Dialogue: Ignore the sales and keep Boxing Day in goodwill season

By SANDY BURGHAM

Boxing Day was a brilliant summer day for those who took to the beach, but a stinking hot day for those who took to the shopping malls.

Heading out with a car full of kids and the dregs of Christmas paraphernalia, we hit the sticky Boxing Day traffic which we assumed was the first wave of holidaymakers heading to the motorway on-ramp.

We were wrong. The motorways were flowing freely. It was a shopping mall car park that had become the new breeding ground for road rage.

We drove slowly past feeling like the dad in that road safety ad, staring incredulously and accusingly at the culprits who in these time-poor, credit-rich days chose to waste a statutory holiday shopping

If the crowds were honouring a Boxing Day tradition in buying simply to give to those less privileged, it would all make sense.

But I suspect most were simply squirelling away stuff to add to their stockpile.

I know of some who delay the buying of the kids' Christmas presents until the Boxing Day sales, destroying any thread of true Christmas spirit in their households.

For many, the links to a traditional Christmas are tenuous at the best of times, but Boxing Day sales serve only to ensure that future generations think the festive season is simply a shop fest.

While the annual Boxing Day sales may be seen as a symbolic gesture by altruistic retailers, I am sceptical and so always get a bit peeved to see so much bargain-basement advertising creeping up on Christmas Eve.

On top of this, on Boxing Day itself we had to endure that Christmas hamper lady suggesting it was time to start thinking about providing for Christmas 2002 - crikey, I was still waiting for the last one to digest.

But I do admit to popping into the butcher for a Boxing Day barbecue stock-up and catching myself cursing my favourite butcher who chose to close for two days in a row.

"Oh this is ridiculous! He's always open on the 26th," I complained. "Look at all the business he's missing out on!"

Indeed, it takes a brave retailer to close his doors to shoppers, not only because of the lost income but because of the irritation it causes his customers, anxious to part with more cash after a day off.

Since we shop all year anyway, "Boxing Day Bargain Bonanzas" are robbing us of further opportunity to consider a bigger picture.

For it is only when we are forced out of our everyday routines that we stop to consider what we do and why we do it.

People who say the joy of Christmas is watching children open their presents are missing the point, particularly since children get new toys all year round.

Indeed, if it wasn't for the generous efforts of other people to give me a bit of a prod, I fear I would have missed connecting to a sense of community Christmas spirit altogether.

Having been consumed by the usual melodrama of December, I was caught off-guard by the good-natured efforts of two Harley-riding Santas beeping and waving to the kids along the waterfront, leaving me unexpectedly exclaiming, "Oh I love Christmas".

Getting into the swing of things, I then demanded that we take one hour well past bedtime to crawl through Franklin Rd traffic to marvel at the decorations and revel in the festive backdrop of a Christmassy Sky Tower.

For those who don't buy into the ritual of a traditional Christian Christmas it is still at the very least a time of goodwill to all men - which they figure, can't be a bad thing.

We have few rituals in our culture that bind us together and move us in the same direction.

Christmas Day is the key one. But by the time the obligatory visits to all those within the extended and blended families are sorted on Christmas Day, there is little time and energy for random goodwill outside our comfort zone.

I heard of a person who had the good intention of serving at a Christmas event for the underprivileged and homeless.

But he found that although his offer of assistance was appreciated, the occasion was oversubscribed with helpers and his charitable spirit needed to find something else to do.

While this sounds encouraging, it illustrates that we need more opportunities to express our selflessness, rather than leaving goodwill to one day a year.

And so it's time to think of better things to do on Boxing Day than using it as an early kick-off for another year of conspicuous consumption.