An increasing level of urgency is steadily building among Wairarapa shoppers as the number of sleeps till Christmas Day enters the low single digits. The heat is on.
Those that look the most pressured have all the hallmarks of parents scurrying about the shops in an effort to find the most elusive of items, or frowning at their cellphones as they try to source a more affordable option for the present that simply won’t fit into a fast-reducing budget.
All the while, we know that some of the purchases we have or are about to make will likely be considerably cheaper on Boxing Day, just one day after we have been stuffing wrapping paper and boxes into the recycling bin, and stuffing ourselves with enough food and drink to last a small village in Africa more than a month.
This brings us to the dreaded option of giving … vouchers. No one wants to be that person. Yet we know it makes perfect economic sense. No one wants to look like they gave no time or thought whatsoever to a personalised present, but we know it will stretch that shrinking budget so much further just one day later.
What a dilemma.
One family member, who shall remain nameless for fear of reprisals not fitting of the festive season, made the argument that, while vouchers had a role to play in the last-minute options for viable Christmas presents, if we all exchanged vouchers, it would be tantamount to giving each other cash. And, they said, if we were all to give each other cash, we may as well just keep the cash and buy presents for ourselves. Now, what sort of Christmas would that be, they concluded.
Resisting the temptation to refer to Christmases past and how I would probably have preferred the aforementioned cold, hard cash to the endless pairs of ‘designer’ socks, ties I never wore, and the novelty pen that amused my 3-year-old more than it amused me, I admitted that the spirit of the season would indeed be something less than usual.
It’s not the only dilemma we face at this time of year, every single year.
Again, it is the parents of the world facing by far the biggest portion of this particular burden.
When is the most appropriate time to tell the young ones that there is no Santa Claus? When do we say there is no Rudolph with a red-nose reindeer, no busy elves, no countless number of lists of present requests [with or without vouchers] attached to letters written by well-meaning but ultimately deceived children telling Santa how well-behaved they have been?
The truth of the matter is one has to take a case-by-case approach and hope for the best. If you leave it too long, the illusion will almost certainly be shattered by know-alls at school who will take a large degree of pleasure in telling their classmates that their parents have been lying to them for years. Brutal.
Modern-day parents seem to have struck a compromise transitional approach, whereby the children are told they get presents from mum and dad and other family members and one big present from Santa. Thus, not such a big deal when the time comes to have that chat. Good planning.
So the nanny state 🤔 that the last government was forcing on us hasn’t worked 🤔. Teaching children some reality 🤔 as they get older might be a different way 🤔. Plus the new government 🤔 😉.