children to be as happy as I was.

Perhaps the emotion felt at such a young, crucial age stays with us forever. This leads us to carry on the tradition, so long as our attitude is not challenged. It’s crucial to realise that it is not the issue of giving and receiving that requires concern, but the fact that many gauge their satisfaction on how expensive their present is.

Why not set aside a measly 10 per cent of what you were to spend on Christmas and donate it to charity? That is where genuine altruism comes in, giving something without expecting anything in return.

I believe that even a home-made present, something which takes time, effort, and love, trumps any store-bought gift. Let us all hope that this year, we can find some time between Christmas shopping and setting up decorations, to reflect on our moral principles.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.