If Not Sublime, Then Silly

Holiday Shoppers Are the Hunter-Gatherers of the American Economy

But enough about presents. What are we getting for ourselves?

"We bought ourselves some sweaters," says Emily Sajewski, 14, standing in Tysons Corner Center during a trip, ostensibly, to shop for Christmas gifts.

"But they were on sale," says her friend, Hilary Stetekluh. "When you're at the mall, your natural instinct . . . "

Is to buy, yes. We are foragers. We see a sale sign, it's like a buffet in the forest. Besides, we're already here, right? Surely we need some- thing. ("Need" in that flexible sense of the word, the way a couch needs a decorative pillow.) We buy ourselves a cheese board, plus a belt to go with the boots we're also buying, because we're nothing if not generous and after all, it's nearly Christmas. From me to me: thank you!

When the shopping bug hits, sometimes we buy a thing without even knowing who it's for, but damn if it isn't the cutest cat-shaped clay teapot we've ever seen! Acquisition feels good; desire begets desire. On these Saturdays before Christmas, we start early and go till it's dark, our arms heavy like we've accomplished something, and perhaps we have. Another animal might have collected nuts for the winter. We collect "atomic" clocks and decorative candles.

It's the Christmas season and what better place than a mall? Hallelujah! Let's shop.

This is the Saturday crush, a few weeks before the big gift-giving day. Stepping out of a store and into the hallway at Tysons, we risk being trampled by the herd. There are packs of coltish teenage girls. There are parents pushing strollers weighed down with packages, and fat babies with William H. Taft double chins. There is a long row of men on couches with their jaws in their hands, not reading or talking, blank and mule-like, waiting for their women.

"I've been walking around looking for her for the past 45 minutes," says one guy.

Bad place to lose someone. Tysons is one of the largest malls in the country, and it recently got bigger. A Tysons sign advertises the new expansion with the simple word "More." More what? More walking, that's for sure. More books, more clothes, more housewares, more places to eat. More freedom the way Americans measure it, which is ways to spend money.

Somewhere along the way, we got to be a nation that consumes instead of creates, that spends instead of saves. Ben Franklin wrote, "Rather go to Bed Supperless than rise in Debt," but now our mottos are "Born to shop" and "I shop, therefore I am." Now our money is plastic and our debt is real.

This didn't happen overnight. The last 150 years saw change after change that democratized consumption. We got sewing machines and readymade clothes, so even the less-well-off could dress well. We got department stores with fixed prices displaying the finest wares to everyone, instead of reserving them exclusively for the wealthy. We got inexpensive plate glass for window shopping, so the poor could see what they were missing out on.