Merry Christmas – shopping?

MIAMI — On the checkout counter of one of Miami’s most popular stores, offering big Christmas discounts, the young woman places, one by one, the dozens of products she carries in her cart. She has spent hours selecting them, evaluating the relation between price and quality while ticking off with a pen the items on a list she carries.

Before paying, she goes over every item in the pile, which includes blouses, dresses, pants, household utensils, underwear, toys and — of course — the inevitable shiny gift bags and the rolls of wrapping paper.

Still unsure of her selection, she figures out the cost while standing before an impatient cashier who, through the corner of her eye, looks at the unending line of customers waiting behind her.

“The thing is, two days from now I’m leaving for Cuba,” the client says, knowing that that statement represents for the clerk a common history.

Finally, she leaves behind part of what she hoped to include in her baggage. She leaves a bit dissatisfied and insecure. While she runs a credit card through the machine that demands her signature, she sighs, resignedly, and says that she will work extra hours in January to reduce the charges spent for Christmas.

“I have many commitments,” she tells the clerk, who bids her goodbye as if she were walking in the same shoes.

It’s like a fever. Before Dec. 24, people go from one store to the other, like robots. At least, that’s what I perceive in my first year’s end in Florida, where — in addition to a blistering winter’s sun and holiday seekers filling the beaches — a shopping frenzy takes place that, though not unexpected, is amazing.

Like the protagonist of this anecdote, many others take advantage of the discounts and extended hours of the main retail stores to buy presents for their relatives or workplace friends. Many of them spend more than they can afford because it is a question of showing gratitude, appreciation.

At the same time, the purchase is a mark of status, an indication of power that follows the social pressure of “doing the right thing,” a pressure from which few can escape.

Those who travel to Cuba to bid farewell with their folks to a year of hard work want to arrive with bulging suitcases. The eager faces of their loved ones make the effort worthwhile. To most people, pleasing their relatives requires a notable effort, because life in the northern land of abundance does not necessarily mean affluence.

Amid the festive celebrations, that type of detail is often overlooked or hidden almost modestly, so as not to give a discordant indication of failure.

Buying is an avidity of Christmas. Middle-class people are eager to enjoy every discount and buy the best and latest technological devices, I am told by longtime residents of the Sun Capital.

But this is not just a habit in the multicultured Florida. Christmas sales are also a trend in the rest of the United States and, in general, in the world.

Christmas is no longer just a time for vacations, family gatherings, meetings of friends, jollity, decorative lights on buildings, food everywhere, fluorescent decorations in bars and restaurants, ridiculous hats made of red velvet.

Nor is it an exclusive patrimony of the Christian community, which on Dec. 24 celebrates the eve of the birth of Jesus, because — along with the splendor and scenes of joy — the arrival of December unleashes a sort of schizophrenia of consumption. Many, harried by the search for the right present, momentarily forget the pleasure of sharing the holiday among relatives. Finding a wrapping paper that matches the decorations on the tree can be a cause for celebration.

Christmas sales represent between 25 and 40 percent of the revenues of U.S. businessmen. They are also an important source of employment for those who are not on the apex of the wage pyramid. They can find seasonal jobs that bring extra money to their pockets, though most of them are minimum-wage night-time jobs that draw many Latin immigrants who are beginning a new life in South Florida.

In 2015, Christmas sales will be a bit smaller than in the previous year, with an increase of only 3.7 percent, according to the National Federation of Retailers. The reasons are economic insecurity and rumors of a reduction in revenue that discourage U.S. consumers. Still, Christmas sales are expected to rise to more than $630 million before year’s end.

Where I come from, Havana, the word “Christmas” was a myth during my childhood. If ever spoken, it was uttered very softly, because it was a link to a past that had been left behind as superficial. Nobody erected Christmas trees at home or bought presents. Buying more than the basic needs was a sacrilege for almost everyone.

With the arrival of the 1990s, Cuba began to import global customs. The pine trees, hats and door wreaths made their debut; Christmas signs appeared in the half-empty windows of stores.

Christmas became an official holiday in 1998, when Pope John Paul II visited the island. To celebrate each of its rites — including the toys under the cotton-bedecked trees — ceased to be a sacrilege.

Wherever it is celebrated, the Day of Nativity brings beautiful traditions because people call each other on the phone, visit one another and generously entertain one another. Every year we leave so many joys and pains behind that we need to gather all that common energy to face the next one.

That is why I find it unpleasant to reduce Christmas to a perfect table setting, to an expensive gift, to decorations with specific colors, to new garments. Particularly when the effort leads some to pretend to be what they are not, and when they end up embarrassed for exposing their real economic capabilities.

In my opinion, outward perfection should not overpower the spiritual content of this joyful season. When one is far from his loved ones, one realizes that, of all the possible gifts, a love-filled hug is the very best present.

And that can’t be found on the reduced-price bin. It is priceless.