Christmas, also known as Christmastide is one of the major festivals of the Christian population that marks and honours the birth of Jesus Christ. Every year, it is celebrated on December 25 with great pomp and show. The celebration takes the form of gift giving, special prayers in the church, and not to forget, display of attractive decorations, including lights, mistletoe, Christmas trees, and so on. The popularity of this festival is growing everyday. This is the reason why Christmas is being celebrated with equal ecstasy by many non-Christians. For many, it has become a secular, cultural festival.
Exchanging gifts is the most important part of the celebrations surrounding Christmas. In European countries and other nations with Christian population, people begin to make preparations for this festival at least a month back. They start buying gifts for their loved ones. There are also many people who plan to go on a vacation to some distant place during this time. It would not be wrong to say that this is the time when they love to be extravagant. However, this year, the scenario has changed.
Global recession has resulted into large scale lay offs. Some global giants have already announced even more job cuts. Those who are fortunate enough to continue in their jobs are facing the threat of pay cuts. In fact, some big companies have already resorted to the path of pay cuts by a significant amount. As a result of all this, the heightened economic activity that we have always witnessed during Christmas holidays is likely to be missing this time.
People are not as excited as they always used to be during Christmas. The ongoing global recession, which has already hit the budget of every common man, is likely to restrict the celebration. People living in both developing and developed countries are equally hit. The retail industry which has always made huge profits on Christmas is all set to make huge losses owing to the declining purchasing power of people. Even the elite class that has always thrown big parties on the occasion of Christmas are feeling the crunch in their pockets.
A common man has already started looking for less costly alternatives for Christmas gifts. This is the reason why most of the companies are offering their products or services at highly affordable prices. With this low pricing strategy, they are hoping to attract buyers who are facing a tight budgetary constraint this time.
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