As a 14 year old boy I have never really thought about the financial implications of Christmas. As I write my Christmas list and invariably make additions to it as Christmas gets closer, I don’t think about the cost, what’s another PS4 game it’s only little. This was until I read an article on Blue Monday, this was not a term I had heard before. For those, who don’t know , Blue Monday(which typically occurs on the third Monday of January) is claimed to be the most depressing day of the year for a variety of reasons. Firstly all the fun and excitement of the festive period is over, the weather is grey and miserable, the dreaded return to work has happened and to top that the only thing coming through the letter box is bills.
With this in mind I wanted to find out if people felt that the financial burden of Christmas was really worth it or whether it was time to stop getting in financial hardship for what in reality is one day and to get back to enjoying this time with our family and friends without the worry of what was to come.
I started to ask friends and family their feelings on this subject. The majority of people that I spoke to believed that Christmas was now too dependent on what was sitting under the tree on Christmas morning and that, more and more perceived pressure was being put on families every year to provide bigger, better and more expensive presents, and that competition between parents to provide the best Christmas was growing, with some families putting themselves in considerable debt just to keep up with others, in some cases families will still be paying for Christmas 2017 mid way through 2018, with Debt charities predicting that this will be their busiest Post Christmas period ever. I spoke to Mrs Shipman of Chigwell Row and asked her for her thoughts: “I was a young mum in the 70’s of 2 small children, a lot of help was given by grandparents, with food and helping to buy the children’s presents we also made a lot of our own decorations. At that time the social security system was not the same as it is now and no money really was no money, there wasn’t the numerous credit companies that there are now, if you didn’t have the money you didn’t buy it. As a grandparent in 2018 I believe we spend an awful lot at Christmas and children’s expectations are high, but whose fault is that? Is Christmas really worth it if it takes all year to repay”. Miss Sabbarton of Chigwell also agreed that Christmas can be a financial burden and that the expectation every year is greater regardless of circumstance.
In conclusion the general feeling is that we do spend too much but that said will we spend less this year and think about what we are doing? Only time will tell.
From a personal perspective after writing this article I would like to think that I will start to look at Christmas less for the presents and how much is spent on me but more as a fun time spent with family and friends, but as Christmas 2018 approaches the big question is will I remember the comments people gave me or become too preoccupied with what’s going on this year’s list.
Daniel Gatty Debden Park High School
