Thoughts on Christmas 2001 – Post 9/11

Post- 9/11 – Faith Popcorn – marketing guru – “coccooning”

• sales of “comfort food” (and junk food) up

• Oreo sales up 18% over last year

• Frozen pizza – up 8%

• Kraft Dinner – up 7%

• junk food - doughnuts, potato chips, tortilla chips, chocolate – up 4%

• vending machine operators say that they can’t keep the junk food in stock, whereas the granola bars are hardly moving

• restaurants have noticed that diners are ordering more traditional fare – meat loaf; fried chicken; etc.

• restaurants like Swiss Chalet that specialize in comfort food and take-out or delivery are doing a booming business.

• movie rentals up; restaurant sales down. People yearning for that sheltered, safe, secure feeling that was so drastically disrupted by the terrorist attacks.

What we see of Christmas from the typical Christmas card plays into this – a nice, warm stable, soft lighting, Silent Night playing in the background.

This is a different Christmas. Post-September 11 – uncertainty, anxiety. People are struggling with the aftermath of these horrendous events, and trying to make sense of it all. The world has changed in fundamental ways – it is as though the ground has shifted under our feet.

The Holiday season adds to the stress. As many as 6% of the population suffers from a condition known as Seasonal Affective Disorder – a sort of low-grade depression – the “winter blahs”. There are many people I know – people in our own fellowship – who are dealing with a great deal of stress this holiday season. Some are dealing with the loss of loved ones. Others are dealing with serious medical problems. For some, the stress is relational.

We have an image of Christmas as a happy, cozy, “safe” holiday – and yet for many people, it isn’t that way at all. And for the participants in the first Christmas story, it certainly wasn’t like that!