Transitioning Tinseltown

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…” Feeling the Christmas spirit yet?

Christmas was always a big deal growing up…we decorated the house to the nines, baked 15 different kinds of cookies, sent lovely cards and displayed hundreds from friends, old neighbors, family. Five years ago, this changed with the passing of an immediate family member. We just stopped celebrating.

I tried to put myself in the spirit. It worked, mostly. Then last year, I wondered (and it must have been aloud) “What if we skipped Christmas?”

After spotting this poster on campus, I thought it might be good to hear what a journalist (someone interested in finding the real story) had to say about Christmas.

In Tinsel, Hank Stuever sets out to find Christmas, and chooses a large, suburban town (Frisco, Texas) as his case study. Starting on Black Friday, he closely follows three different families through the Christmas season, documenting everything: what they buy (and don’t buy), decorations, what they ask for, parties, ski trips, local churches, donation centers, retailers, and so on.

I won’t give away the entire book, but he finds that the “Christmas tradition” is only 175 years old. While it has escalated through the years (and you really should read his book to see how much it has grown), it started with Victorian England.

Christmas in America used to resemble Halloween — children would perform a variety of “tricks” and the streets were lined with “hooligans” accosting the somewhat wealthy for money. A few wealthy New Yorkers became entranced by the better homes and gardens of the wealthy English, and before long, their homes were filled with trees (lit by candles), and the shop windows lined with Yuletide cheer.

There’s more to it than that, but I found it interesting that Christmas tradition isn’t very old!

(A little side note…here’s a first for me…I purchased the book and had it signed by the author after attending the lecture.)

So…what to take away from it all? Christmas has evolved and means something different to everyone. For me, it was a giant first step to thinking more critically about our culture.

Studying cultural traditions strengthens my interest in seeking an active knowledge of the world and propels me on my journey to become more fit for life.