Tales of a Trainee American

Okay, I give up, what is the purpose of this yearly ritual? We have adverts all around us telling how Christmas is supposed to be fun and great and everything but so far this year my experience has been far from, in fact all I've seen is a mall full of shops of three basic types: clothes/shoe shops, jewelery shops, Body Shop & clones. Take them away and there's nothing left. It's depressing.