The holidays seem to be drifting from their true purpose in our lives. Lately, people seem to be focused on the things surrounding the holidays, rather than the reason we are celebrating them in the first place.

The purpose of a holiday is to spend time with your family and friends, to forget about the worries of your life and to just Hakuna Matata the day away.
Before that, however, you have to make sure that your house is presentable, so you’ll need decorations for the holidays. No worries, I just saw a Walmart ad offering to ensure that your holiday will be perfect once you buy their $40 New Year’s celebration set, and maybe a couple packs of fireworks, even though you already have a bunch stashed in the garage.
Now you’re set to have fun. Wait – Aunt Julia just texted you saying that you need to pick her up for the party. In that stinky old minivan? Not going to happen. Fortunately, a commercial for the new Ford truck is flashing across your television screen, showing a happy family driving around the woods, shooting off fireworks in the colorful shapes of puppies and dandelions and tacos. You go to the dealership, buy the truck from the moustached dealer and relax because now you have everything you need for the perfect holiday.
However, your cousin Suzie just had her birthday and you didn’t get her a present, so maybe you can combine the holiday and birthday gift into one. You go to Target and buy a sweet card with a cute message on it that plays funny music and you also get her a Starbucks gift card with pictures of fireworks on it.
You see, the holidays might be about family and friends, but they’re too focused on stuff. Businesses only seem to desire mooching off gullible people, which is basically all of us. They slap some holiday icons on a product and claim that you must have this in order to complete your holiday experience.
As a result, people seem to have forgotten that you need to focus on the ones you love and not the things that you get from or give to them.
One clear sign of businesses trying to exploit a holiday is the time of year when decorations appear on the shelves. Christmas literally lit up Walmart as soon as the witches and ghosts of Halloween were stuffed into our closets. Valentine’s Day is now cluttering the shelves where the New Year’s things once were, and I guarantee that you’ll see leprechauns and cauldrons full of chocolate candy disguised as coins shoved onto the shelves, waiting to be bought and put up.
Do we really need all this stuff? A card and some Smarties would be nice to give your friend, but do you have to reserve a seat at Jose Peppers and decorate your booth with heart balloons and pink confetti to show your newest boyfriend or girlfriend that you enjoy their company?
We should go back to the basics of showing our true affections for people through our actions and thoughtfulness, rather than the price tag.
Unless your friend buys you a fifty dollar necklace or something. Then you might want to repay the favor.