ABSTRACT
Research on the modern-day Christmas-describing fractured families and decreased leisure time-indicates that ideal celebrations, although mythologized in literature and film, are hard to achieve (Otnes, Zolner, & Lowrey, 1994; Sherry, McGrath, & Levy, 1992). But as Christmas has taken on a more secular meaning (Belk, 1989, 1993), it has become the occasion for acknowledging important social bonds. In fact, for increasingly mobile and malleable families, it may be the only significant recognition of kinship ties to occur all year (Cheal, 1987, 1988). Thus, the risk of not “doing Christmas right” seems to outweigh any inconveniences or ill tempers that result from the holiday.
