Christmas gifts are irrational
In many ways, Christmas is an irrational reason to spend money, especially for the majority nonChristian portion of the population. Just take Christmas presents. I generally get a handful of gifts .
They’ll all be nice, and I’ll be grateful, but none of them will be things I will have previously identified as a want or a need.
Worse still, some of them will be bought with my money!
Instead of gifting, you could give each of your loved ones a small bag of banknotes, to spend as they liked.
They could then fulfil their own needs and wants.
Now that would be economically rational.
Theoretically, that’d make us all happier, and there’d be a lot less climate-altering wastage in the name of Christmas.
But no. Come to think of it, that might be even more irrational.
Family members on similar incomes to yours would give you
GOLDEN RULES
Avoid all Christmas debt Turn the TV off to avoid Christmas advertising
Set a budget, and stick to it. money, and you’d give them money. How pointless would that money-swapping be?
When it comes to children, Christmas presents are a transfer of value from parents and grandparents.
But even that’s not very rational.
Little Johnny needs a scooter to go to school. Why time the purchase for Christmas?
There’s a certain critical mass of Lego vital to fostering little Jane’s interest in engineering. But again, why wait until Christmas to buy it when the consumer marketing machine is in full overdrive, and prices are high?
Don’t even get me started on how irrational it is to buy presents for pets.
By this point, you may have wrongly concluded that I ama Christmas Grinch, with no interest in upholding the spirit of the season. You’d be wrong. I love Christmas. It’s just that presents are at the bottom of the things I love about it.
My top loves are mostly foodrelated, and experiential, not giftrelated. What am I looking forward to? Baking a Christmas cake, and watching my children ice and decorate it.
‘‘Fewer presents, or no presents at all. You get to choose, and others won't judge you.’’
Putting up a real Christmas tree, and then letting the girls hang all the familiar old decorations on it.
Making my annual attempt to have a turkey come out moist and delicious.
Setting fire to the Christmas pudding I made last year.
Getting the squirrel nutcracker out, and getting stuck into the hazelnuts.
As with the presents, there’s an element of irrationality to all these things.
If I like my children to ice cakes, why wait until Christmas?
I could kill pine trees at any time of the year, and set them up in the lounge to decorate.
Celebrations like Christmas do serve a rational purpose.
Traditions make society. They help us belong. But we no longer live in a society that demands conformity.
We are free to pick and choose the irrational bits of Christmas we like, and discard the irrational bits we don’t. Fewer presents, or no presents at all. You get to choose, and others won’t judge you. They may even envy your choice.