I think Christmas is one holiday that holds a great tradition, and this is a holiday that is most celebrated across the globe. It's always exciting to behold the holiday season like this. It's that time of year when many people who live in a faraway city from their hometown travel home to merry with their loved ones and family members. A lot of people are usually in a traveling mood, and because of this, there's always a high demand for food, meat, drinks, and even fashion in order to make most of the holiday memorable.
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However, there's one common tradition I have noticed about this holiday since I was a child, and it gives me so much concern to the point that I feel it's a tradition that is misunderstood. I don't really understand why we usually observe inflation of virtually everything more than usual during the Christmas season. This doesn't only happen in my country; from what I have read so far, a lot of countries observe this hike in the prices of goods and commodities just for the season. I remember vividly how my grandmother will strive to stock the house in November prior to the holiday; she will also try buying Christmas clothes and shoes for me earlier enough to avoid all the high cost of things that come with the holiday.
A lot of people seize the opportunity to make a hell of money from others by selling things for double the usual amount. I don't get this tradition, and it seems like it has come to stay. Why can't we enjoy the season without spending extra? Why is everyone taking advantage of the season to get richer? Is that the purpose of the holiday? What about people who don't have the money to buy early before the hike in price? It means they will be spending above their budget just to make the most of the season.
Here in my country, it gets worse every year with this tradition, to the point that ordinary withdrawals of money come with extra costs just for the holiday. You will realize that anything from January 3rd, this whole madness will stop, but the question is, can we really stop making life uncomfortable for ourselves? Or we should query the government again on this. Only this season, I have spent an extra $10+ on POS withdrawals of cash. This is an unnecessary expense. I tried to buy new dresses, shoes, drinks, meat, etc., for my family and all of them came at horrible prices for the season.
The roads are becoming busier than normal, and the transportation fare is nothing to write home about. Imagine paying $100 for road transport to visit my hometown to and fro. This is uncalled for. It's like six times what it used to be. Some people who wish to travel and meet their families might cancel the trip because of the hike in prices of things during the holiday. Eleventh hour shopping in all the malls,which makes one spend more time in the queue waiting to pay even with increased in price of goods.
All these are more about the craziness that comes with the holiday every year, and I think it's a well-misunderstood tradition that really needs to be looked into for the good of everyone.
I hope we don't spend and run into debt in January.
Thanks for reading my thoughts on this topic.
This post is in response to the #HiveLearners community contest on the topic titled Holiday Traditions Misunderstood*.
