Now that Christmas is almost over—Sweden celebrates Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day—I find myself once again reflecting on a paradox that grows harder to ignore each year. While Christmas is marketed as a season of joy and generosity, its rampant commercialization often breeds stress, debt, and a hollow sense of obligation, leaving me feeling soulless and empty especially as there is an increasing amount of suffering in the world.

The focus of Christmas has shifted from sharing intangible treasures like love, kindness, and time to a relentless emphasis on what we can buy and give away. Gifts become tools in a personal PR campaign, aimed at earning love, forgiveness, or, perhaps, mitigating resentment.

Shiny, wrapped presents may glitter under the tree, but they cannot fill the deeper voids—the absence of genuine respect, the weight of unhealed wrongs, or the pain we’ve caused others.

This irony is especially stark when set against the story of Christ’s birth. His humble beginnings in a manger, surrounded by simplicity and reverence, stand in sharp contrast to a holiday season now dominated by excess and materialism in which I am an increasingly reluctant participant.

Oh, and I generated the above image using AI.