Johnston: Traveling with Petrarch’s music
The crass materialization of Christmas has long been a hobbyhorse of the critics of American culture. Their concern is valid, as far as it goes.
But the institution of gift-giving embodies profoundly countercultural notions that every critic of modern culture ought to praise. For the gift does not conform to the reigning paradigm of individual choice as the mechanism of human fulfillment. The recipient has no control over the content of the gift, which comes upon the recipient as in a flash, its presence revealed to his surprise and delight. This is why gifts are called “presents.”...
I read it twice, still don't get the point...