Christmas has come and gone and the Boxing Day sales are now in full swing. There was a time when the week surrounding Christmas Day was one of visiting friends and family, attending church and feasting. Now, the traditional holiday of Dec. 25 is lumped in with Boxing Week or Boxing Month as retailers seek to end the year in the black and shoppers vie for the best deals.
It's a cliche to complain about the commercialization of Christmas, and Christian traditions need not be sacrosanct in a multicultural country like ours, where people of all religions celebrate the sacred at different times in the year.
While some may argue that the values of Christmas - charity, love, hope for the future - are being overtaken by avarice and consumerism, others simply acknowledge that strong retail sales during the holiday season will create jobs and economic stability.
The best one can hope for is that people acknowledge that this duality exists and take some time to protect their own mental health by sharing some good quality time with friends and family.
