Holiday Hopping
A look into the ever-lengthening holiday season and the little bit of hope it brings us
It’s a long-standing joke among social media users that every year at exactly 12 a.m. on November 1st, Mariah Carey defrosts, cracking the ice of her frozen prison with her voice to usher in the Christmas season.
What started as a simple observation of the continued popularity of Carey’s song “All I Want For Christmas Is You”, turned into a culmination of memes that only got sillier as the years went by. These memes both make fun of and celebrate the arrival of the Christmas season by calling Carey the “queen of Christmas” and making fun of the fact that her song is played ad nauseam. It’s somehow the anthem of Christmas lovers everywhere and the bane of every retail worker’s existence, and Halloween is the only thing keeping her at bay, at least until November comes around.
Here’s a video my brother recently sent me on Instagram that captures the general sentiment of these memes:
But this year, even Carey joined in on the fun with her own video that acknowledges the meme and celebrates the holiday season. She fully embraced the idea that she “defrosts” every year, depicting herself frozen in an ice cube with scary, Halloween minions attempting to set her free until her high-pitched voice finally cracks the ice saying “It’s tiiiiiimmmee”. Once free, Carey’s song “All I Want For Christmas Is You” begins to play.
The video is weird and somewhat ominous, which, coincidentally, is the perfect way to describe the holiday season in recent years with decorations seemingly coming out earlier and earlier. By mid-summer, the fall and Halloween decor begin to hit the stores, looming along the shelves like a promise of what’s to come.
Every year, it feels as though we’re skipping through the holidays faster and faster, and yet they’re also lingering longer. I’m one of those people that’s always stunned to see the Christmas decor already out when walking into a Michaels, Target, or even Trader Joe’s. I don’t care that it happens every year. I will never get used to it, and will always remark “Christmas already???” at the sight of candy canes and Christmas trees before Halloween. But I also don’t expect everyone to share my love of all things fall. I’m not going to dump on anyone excited to celebrate the Christmas season a whole month early rather than savoring fall a little longer. Honestly, I do the the same with Halloween, so who am I to talk? However, this crazed dash into the holidays is exhausting to say the least, and the normalization of it all makes this time of year feel… empty.
Although I love the holidays just as much as anyone else, the older I get, the more disenchanted I feel. The magic of the holidays has faded, and I’ve begun to wonder if it was ever really there. I hardly remember a time when Christmas or even Halloween actually felt fun rather than clouded in stress and disappointment. Even as a kid, I was so consumed with trying to capture the magic I saw in movies that, when the day actually came around, I wondered why it was never what I expected.
This isn’t to say I’ve never had a wonderful Christmas or Halloween. I always got to dress up in whatever costume I wanted, and I always found at least a few items from my Christmas list tucked under the tree. It’s much like the depression many of us feel on our birthday. The expectations we create in our heads rise and rise until it all bubbles over, and we’re left with a mess and a few burns. That joy we expect to feel when we open our presents Christmas morning, the same joy that illuminates every kid’s face in movies, is almost never felt in reality because it doesn’t exist, at least no longer than a few fleeting moments. It doesn’t make a lasting impact and always leaves us wanting for more.
It’s no secret that the holidays have become highly commercialized. Actually, it feels almost cliché to talk about because it’s so obvious it’s become a joke—much like Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas Is You”—and this isn’t just based on observations made walking around a store. Statistically speaking, retail sales during the holidays have increased year after year. In the article “Holiday Retail 2023 Growth Forecast May Be Realized, But 2024 Is Another Story” from Forbes, writer Pamela N. Danziger explains
“Stressing that spending decisions are based equally on financial ability as much as emotion and tradition, the NRF is counting on the emotional factors to outweigh consumers’ practical considerations when it comes to holiday shopping this year. And in that, Shay may be right. We all need a little more cheer, given the state the world is in right now.”
Using material goods as a feel-good crutch for dealing with our personal problems and the heaviness of the world is nothing new. We already do that on a regular basis, it’s just exacerbated during the holidays. Still, it’s concerning that the holidays and consumerism have become so intertwined that presents and other goods have become synonymous for “holiday cheer”. If we were to take all those things away, what would we have left? Would it still feel like the holidays?
These questions are most often explored in Christmas stories. In these tales, we’re almost always shown that family and togetherness are what really matter: a child gives up their presents to those in need as they hug their parents, a family learns it doesn’t matter where they are as long as they’re together, but the story that does it best, and quite possibly started it all, is Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Not only does Scrooge learn the importance of giving back to the community, but on his journey to redemption, he sees just how happy those of lesser means are compared to himself. Upon witnessing the joyful Cratchit home, he scowls and sneers—in the movies at least—unable to believe they could actually be happy with so little, and yet, it softens his heart.
It’s a tale as old as time—at least in terms of modern Christmas celebrations. We’re all more than familiar with the giving sentiment of the season and the fact that, at the end of the day, our families and friends are what make this the most wonderful time of year. We don’t need to be reminded. So why does it feel as though it has increasingly become about spending?
For one, the increased speed at which we jump from one holiday to the next gives it this illusion. The earlier the decorations are brought out, the more time we have to spend, spend, spend. It makes it easier to stock up on items we think we may need rather than simply buying what we actually need.
With Christmas ever-looming in the shadows, we’re afraid that if we don’t buy that cute ghost decoration or pumpkin spiced latte right when we see it, we’ll miss our chance to enjoy it before it’s gone. I’ve fallen prey to this time and again, especially when it comes to the seasonal Bath & Body Works soaps and candles. I always pick out way more holiday soaps than I actually need because I’m afraid that, if I don’t, they’ll all be gone; usually grabbed up by other shoppers or, if it’s fall, replaced by Christmas. But no matter how often this happens, we continue to do it because we want to enjoy the holidays. It’s the perfect marketing scheme: lure us in with sentimentalities and then, just before we can savor our first bite, yank it away.
Once again, Danziger’s words come back to me:
“…spending decisions are based equally on financial ability as much as emotion and tradition, the NRF is counting on the emotional factors to outweigh consumers’ practical considerations when it comes to holiday shopping this year.”
Our emotional ties to the holidays fuel our spending habits, interlocking tradition with consumption. But, it’s during this time of year that we also tend to be filled with the most hope and happiness. Try as we might to opt out of consumer-centric festivities, it serves no one to deprive ourselves. Of course, this doesn’t give us an excuse to spend wastefully either, but as the days grow darker, that little bit of joy we feel from a few string lights or a Christmas village sprinkled with fake snow can make all the difference. It can be the deciding factor between a person who cuts you off at an intersection and a person who happily waves you by. It may not seem as though something as small as a cinnamon scented candle might alter a person’s mood in such a drastic way, but it’s in the little things that we find joy, and the little things that add up over time—slowly building one upon the other.
Actually, in The Atlantic article “Have Yourself An Early Little Christmas”, writer Elizabeth Bruenig even claims
“Christmas is an enchanted time. It has the power to connect people in ways we don’t normally explore. The season permits us to share details of our lives with acquaintances and friends in the form of catch-up calls and Christmas cards… Christmas serves as grounds to reach out with good tidings and cheer. In a lonely and sometimes cold world, Christmas is an occasion to wish one another happiness and warmth.”
Obligatory or not, the holidays give us an excuse to reach out to those we might not often talk to. It brings the act of giving to the front of our minds, and with the extra joy we add to our lives this time of year, it makes it easier to spread a little joy as well. As surprising as it might be, charitable donations really do actually go up during December, and in the last weeks of the year, charities receive 41% of their contributions.
In a perfect world, we would always give to those in need, no matter the time of year. We would buy what we need and give whatever excess we have to charity. We would do a lot more than we do now, but just because we aren’t perfect doesn’t mean we don’t deserve happiness. We needn’t feel bad for celebrating early or continuing to indulge a little longer.
More often than not, people will say that humans are inherently bad, that all of our spending is just evidence of our greed, and while I normally might jump at the chance to prove them right, lately, I’ve found it too easy. It’s much too easy to point out all our faults. The bad is always right there for everyone to see, making it hard to pick out the good, and while I would still encourage you to find ways to celebrate outside of consumerist activities, denying oneself isn’t helpful either. There’s nothing frivolous about adding a little bit of joy to one’s life. Every drop ripples into one another, and I have to hope that it’ll all add up eventually. That the good can outweigh the bad.
🍂I would love to know…🍂
Do you like fall or winter more? Do you live somewhere that actually gets snow and fall leaves? Even though I don’t live somewhere where I can actually see the leaves change color, there’s just nothing like a fall sunset, so I guess that makes up for it.
Halloween or Christmas? I love certain things about both but Halloween just has a special place in my heart :)
What’s your favorite seasonal items/festivities to take part in? I’m more into fall/Halloween movies over Christmas, but I LOVE gingerbread cookies.
Before you go, I would like to give a quick reminder to think about giving to a non-profit if you have the means. Anything is always helpful, and if you don’t know of any, I’ve included a few suggestions just below. <3
Orphan Kitten Club - “saving the tiniest lives”
EarthJustice - “because the earth needs a good lawyer”
RAVEN Trust - non-profit fighting for indigenous people’s rights and environmental justice
The Trevor Project - suicide prevention for LGBTQ+
National Women’s Health Network - dedicated to quality and equitable healthcare for women
Center for Reproductive Rights - dedicated to protecting reproductive rights
Chayn - UK organization that offers support to those going through gender-based violence