The holiday period is always an exciting time, as everyone gets the time to visit or be with their family and loved ones especially those who are a distance away, the need for us to travel to be with them becomes a priority because we know that is the only free period we have, with meeting our loved ones, being in a merry mood is another common phenomenon bound to happen this season, so there is high demand food, drinks and other items we need to make the holiday season exciting for us.
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One common tradition I've noticed and haven't understood during the holiday since I was a child is always the hike in the prices of foodstuffs, transportation, and other basic commodities during this period-INFLATION, I remember my mum would always prefer to buy our Christmas dresses and shoes in earlier before the "MBER" month starts because according to her the prices of goods skyrockets when the holiday season starts approaching, making it difficult for her to afford the best
dress design she wished and only to settle for a lesser quality which might not be worth the amount at earlier month. So when our dresses are bought, we fit them, and keep them safe and neatly, awaiting Christmas day.
People in my country have taken inflation as a tradition, it baffles me that it gets worse every year, and there would always be an excuse to blame it on, you would either hear them accuse the dollar exchange rate to naira, or put it on the government policy as if those were not the same before the holiday season, well I think the problem lies between us because we know that everyone would be in a merry mood and therefore there would be high demands for those items, traders double the prices of their goods, transporters do same to transportation cost, and the exciting period we all wish for, begin to look like we are digging a debt hole just because we want to have fun in December, the reason we have a lot of people go broke during January, not because they didn't plan, but because, their planning cost got doubled and those that can't manage, end up dipping hands into their savings.
Just two days ago, I tried withdrawing cash from a POS outlet, only to be charged double the amount they would usually collect for the same service, as usual, they had what to blame it on, and the answer was very annoying, "Shortage of cash" which is a big lie, but just another scheme to extort people from their hard-earned money. So if the need arises for a tradition to be put to an end during the holiday season, I would choose for it to be the eradication of INFLATION and let everyone be able to afford what they desire during the holiday season, let the prices of foodstuffs remain same or even lesser than they used to be, and also the transportation cost should"t be hiked as well, allow people to visit their loved one and not go broke because they can resist being with their friends and family during the holiday season.
The holiday season shouldn't be a catalyst for financial crises during January anymore.