Curtailing Christmas

Christmas this year is different, all the news outlets say. People are cutting back on gift-giving or on the cost of gifts. Fewer cards are being sent. Retailers are deeply discounting merchandise in a near-futile effort to lure shoppers. Some people are more worried about paying the mortgage than they are excited about Christmas. Millions of Americans are unexpectedly unemployed this Christmas.

Scaling back Christmas is not a bad thing. My family, both immediate and extended, have been doing that for years. Last year, my wife and I gave each other one joint gift — an after-Christmas trip to a favorite and charming destination. It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable gifts we'd ever received, one that lives on in the dozens of pictures we took on our weekend away. My siblings and my wife's siblings long ago decided to forgo individual gifts to each other. We give a token — a framed old photo, a book or homemade cookies — but no more. For several years, we've made year-end charitable contributions in their names. Reducing the need for shopping eased the stress of the holidays, giving more time to enjoy the season. 

This year, our children insisted that we limit our gifts to them and to their children, who already have more toys than they can ever use. As a result, this Christmas of unemployment looks, on the surface, little different from recent Christmases. Beneath the surface there is some anxiety over what the next few months will hold and there is renewed urgency to find a job, now that my severance is running out. But if Christmas is the worst of times to be jobless, it is also among the worst of times to be job-hunting, especially for jobs in government, much of which goes into hibernation during the holidays.

For many Americans, especially those in the banking, real estate and automotive industries, this is the toughest Christmas they've ever known. But in the longer view, compared to the Christmases their parents and grandparents knew, this Christmas seems bountiful. Earlier generations recall Christmas excitement when Santa Claus brought not a Nintendo or a ride-in, electric-powered car but a rare orange or tangerine and a candy cane too sweet to believe. But they cherished those simple, cheap gifts like Citizen Kane cherished his "Rosebud." We'll hope someday to regale our grandchildren with stories of the Christmas of 2008 when we had to cut back on our extravagance.