Debt and Dopamine: The Ghosts of Christmas Present

Americans continue to chase Christmas in packages, boxes, and bags—while the contentment of yesteryear fades from the collective memory.

(Jordi Mora igual/Getty Images)

Most every Christmas growing up in the 1950s, Brad Harris got socks, a new pair of jeans, and—if he was fortunate—a new sweater.

He lived with his mom, who was a single parent, as well as his grandmother, great aunt, and younger brother. Finances were tight, but there was always food on the table, including a big dinner for Christmas.

“We never felt deprived, but we didn’t compare what we had with other folks,” Mr. Harris, 87, told The Epoch Times. “It was a wonderful time really. It was a lot less frivolous. I think it made a better generation of us.”

To help with family expenses, he usually held more than one job at a time—including delivering newspapers until he graduated high school. It was a big delight one year when he received a Hawthorne bicycle with a tank and headlight for Christmas.

“It was one of my prizes, and I rode that thing clear through high school,” Mr. Harris said. “I had probably worn out two or three bicycles carrying papers.”

Decorations were sparse—they couldn’t afford a tree so they usually cut down a fresh one from a friend’s property—yet the Harris brothers never forgot to buy something for mom. One year, it was a set of clear pink serving dishes for eight that cost no more than $3.

These days, Mr. Harris no longer tries to pick out meaningful gifts for each family member. He has 14 great-grandchildren. He makes homemade caramel and hands out cash.

There’s not much the kids want that they don’t already have, he said.

“We found a long time ago, 100-dollar bills fit everybody, and the color’s right,” Mr. Harris said. “I spend more on Christmas than my mother made in a year.”

Spending Obsession

Christmas gift giving in the United States has always been a big deal, but it seems to continue getting bigger. Data available for the past 20 years shows overall spending has nearly doubled since 2003, climbing every year except during the financial crisis in 2008. The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts growth will be a bit lower—3 to 4 percent—in 2023 than in 2022.

(Illustration by The Epoch Times)

Total holiday spending this year in America is expected to be at least $937 billion, according to the NRF. Back in 1950, total holiday spending was $40.2 billion, but that’s without factoring in inflation and population growth.

Those were the days before credit cards, before storage units, before America’s massive rise in household debt. Those were the days when it was easy to buy a Christmas present because everybody needed something.

Americans have always spent a lot of money during Christmastime. What has changed dramatically is how much they spend the rest of the year and how much they borrow to maintain that spending.

Shoppers clog the aisles at Macy's Department store on Black Friday in 2003 in New York City. Annual holiday spending has doubled to nearly a trillion dollars in the two decades since. (Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)

Shopping has become a year-round obsession, turning Christmas gift-giving into an obligation and sometimes even burden. Often our presents are just more clutter.

Remembering the value of more meaningful and necessary gifts of generations past could help us shift our focus from the materialism of gifts to the act of giving and the value of relationships.

When It All Changed

The Sears catalogs, including the once-annual Wish Book and Christmas catalogs, really took off as credit started to appear. Even back in 1956 the “Sears Christmas Book“ was more than 450 pages of toys, tools, clothing, houseware, and more—all promoted as the perfect gifts for loved ones.

The catalogs provided inspiration for new Christmas gifts that weren’t so obvious as a needed sweater. Every American could imagine a new level of consumption, with items they never would have considered buying now displayed in enticing variety.

Of course, all that possibility meant little without the means to pay for it—and incomes were still limited just as they are today. However, Americans’ spending habits were suddenly no longer restrained by their pocketbook.

Whereas merchant credit had previously been associated with wealthier customers, the post-war years saw an explosion in consumer loans and credit cards for a rapidly growing middle class.

A telling statistic is the household debt to income ratio, which tells how much of a household’s monthly income goes towards debt payments. The higher the ratio, the more monthly income goes towards debt payments.

The Institute for New Economic Thinking thoroughly examined debt from the end of World War II, when the household debt-to-income ratio was 30 percent, to 2016, when that debt ratio hit 120 percent. In other words, by 2016 the average American household was going further into debt every month.

(Illustration by The Epoch Times)

“The American household debt boom of the past decades was first and foremost a middle-class affair. Middle-class incomes grew by 20 percent since 1970, middle-class debt by 250 percent,” the institute report said. In other words, we now spend far more than we make, a dramatic shift from the 1950s.

Rachel Cruze, a financial expert at Ramsey Solutions, a firm that helps people reconcile debt and make better financial decisions, says Americans are spending themselves into excruciating debt.

“Credit card debt itself has reached over a trillion dollars, the highest in history,” Ms. Cruze told The Epoch Times.

Shoppers hunt for gifts and other items at a New York department store on December 11, 2023. With everyone's homes filled with stuff, finding meaningful gifts has become a challenge. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Our debts have become so great they could be considered a public health issue. One study published in 2018 in PNAS found “overspending and over-indebtedness ... leads to social exclusion, feelings of loneliness, an unhealthy family environment, and suicidal thoughts, and it reduces social support. Also, one of the biggest problems with debts is that they often unleash a spiral of further debts. This spiral can ultimately bring people into poverty.”

The study found that when low-income families were given three times their monthly income for debt relief, those who used it to pay down their debts instead of making other purchases experienced a proportional improvement in cognitive function and reduced anxiety.

How the Glut Stole Christmas

One of the big lessons from the Grinch that has proven true over the past 20 years is that it isn’t a lack of presents that can ruin Christmas. In fact, presents can be the thing that buries our Christmas spirit.

Credit lit the fire of our current consumerism, but cheap Chinese goods added plenty of fuel.

Suddenly, everybody could have everything at cheap prices made all the cheaper by underpaid workers and poorly made products. Items that once lasted a lifetime now become obsolete, broken, or out of fashion within a few years.

Ms. Cruze shared her own struggles with purchasing on her radio show. Her new book, “I’m Glad for What I Have,” was inspired by an innocent but uncomfortable encounter with her youngest child that revealed her own consumption problems.

“My 4-year-old said a few months ago, ‘Is the Amazon guy coming today, Mom?’” Ms. Cruze said.

Amazon delivery men have become the new Santa Clause, except they deliver all year long, making the prospect of presents far less meaningful. (EQRoy/Shutterstock)

While credit and cheap goods certainly enticed us to buy more, companies learned better how to hijack our own biology as well. Big Tech has made pervasive use of neuromarketing to figure out exactly how our brains work, and how to make us buy.

Shopping and Dopamine Spikes

All too often, even at Christmas, people buy to avoid uncomfortable feelings, get a momentary bump in happiness, or create a certain impression in the world. These feelings, and the shopping that triggers them, are linked to a surge of dopamine in the brain.

Dopamine is neurotransmitter meant to help us learn and remember things. The brain releases dopamine to remind us something feels good and seems like a good activity to repeat.

Unfortunately, this mechanism can work against us. Many unhealthy activities now prevalent in the world, from drugs, to eating added sugar, to shopping, can trigger surges of dopamine and the pleasant feelings that come with it.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter produced in the brain that has various roles in the body. It affects motivation through it's feel-good reward function and is also involved in motor control and the release of various hormones. (Shutterstock)

Chasing these feelings—and the dopamine spikes that cause them—can rewire the brain over time, and lead to discontentment and anxiety. After large rushes of dopamine, the brain falls below baseline. In other words, we feel lower than before. The result is that we want to feel that surge of dopamine again and so repeat the unhealthy behavior. This can cause long-term problems with mental health.

Shopping can sometimes lead to compulsive buying disorder—an addictive behavior that can affect anyone and has similar effects on dopamine as addictive drugs.

To rebalance the dopamine-reward system, we need to restrain from dopamine-spiking behaviors for four weeks, Dr. Lembke, a psychiatry professor from Stanford University, told The Epoch Times in a previous interview.

Ms. Cruze said we also need to put material things in the proper perspective.

“Having stuff is not wrong or bad, but if we believe that’s the thing that’s going to keep us happy, we’re going to be sorely disappointed. It does not fulfill us the way we think it does,” warned Ms. Cruze.

Revisiting the Consumer Christmas

Ms. Cruze said our shopping habits have grown out of control, and there is a key lesson from previous generations that we need to remember: “In the ’50s, if you didn’t have the money, you didn’t buy it.”

That should be as true now as ever. But about a quarter of Americans still haven’t paid off last year’s Christmas, Ms. Cruze said. While accruing debt to pay for holiday gifts was frowned upon three generations ago, today it’s all too common.

But that shouldn’t be the case. Giving what we can’t afford isn’t truly a gift—especially if we are all creating an expectation of gift-giving that is only putting all of us further in debt. One of the greatest lessons we can learn from Christmas past is that our current consumer culture isn’t working.

“It’s really created a culture of bondage that we’re chained to our credit cards versus having autonomy over our lives,” said Ms. Cruze.

Fortunately, no matter how bad one’s finances have become, it’s never too late to change habits and make up for mistakes. While getting out of debt can take time, those who rein in their spending can begin to turn things around.

“You get to wake up tomorrow—and you can’t change the year or the decade—but you can take some of the old-school habits people had in the ’50s and apply them to your life and have some peace,” Ms. Cruze said.

The Value of an Old-Fashioned Christmas

After noticing some of her own impulsive buying habits, Ms. Cruze began what she calls the 2023 version of window shopping: putting as many items as she wants in her online cart and then sleeping on it to let her emotions “die down.” Oftentimes, she finds she doesn’t need or want the items as much as she thought when she first saw them.

Jayden Copeland, who writes a blog about old-fashioned homemaking, is determined to make Christmas a less consumerist celebration that focuses on Christ, family, service, simplicity, and homemade gifts and decorations.

“What’s so special about it is the family time,” she said. “We don’t do a lot of shopping. My husband is kind of frugal. Every little thing we buy, we run it through a lens of, ‘Is this going to be a waste of money?’”

Christmas, 1950. (Photos courtesy of the Monroe County Local History Room & Museum, Sparta, Wisconsin)

Ms. Copeland’s mom visits for a couple of days every December, and for two days, they make homemade treats including toffee, various cookies, cake balls, and reindeer food. They box them up to give away.

Serving and generosity are values that many families have traditionally focused on during the holiday season. The good news is, we haven’t completely lost our Christmas spirit. The United States has maintained a high ranking in the World Giving Index, which reported that more than 3 billion people helped a stranger in 2021.

More than 60 percent of people worldwide helped someone they didn’t know. It was the highest rate since 2009. The report attributed it to an increase in needs created by the pandemic, as well as the elevation of values such as community and solidarity.

Many older Americans, like Judy Riggert, 81, remember what Christmas used to be like. Generosity is at the heart of Ms. Riggert’s favorite holiday memory. She was 9 when she discovered a brand-new red-and-white Schwinn bike under the Christmas tree, instead of the usual socks and underwear.

“The bike was a hand-me-down from a cousin, I found out later. My dad sanded it down and painted it and made it look new. I loved that bike,” she told The Epoch Times. “And then we passed it down to someone else. My parents never threw away anything.”

This photo shows a family Christmas Eve dinner scene in 1955 at the home of John and Mable Rudkin in rural Cataract. It was tradition since the couple was married (1919), to serve oyster soup as the first course to the dinner. (Photo courtesy of the Monroe County Local History Room & Museum, Sparta, Wisconsin)

Her parents found a way to thrive during the Great Depression. They worked hard and taught their work ethic to their five children.

Another small Christmas pleasure Ms. Riggert recalls was getting a small brown bag of goodies at Sunday school filled with hard candy, nuts, and an orange.

She’s not sure whether children are truly enjoying a better way of life in the midst of today’s materialism. Perhaps, she mused, that’s in part due to a value system that doesn’t emphasize enough that lasting joy can come about through hard work and responsibilities.

Save Money and Find Purpose

Ms. Copeland said while her family is certainly motivated to save money, an old-fashioned Christmas also helps them enjoy a shared sense of purpose. Creating handmade gifts and decorations can help build confidence, too, for children and even adults.

“I personally just enjoy making things. It’s so much fun, and that’s part of what makes things special is the hard work that goes into it,” Ms. Copeland said.

  Rachel Cruze is a financial expert that helps people reconcile debt and make better financial decisions. Jayden Copeland made the homemade Christmas gifts and decorations, including garlands. (Photo courtesy of Rachel Cruz and Jayden Copeland)

She offered the following ideas for simplifying Christmas:

• Make a garland from Christmas tree clippings.
• Create homemade salt dough ornaments.
• Make dried orange slices for decorations.
• Accept hand-me-down decorations or make your own things.
• Check thrift stores for ornaments and other decorations.
• Reuse wrapping paper.
• Do inexpensive activities such as driving to see Christmas lights, having baking days, doing old-fashioned frugal crafts (popcorn and cranberry garlands, orange slice garlands, homemade ornaments, writing cards to family, watching old-fashioned Christmas movies)
• Hold white elephant gift exchanges with extended family.
• Draw names and implement spending limits for gift exchanges, rather than buying for everyone.
• Make and gift Christmas cookie boxes and sweet breads.

“In our modern society, we think our kids need all these gizmos and gadgets to be happy,” Ms. Copeland said. “My kids are getting a kick out of bringing the decorations up, and they say every day they want to create something new. And they’re having a blast with that.”

For many people these days, more meaningful than actual material items are often gifts that deliver more time, something people had far more of in previous generations. You could offer favors ranging from dog-sitting to helping paint a friend’s living room. Rather than accumulating debt, we could be racking up a deeper connection to the people most important to us.