Commercialization of Christmas

The commercialization of Christmas is terrible, right?

As George Bernard Shaw put it a century ago:

"Christmas is forced upon a reluctant and disgusted nation by the shopkeepers and the press; on its own merits it would wither and shrivel in the fiery breath of universal hatred."

A quick Internet search reveals that there's even a movement--"Buy Nothing Christmas"--with a catchy slogan: "Now you can do your Christmas shopping in no time at all."
I don't buy this. There's nothing wrong with Santa hawking wares. Seeing department stores adorned in Christmas decorations and filled with people taking advantage of the season sales only warms my heart. The average American will spend $769 on gifts this year, according to Gallup. That's only slightly down from a few years ago, when the economy was booming.
Yet it's not just socialists who complain about the commercialization of Christmas. Many Americans caution us against being consumed by greed.

And after all, Jesus said it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than it would be for a rich man to enter heaven. And, of course, he was angered by merchants selling animals inside a temple--he grabbed a whip, drove their animals out of the building, overturned their tables and poured their money onto the floor.
Yet Christianity is far from hostile towards business. Jesus simply found the place the merchants set up shop offensive. And the eye of the needle, some scholars say, is a reference to a particular small gate. Others argue Jesus was referring to those who were consumed by greed, not necessarily someone who had a lot of money.
Indeed, Christian thought helps an economy thrive. Markets depend on truth and moral behavior. Wall Street is suffering now in part because analysts have lost investors' trust. To thrive, a business must also serve people, providing them with the things they need and want. Bill Gates is a rich man, but he became so only by enriching all of us.

Commercializing Christmas didn't make all of these things happen, of course--though it has helped the economy grow.
Christmas is much bigger than all of this. It is a celebration of the birth of Christ. This is worth celebrating even for those of different faiths, or no faith at all. Jesus preached a universal message of peace, tolerance and forgiveness. You needn't be a Christian to believe in these virtues.
Buying gifts for others is a perfectly appropriate way to celebrate. Jesus' birth was a gift to mankind. At the first Christmas, three kings arrived with their own gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
There's nothing crass about the search for that perfect gift. Gift giving, after all, is a subtle form of communication. That new sweater or those diamond earrings tell the person receiving the gift a little bit about how much you value your relationship with him. You care enough to pay attention to his tastes, dreams and desires.
Even small gifts can be important. Stuffing that stocking with fruit, candy or knickknacks that special someone likes is a nice touch. Pinning it to the mantle, so it can be opened beside a blazing fire, makes the experience that much warmer and inviting.
A good gift also tells of personal connections between two people. It's that vacation you've wanted to take together or a little something from the city where you first met. It appeals to the best of you--tickets to the opera the two of you talked about seeing, but never found the time.
Bad gifts tells us how little the gift giver cares for us as a person. That's why institutionalized, corporate gifts are so often a joke--the same desk calendar everybody got. And why "regifters," to borrow a Seinfeld term, are shunned.
Commercializing the process doesn't detract from it. It helps us save money and find the stores with the goods we want. It also points the incentives in the right direction. It would be a bleak world if Christmas disappeared. Thankfully, as long as its profitable it never will.

PS:It's not the commercialization that is unseemly. It's the gaudy Christmas that makes most of us cringe, and it is the unprofitable one we should deplore.