We live in a society that rewards impatience and instant gratification, if I can drag out a much-used term. I’ve been as guilty of this as anyone in the past. I come from America, after all, and in the good old US of A, nearly everything is expressed in a purchase no matter what the occasion. That last just slipped out. 😉 Everything must be now or sooner. There is no waiting. If you can’t afford it now, then borrow money to afford it now or steal to have it now. These are all symptoms of the same thing. The delight is in the purchase now and not in the anticipation of the gift. In our youth, this was the other way around. We were invigorated by the excitement of waiting, the delicious expectation. Whether or not such joy should be felt for purely material things, is another kettle of fish that I won’t go into here.
The run up to Christmas was wondrous in our imaginations, the gifts and goodies imagined and the friends to share them with. We had no control over what was purchased and when. We had to wait until Christmas Day. There was no cheating and opening it earlier (in most cases). When you’re grown up, you can buy these things for yourself whenever you want. In fact, a lot of the time you buy them exactly when you want. Not counting big items like car/house. There’s no waiting. Almost no real desire for the item.
I decided to do a bit of an experiment. There was an item that I wanted and had for quite a while. I was certainly able to buy it now (on credit) and have it delivered to me within a day of purchase to use. Instead I chose to wait to buy it for a week and then wrap it up and put it under the tree, waiting another week to open it on Christmas Day. As you know, it isn’t Christmas Day yet and the excitement is there. The little gleeful feeling inside. The many web articles I’ve read about it. And this is something I chose, which makes it somehow different, something more grown up even.
There are many reasons that I look forward to Christmas with bated breath; the look on G’s eyes when he opens his presents, the lovely food and drink that is shared by my loved ones, and the company of that family. But in a small way, the emotions of the day will be sweetened by desire.