I seem to remember Jess (shameless plug) mentioning a few days back how much she hated going to the mall to buy Christmas presents. While doing that exact thing this weekend — although managing to completely avoid mallness of any kind — it occurred to me just how silly this whole gift exchange thing is. I figure you can look at it in three very different ways.

1 :: the nice way in which people from around the world in an expression of unrelenting friendship spend many unforgiving hours and hard-earned dollars to buy those special someones a gift that they will cherish forever and ever and ever.

2 :: the permission way when that season of unrelenting giving appears and we all feel as though we have permission to spend large sums of money on things “for other people” knowing full well that they are doing the same thing. We give ourselves permission to spend cash we otherwise wouldn’t have spent because “we are supposed to” and ultimately do it because we will feel guilty if we are the only ones to show up without a present. We also are afraid of looking too cheap.

3 :: the exchange way where people from around the world spend too much money to trade gifts of things that they otherwise would not have bought themselves. This is a chance for retailers to empty their shelves of those otherwise “unpurchasables” by simply marking them as “Great gift ideas!” or “Excellent Stocking Stuffer!” At the risk of sounding cynical, I would suggest that somewhere deep in most people’s heads they are really calculating how much they need to spend to just break even, getting their just return.

Revving up the seasonal mood we watched a variety of holiday shows this weekend, including that irreplaceable Jimmy Stewart classic It’s a Wonderful Life and then just last night partook of National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Only 9 days until the big day!