The Editor,

The power of Christmas. We acquire this power from the pleasure we get from opening our gifts as children, creating what borders on manic-adrenalin which drives us through the day.

And from it we learn ‘the joy of giving’ which eventually overwhelms ‘the joy of receiving’ as the years reveal to us that we don’t really have all that much use for what we are given, for the most part.

But it doesn’t do to let the giver know this, for ‘it’s the thought that counts’ and ‘it’s better to give than to receive.’ Eventually we begin to realize that our own gifts are likewise appreciated.

They are certainly appreciated by merchants, who vigorously advertise the philosophy that everyone must buy ever more ‘presents’ for ever more people, whether or not they want or can even use them, and that gifts should never be restricted to members of one’s own family, as was generally the case before Coca-Cola reinvented Santa Claus as shill.

Justification? Sure! The economy would collapse if we didn’t produce and sell so much luxurious-indulgent junk, and so much ‘true spirit of Christmas.’

Ray Parker

Lascelles, Quebec