The Spirit of Giving

In this editorial cartoon, the artist is trying to convey the fact that Christmas gifts are not about receiving, but rather the spirit of giving in the givers heart. Now, we all know that the true meaning of Christmas is the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, but Americans have turned Christmas into a secular day of exchanging gifts. The customer in the store hears the message on the tv, and realizes that she doesn't need to be buying all these material possessions, Christmas means more than just exchanging gifts. The employee at the store, who has been using a holy day of the church to exploit money from customers, is shocked when he hears this saying that Christmas does not come from a store.
I agree with this cartoon, Americans have gotten so far from the true meaning of Christmas that when we hear a message contrary to that Christmas is all about presents, we are surprised.
The fact that this is a visual cartoon, and not just black words on a white screen really help strength the point of this cartoon. The Grinch is given as a visual on the screen, and everyone knows the story of the Grinch. They can see the Grinch on the tv and immediately relate him to the "scrooge" Christmas. He thought that he would ruin Christmas by stealing all the presents, but then he realized that "Christmas doesn't come from a store, maybe perhaps Christmas needs a little bit more." Because you can see the Grinch saying this, it brings more meaning to the saying because of the visual of the Grinch. The VISA card also is a visual symbol of the American way of viewing Christmas. The customer just hands over the credit card to pay for all these meaningless things that she is buying for other people for Christmas. The credit card is a visual reminder of the way Americans think. You just hand over a piece of plastic and you get everything you ever wanted. These two visuals help us to incur the purpose of this cartoon. The real meaning of Christmas is the virgin birth of Christ. The tradition that we have of exchanging gifts is not about the material possessions that are exchange, but rather of the spirit of giving.