American Broadcasting CompaniesThe Grinch on his sleigh.

As I was reading “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”with my kids, I couldn’t help but marvel that the book (and the animated television special) endures as a holiday favorite, even as its core anticonsumerism message goes completely ignored.

Consider these lines, describing the Grinch’s reaction after those darn Whos join hands and celebrate in Who-ville, even after he has robbed them of their Yuletide baubles and Roast Beast:

“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.”

“Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!”

Dr. Seuss wrote those lines more than 50 years ago — which suggests that efforts to subvert commercialization of the holiday have been failing for at least that long.

There are signs, though, that some are dissatisfied with the annual year-end buying frenzy that kicks off with Black Friday. A smattering of Web sites has emerged—some with religious overtones, others at least loosely inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests—that question the need to spend scads of money on stuff in order to properly celebrate the holiday. The overall theme seems to be that the holidays could be simpler, and more meaningful, if we would just put away our wallets. Or at least, use them less frequently.

Buy Nothing Christmas, a site founded by Canadian Mennonites (a hat tip to The Consumerist for bringing the site to our attention), suggests alternatives such as holding swap meets, or crafting handmade gifts, instead of buying presents in a store. “While gift-giving is a good thing to do at Christmas,” the Web site says, “that doesn’t mean we have to go overboard at Christmas.”

And there are a grab bag of other sites and social-media pages, not necessarily related to one another, using some version of the name Occupy Christmas to argue for a less expensive holiday. One site exhorts people to “Buy local and ignore the temptation to use credit cards.” Another urges readers to submit photos of handmade gifts they have received in the past.

It’s easy to get caught up in the holiday spending whirlwind, but maybe we can still learn something from the Grinch and Little Cindy-Lou Who.

(Of course, it’s worth noting that after the Grinch has his epiphany, he returns all the pilfered loot and then joins the Whos in enjoying the bounty. So the holiday with all the trimmings won out, in the end.)

Do you think it’s possible, five decades after the Grinch’s epiphany, to dial back the emphasis on spending during the holidays? How have you tried to do it?

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=b26807bacada086727587d81ba7a2a74