Materialism

            In my family the holidays are for getting together, enjoying a feast and celebrating a couple days out of the year where we’re not poor or lacking. When I was growing up I was a Jehovah’s Witness, meaning I didn’t celebrate holidays. Every holiday I’d see everyone being excited around me, but never being able to participate in it. In my opinion, not being able to celebrate made me appreciate it when our family switched religions to Christianity and then finally got to celebrate.

            Not celebrating any holidays and then being able to embrace the holidays, made my family and I view them more as a family event. When I was younger my mom would give everyone in my family money, and then we’d buy each other gifts. It was never materialistic; the reason why my mom had us start to celebrate the holidays was to realize money is just a piece of paper. Celebrating was always something different to us and being a Jehovah Witness makes us view them as just a party, no religious story or meaning behind them. There are never any issues concerning expensive gifts, in my family, because we only buy and ask for what we know each other can afford. Fortunately, my siblings and I usually go halves on purchasing the gifts for each other so someone in the family will get what they have always wanted.

            So when it comes to holidays and which author explained it most closely to me and my family it would be Lauren Smith. The way she explains how it’s to show appreciation is most accurate. Giving gifts is to show appreciation and to thank the people for being in your life. No matter how expensive a gift is, a good person will always appreciate it. What she said came close to my home, and I hope it came close to others as well.