I have described some of the important analytical models that economic anthropologists use when they approach production and circulation, as well as historical changes in these two realms of economic life, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom. Now I want to show the kinds of insights that the models and histories can provide by using them to address something that those who read this book are likely to see as familiar: Christmas.

In the United States and the United Kingdom, Christmas is a holiday. The 25th of December is a holy day marked on the church calendar of western Christian denominations, and many believers observe it with special services and ceremonies. But Christmas is also a civic holiday, one that those of any or no religion are likely to observe as well, but in a different sense. They are likely to observe it in the shops as the Christmas displays go up and seasonal items appear on the shelves. They observe it in the office parties and family gatherings that litter December. They observe it on radio and television, as Christmas music and movies appear. Even the online solitaire that I play has a special design for playing cards at Christmas. It is this that makes Christmas a ubiquitous set of activities and experiences in these countries, and it is this civic event that concerns me in this chapter. I want to make that familiar event seem strange by making use of those analytical models and historical changes.

If you think about it, Christmas is full of contradictions for those who experience it. People tell each other that it is a festive season of good cheer, but, equally, they say that the fun is going out of it, swamped by materialism and commerce. Christmas goods seem to appear in the stores earlier every year, as do the advertisements on television telling us to buy more and more things for more and more people. This slights the religious beliefs that many see as an important part of Christmas and conflicts with religious reservations about wealth and its display. In spite of people's concern with the garish commercialization, the stores get more crowded and the websites get slower.