Is

the true meaning of Christmas lost? That depends on what your meaning of Christmas is. For many of the Christian faith, December 25th is commemorated to celebrate the birth of Christ. However, to some, it is more of a holiday of tradition than religion. The beginning of the "Holiday season" is marked in early December when teachers are piling on workloads and students are cramming for Dinal exams in order to get everything done before the Winter Break. In the meantime, streets are starting to become illuminated by colorful Dlickering lights, the scent of roasted chestnuts pervades the city, and Christmas music emanates from shops, drilling the tune of "Winter Wonderland" into shoppers' heads, driving them to the point of mental instability. As the month continues, families begin to pick out their Christmas trees, while family and friends are sneaking around shopping for presents to put underneath them. Cookies are baked, decorations are hung, and dogs are forced into Santa sweaters. These are all traditions of Christmastime that people look forward to year round. One of the biggest, and some would argue one of the best, traditions of Christmas is giving and receiving gifts. Somehow, way back when, people decided that they would celebrate Jesus birthday by giving birthday presents to other people, and eventually this was transformed into the modern day concept of a jolly fat man traveling through the sky in a sled pulled by Dlying reindeer who delivers toys made by elves in the North pole to children who haven't been naughty that year. This may seem ridiculous, but it's tradition. In addition, people who aren't Christian still celebrate Christmas in their own ways. For example, a common pastime for Jewish families in America to do on Christmas day is to go out and eat Chinese food and see a movie. While it can be argued that the meaning of Christmas is lost by consumerism and commercialism, the meaning of Christmas is tradition, which varies from family to family, person to person. Who are we to judge others' personal traditions? If these traditions end up causing the world to spend billions of dollars on gifts, then hey, at least it's stimulating the economy.