Few people were dreaming of a tight Christmas, but a new frugality is evident on the shopping streets and no sector or social class has been left unaffected by the financial crisis. But it's not all bad . . .
A QUICK CHRISTMAS QUIZ: Who do you think sent the following encouraging e-mail out to members of their flock earlier this week?
"While all things financial have to be addressed on a daily and ongoing basis, the events of the past few months have certainly focused our values and beliefs on the people who matter most in our lives - God, family and friends. With our celebration next week of the birth of Jesus, it is worth pausing to consider the real meaning of Christmas - a ray of hope in the world. How many of us who are Christian remember the gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, piety, fear of the Lord and fortitude (or courage)? None of us, I am sure, would say no to a little extra support from Him at this time and I will pray that some or all of these "sanctifying graces" - the life of Jesus within us - are extended to you and your family this Christmas and over the coming year."
So who was it? A priest? The Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin? Dana? No. In fact, this Christmas missive was dispatched by John Lowe, aka the Money Doctor of Dublin-based independent financial advice company Providence Finance Services. If there was anyone left in the country still doubting whether the spirit of Christmas 2008 looks and feels any different to that of Christmas 2007, financial advisers invoking the Holy Spirit and urging piety, not to mention fear of the Lord, must offer undeniable proof that we are living through transformed festive times.
The evidence is everywhere. Pre-Christmas sales on a scale to make you wonder whether they will be giving the stuff away to punters when the real sales start. Concerned consumers wandering about with determined expressions, studying carefully written lists of presents from which they will not deviate no matter what previously must-have random purchase calls sweetly to them from the shelves. Trolley wars up North, packed €2 stores down South, half-empty shopping streets, deserted mobile phone shops and normally reticent shoppers who can be found on brazen haggling missions everywhere from Boodles' emporium of bling to the deli counter of Dunnes Stores. Add to this a general anxiety about job losses, the gloomy outlook predicted for 2009 and a lack of trust in our politicians to lead us out of the crisis and you've got a foolproof recipe for this more subdued season. Think trifle without the sherry, or a brandy soaked pudding that refuses to flame.
It's not that Christmas has been cancelled exactly, more that Santa's sack isn't bulging in the obscene way it was last year. "It's a huge relief, to be honest," says one female shopper on Grafton Street earlier this week, who, fresh from making a "very modest" purchase at the busy Tiffany counter in Brown Thomas, doesn't want to be named. "It's not a race to get or give the most expensive present any more. It feels like the pressure is off. You don't have to queue as much in the shops, you are not laughed at down the phone if you try to make a booking in a restaurant.
"Last year there were children who would look at you sideways if you gave them a €50 gift voucher, disappointed that it wasn't €100. This year there is no shame in holding back and that gives you a bit of breathing space. The irony is we have more money in our bank accounts than we usually would at this time of the year because we are not spending. Last year, it was seen as a status symbol to be talking about buying your third car or your second holiday home. This year you'd just look like a big eejit."
AT A BUSTLING Dundrum Town Centre in Co Dublin, two twentysomething friends from Galway, Helen and Moira, interrupt their window-shopping to explain how their approach to the season has changed this year. "I am not making a big a deal about this Christmas," says Helen, a nurse. "In our family we would have spent €150 on our Kris Kindle presents and this year it is more like €50."
Moira, a newly qualified teacher, says she has already told friends they won't be getting presents. "It's not quite 'let's forget about Christmas' - we still had our annual get-together, but this year, for cost reasons, we held it in one of our houses rather than going out to a restaurant. The only people I am really buying presents for is my family and I think that's nice and it's also less stressful," she says.
Both women have anxieties about their future job security, something they wouldn't have been worrying about last Christmas. Five nurses were let go recently at the private hospital where Helen works, while at Moira's graduation, a month ago, it turned out that half of her classmates had yet to find jobs. "I think next year is going to be even tougher," she says. "You are just more conscious about things, you feel like you shouldn't spend money out of fear of what is to come. My new year's resoloution is going to be to save 10 per cent of everything I earn, which is definitely not an idea I'd have been thinking about last year."
Mary McAleese's observation this week that we have become "consumed by consumerism" is echoed by many, including Helen and Moira, who have realised that cutting back at Christmas is cool and does not necessarily mean having to wear a hair shirt. By their carrier bags, or lack thereof, ye shall know them. Even in places such as Dundrum, where the footfall of shoppers seems high, not everyone is laden down with bags. When they are, it's more likely to be from "cheap and cheerful" stores, which, unlike other retailers, most of which are reporting a downturn of sales of 20-50 per cent, appear to be booming in this changed Christmas. Offering children's goodies across a range of prices, newly opened toy store Hamleys is packed, while nearby high-end department store Harvey Nichols is doing a very good impression of the Marie Celeste.
But traditional shopping habits are not the only barometer of this more austere Christmas. The donation of charity gifts for the developing world, such as a "mother and child care" or "the gift of water" has been emerging as the fashionable way to display our new frugality.
At the Bóthar office in Limerick, Marju Mikkov reports that while sales of their alternative gifts of goats and camels have decreased slightly, there is evidence to suggest the economic downturn is motivating consumers. "We've been getting calls from people who have decided to buy from us as a response to the recession, while on the other side of that we've had people ringing to say they can no longer afford to give because of their changed financial situations," she says.
Emer Mullins of Trócaire says sales of their global gifts are down about 15 per cent on last year, with their cheapest gift, €10, now proving the most popular.
"We are selling the same number of gifts but they are being bought at lower prices," she says. "It's interesting to look at who is buying them. Our staff have noticed an awful lot of students buying for friends, and grandparents buying for their grandchildren - they feel the children have been spoiled and that it's a good time to remind them of others who don't have as much."
PERHAPS THE BIGGEST visible change is the range of people accessing the services of charities such as St Vincent de Paul, which is taking record numbers of first-time calls from those dubbed "the new poor". Jobless men and women are among the growing numbers with mortgage arrears, suffering anguish for the first time about making ends meet. With tens of thousands of job losses forecast for next year, the strain on such services can only increase.
The strain will also expose other problems. Brian Howard, chief executive of Mental Health Ireland, says that from discussions with volunteers around the country it is clear "the economic situation is having a negative impact on the psychological well-being of communities". Organisations such as Aware, which deals with those who are have reported increased numbers of calls this month, while earlier this week the
Samaritans warned that the worsening financial crisis could lead to an increase in suicide rates as people struggle with rising unemployment and mounting debts. No sector or social class is unaffected by the changed atmosphere this Christmas. Bankers may have been riding high last December, as were estate agents, but this year workers in both sectors find themselves more vilified than ever. For estate agents, the property crisis has meant the abolition of the excesses of the past, the long expense-account lunches and the flashy Christmas parties. One senior executive in an established Dublin firm of estate agents, who didn't want to be named, says that "we lost sight of everything and now we are paying the price".
He says that the role of estate agents had changed. "We are now taking on the job of social counsellor, trying to mediate between couples desperate to sell, but with different ideas of what price they should settle for. People can end up in a desperate state, hanging on to your every word," he says.
"For people like myself, who have been in the business for 40 years, we know what to expect, we've seen it before. Colleagues who came into the business 10 or 15 years ago are experiencing it for the first time and learning how to deal with the changes. We all need a bit of humble pie and humility. The vendors had their day out and now the purchasers are having their revenge. Agents who didn't learn it the last time around need to learn it now - the pendulum has swung and it's a very painful but necessary lesson."
AND WHILE THE economic situation is visiting real hardship on many businesses and families this Christmas, there is a positive note to be struck, according to the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Most Rev John Neill.
"I have noticed recently that more of us are questioning the wisdom of building our security on material things. People young and old are asking deep questions about where real happiness lies," he says. "I'd be loath to come across as the church man rubbing his hands and saying recession is a good thing because 'poor people are more spiritual', but I do believe this difficult time is making people stop and consider the importance of other spiritual and human values."
Christmas, he says, has always been about generosity and extravagance and despite the global economic malaise this one should be no different. "This time of year is rooted in God's extravagance and God's generosity, so to replace that with a Scrooge-like mentality would be tragic," he offers. "It's true that many people cannot afford to put their hands deep into their pockets but there are other ways to be generous, and in this context Christmas offers a real opportunity. We can spend more time with people, we can reach out to those more vulnerable than us and these things will always be far more valuable than anything you might find under the tree."