Chris Cresswell: Take the silly out of 'silly season'

OVER THE TOP: Christmas decorations are fine ... but in November?

I CAN'T help feeling that what started as a beautiful religious celebration has turned into a nightmare for many people as well as our planet.

I admit I am a Grinch - I loathe Christmas shopping (and I'm useless at it); I abhor Christmas decorations in November; and I detest piped Christmas carols on repeat everywhere.

The stress of Christmas gets to most of us.

I am lucky - I am a male, therefore the societal pressure on me to shop and prepare amazing food is much less, and I'm very lucky to be married to a wonderful shopper and culinary genius. I am also well paid.

For many others, the expectation that we will eat and drink copious amounts, that we will attend lots of parties, that we will buy several new and exciting presents for everyone in our families is a massive weight - and it is tough on already stretched budgets.

Everyone gets tired and scratchy, and the domestic violence rates go through the roof at this time of year.

Christmas can also be a very lonely period for some people when everyone else is spending time with family. Thank goodness for the wonderful volunteers at the City Mission Christmas lunch and the many other amazing voluntary groups in this district who help people realise they are loved.

I know this article will come out too late for the many well-organised people who have already done their Christmas shopping. But for the rest of us, perhaps we can take a step back and consider what we do this Christmas.

Most of us in New Zealand have enough. We don't need more.

Does every child need 10 Christmas presents? How many of them will break or just be forgotten in a few days? How many of your Christmas presents as a child do you remember? I remember a funny rubber ball and a secondhand bicycle (which started a long obsession with bicycles).

Advertising is carefully designed to convince us we must buy lots of stuff, eat lots of food and drink lots of alcohol.

Most of us behave as if we are programmed to do this - we are trained domesticated primates. But we don't have to succumb to this.

Could we not get together and get each child one good-quality present that would be appreciated and would last?

Could we not buy each adult a useful gift for a poor village overseas?

My extended family routinely buy things like a goat or seeds for African villages via Oxfam or World Vision.

Or could we make simple homemade gifts? One of my friends combines home-grown herbs and salt for simple seasonings for her family who don't have gardens.

And on Christmas Day, could it be a bit less about the quantity and quality of the food and drink (contributing to our obesity and domestic violence epidemics) and more about stories, games and fun?

On Boxing Day, try not to get sucked into that other great marketing ploy, "sale", which usually just means whatever it is was over-priced beforehand.

Do you - or the planet - really need that new thing? How long will it last? How much greenhouse gas was released manufacturing it and bringing it to New Zealand?

Did the workers get a decent wage in a safe factory? How much more will it put our country into debt?

I'm not saying "Bah humbug" to Christmas itself, just to the over-commercialisation of it, to the gross consumerism that we have been convinced we must - literally - buy into.

Maybe we can do better this year and make Christmas about religion, family and friends, and not about stuff.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Dr Chris Cresswell is a Whanganui health professional and a member of the Green Party.