As we face Black Friday, that notorious day after Thanksgiving
when folks across the nation hit the shopping malls and big retail
chains in rabid pursuit of deeply discounted items, let’s consider
the villain responsible for all this crass Christmas commercialism.
We must blame none other than Charles Dickens.
As we face Black Friday, that notorious day after Thanksgiving when folks across the nation hit the shopping malls and big retail chains in rabid pursuit of deeply discounted items, let’s consider the villain responsible for all this crass Christmas commercialism. We must blame none other than Charles Dickens.
Darn that Dickens. If it hadn’t been for the famous English author and his beloved holiday ghost story “A Christmas Carol,” we wouldn’t now be dealing with the bumper-to-bumper traffic and swarms of hard-hitting holiday shoppers filling up the aisles in mad pursuit of merchandise. Before Dickens’s novella first appeared on Dec. 19, 1843, Christmas was a relatively easy-going religious holiday mixing a few Christian and pagan traditions together for a fun winter fest. In fact, at that point in British history, the medieval Yuletide traditions of caroling and gift giving were dying out. Christmas was heading toward becoming a specter of its former self.
Then along came that dastardly Dickens. His yarn of a holiday haunting describes how Mr. Scrooge learned true charity after his Christmas Eve encounters with three spirits. “A Christmas Carol” was a huge hit with the public. Its popularity revitalized the ancient holiday and turned it into more of a secular celebration. The old medieval traditions came back, including the exchange of gifts among friends and family members.
Well, it’s now 164 years since Dickens’s story was published and ignited our annual gift-giving frenzy that evolved in what we now know as Black Friday. Not that I want to be a Scrooge about this, but maybe we’ve gone a bit overboard with all this present swapping business. So, just like Dickens revamped Christmas back in his day, I’d also like to advocate that we here in the South Valley do an overhaul on our annual shopping blitz.
Not that I’m saying that we need to do away completely with gift giving – that would be sacrilege. I’m just suggesting we find non-stressful ways of doing it. One of the proposals I’d like to make to achieve this is to encourage folks in the South Valley to ease up on the crowded malls and big retailers like Wal-Mart and instead buy at least some of their holiday items in our various downtown districts.
The communities of Hollister, San Juan Bautista, Gilroy and Morgan Hill all have a variety of first-rate shops that offer unique gift items. And many local business also supply items exclusive to our area – such as fine wines, beer, chocolates and candies. Some of our region’s downtown stores even have decorative goods to spruce up your tree and home for the holidays. And all our South Valley communities have superb restaurants that will be glad to provide gift certificates for fine dining experiences for your friends and loved ones.
“There are a number of good reasons why people should shop the locally-owned businesses during the holidays,” said Theresa Kiernan, director of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association. “And the biggest reason is that when you spend your money here, the dollars stay in the community. Because more of the tax dollars stay in the town, you’re basically giving yourself a holiday present because those dollars can be spent on city services.”
Doing your holiday shopping locally makes sense. It’s less nerve-racking on you and your family because you don’t have to deal with the glut of cars on the road and the shortage of parking spaces at the major shopping centers. Also, shopping in the vicinity is less taxing on the environment because it cuts down on the carbon emissions, and with gasoline hitting record heights, it’s less demanding on your wallet – a truly green Christmas in terms of saving our planet and saving our money.
Another benefit to buying locally is that you get to meet your friends and neighbors while you’re shopping. And the various downtowns also have special community events during the holidays that make it extra fun to shop and dine here. The annual parades and lighting of the various towns‚ Christmas trees also include open houses by the merchants. Hollister’s “Lights on Celebration” takes place starting at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 24. Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Juan Bautista do their official holiday kick-off parade and lighting Saturday, Dec. 1.
With his “Christmas Carol” story, Dickens probably had no intention of creating Black Friday and the gift-giving blitz we now face during the holiday season. I’m sure he just wanted to tell a good story about how a man learned to give back to his local community during Christmas. We can also learn a lesson from Scrooge and give back to our own South Valley region – by doing our holiday shopping here.
