Well, on this December 8th, a date that once marked the beginning of this country’s Christmas shopping spree, I can smugly say I’m done and dusted. Finally. All the presents are shopped and in a fit of weekend enthusiasm and a few glasses of celebratory fizz, a few have even been wrapped and now peek out from under the Christmas tree in all their decorative, gold colored glory.
Under normal circumstances, I like to buy gifts for Christmas. It’s not just the joy of giving, choosing something for family or friends that you know will go with a t-shirt, but it’s also the full sensory experience of feeling fabrics, smelling perfumes and the colors like that to see how they really are.
In other words, they don’t have to rely on the shadow they appear to have on a computer screen.
confession time. For the past several years, I have strayed from the path of righteousness while doing Christmas shopping. Yes readers, I have fallen prey to the allure of online shopping (especially having to shop in times of Covid). Except that it’s not appealing at all. While it’s practical, there’s absolutely nothing pleasant or satisfying about it other than the feeling of relief that it’s been done.
I can’t remember any of the gifts I’ve bought over the past few years – it was what it was, just Christmas shopping on the assembly line. Click and pay, then wait for the ring a few days later.
It’s my late father, I think, that spirit that hovers over me every December
This year, apart from buying some online tokens, I went back to the stores. I played with Lego. I ran my fingers over fabrics. I squeaked toys. I increased the size of the sweaters. I held objects up to the light and inhaled the scent of candles and leather goods and all sorts of bath oils and body creams.
And I also dealt with people who genuinely enjoyed what they did and made me feel like my purchases were important to them. Did I want this scarf gift wrapped? How about some extra tissue paper for those silky pajamas? Would I like a box to protect this little toy as I would be sending it abroad?
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Lego. Photo: Chelsea Guglielmino/WireImage
Lego. Photo: Chelsea Guglielmino/WireImage
Yes, please, in all respects.
When it comes to Christmas shopping, I just can’t escape the ghost of my own Christmas past. Each year it hovers again on my shoulder, then wrinkled its nose at the laptop lying on the table and instead, resolutely and with no intention of taking no for an answer, escorted me directly to the shops.
I think it’s my late dad, that spirit that hovers over me every December, reminding me of the value of a true sensory shopping experience, something he himself delivered to his own customers at the department store he worked in and where I also worked She spent all her school and study holidays behind one or the other counter.
It was a wonderland of a place and a shop where, decades before online shopping, people could touch, taste, hear, smell and see.
It still is. And certainly never more than at Christmas.
https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/a-tradition-is-revived-by-the-ghost-of-my-christmas-past-42204037.html A tradition is revived by the spirit of my Christmas past
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