The rush toward Christmas can be a stressful time for many of us. Often the search for that perfect gift becomes more of a chore than we might like to acknowledge. Drifting from the realm of showing seasonal spirit and love into patent social or familial obligation, the otherwise special hunt becomes laden with guilt and drudgery.
As such, we must find a way to extricate ourselves from the infinite loop of holiday half-heartedness. One method is to throw yourself more fully into the enterprise. If you are certain a gift must be offered, genuine effort should be placed into its selection. This too, can be fraught with perils. Perhaps paradoxically, the answer may be closer than we think.
With the proliferation and ease of buying things online, more and more of our holiday dollars leave our local community. While no one disputes that the cyber world holds a greater variety of goods for purchase, many of these prospective presents lack the intimacy and personal touch of a gift procured locally.
This is especially true in the case of items produced by local craftspeople, artisans and their kin. Many times there are special items available nowhere else, but in our hometown. The giving of these unique and rarified local gifts affords you the opportunity to share what’s special about our home with family and friends — local and distant.
In almost every American community there are people whose creative proclivities make for memorable gifts. It may take a little additional effort to ferret out these treasures, but the recipient will doubtless enjoy the tale of the hunt collateral to the gift itself.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
As well, we should also seek to purchase gifts from local merchants. The money we spend in town stays here. If you own a local business, you already know how these purchases create a positive feedback in the way of tax revenue, jobs, rent and signs of communal vitality. In towns where growth has stagnated, this can be especially important. The vigor of local merchants begets the presence of more businesses. While it may be hard to detect, every time we patronize a locally owned business, we are investing in our community. We help that merchant find reasons to stay open and increase what they offer. The taxes paid on your purchase also put money in local government coffers to help pay for needed public services like police and fire protection. Oh, and it keeps people employed — people who, after getting paid, spread their own paychecks around town. Talk about trickle down!
You might think your few purchases wouldn’t make much difference, but it is your action plus your neighbors’ actions plus the actions of those across town that, collectively, make a huge difference for local retailers and city and county entities that desperately need to be part of your Christmas shopping list,
Certainly, today many of you will cuddle up to your computer and order holiday gifts online. And you may hop in the car and head far out of town for a shopping spree where you will not only shop but buy gas and eat (and thereby support someone else’s infrastructure instead of your own). And while those activities are all part of how Christmas shopping is done today, if you can limit what you buy in that manner and make a concerted effort to buy much of what you are looking for locally, you will make Christmas shine a little brighter for everyone indeed.
Yes, gift giving can become more exercise and less opportunity, but it needn’t. It’s a task that can serve many positive ends. If done with thought, we might just help our community while making ourselves feel better and yes … giving someone a special treasure that they’ll long remember.