Have your children sent you a video with their Christmas present demands?

My initial thought was that this was deplorable, but now I'm not so sure. It does seem to me to be too nakedly commercial - of children getting the "want, want, want" habit too early.

I still like to think that presents are, well, presents. They are gifts given unbidden. They are not obligatory. I come from a generation that thought that a present had to be a surprise. To know what you're getting was somehow cheating: the surprise was the thing.

But on the question of videos from children, I do know a parent who finds it useful - though I suspect she wouldn't admit that to her children.

And is it so different from a letter to Santa?

After all, Australia Post encourages children to write them: "You can write your letter to Santa any way you want!"

"But if you're scratching your head and need a little magic spark, here are some tips to get you started," the AusPost advice continues.

Rather than post it to Santa in his grotto in Lapland, children can take it to a post office - and get a reply.

Of this, I approve: children learn about interaction and requesting politely and how to use a post office.

I suppose I'm just being old-fashioned. After all, if children learn how to use the Canva video editing platform, that too is beneficial. And parents can learn from Canva how to send letters back. Even Christmas can be modernised. It may be that the 13-year-old is more clued up about the technology than the parent.

And yet, the nice thing about Christmas is its lack of modernity. It is a tradition. It is about giving simple pleasure as much as about giving material goods. It is a time when materialism should be far away (at least until the ghastly Boxing Day sales).

I have little doubt that the idea of video wish lists for Christmas presents came from America. So, I suspect, did the idea of tying red bows around trees.

What about the lights on the outside of houses? Inflatable dinosaurs in gardens?

Call me old-fashioned but I liked the simpler, less materialistic Christmases which probably only exist in my false imagination.

By the way, one thing seems definitely wrong at Christmas, and that is heat and sunshine. You have to be cold at Christmas.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Send your thoughts on video wish lists or red bows on trees. Are Christmases getting too commercial? Write to echidna@theechidna.com.au .

SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

- Science research will receive more than $200 million in funding. Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced the $233 million commitment for the CSIRO after the organisation previously announced hundreds of jobs would be axed due to rising costs.

- A barber shop employee indicated he would deny charges he sexually assaulted a teenage girl alongside three friends during an alleged hours-long gang ordeal. Adam Abdul-Hamid is one of four youths accused of being involved in the six-hour-long sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl in south-west Sydney on December 15, 2024.

- The first funerals for victims of the Bondi terror attack were held. Rabbi Eli Schlanger and Rabbi Yaakov Levitan were buried after services on Wednesday. Police in India confirmed to Reuters the dead shooter was originally from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, but had limited contact with his family.

THEY SAID IT: "One can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books." Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

YOU SAID IT: I stepped into a minefield when I pointed the finger at groups who might be partly responsible for the rise of anti-Semitism, but I was heartened to see a slew of thoughtful responses. So thank you.

I asked people to pause before sounding off. Lorraine said: "If only two people had paused and thought before their actions on Saturday."

Brenda said: "What a well-written, considered piece on a highly charged, difficult issue. There is much that could be said, but just a few points. Holocaust denial/ignorance is rife, but then so is ignorance of Indigenous disadvantage. The Voice was roundly defeated because people apparently had never heard of massacres, deaths in custody, chronic ill health and reduced life expectancy."

And on the conflation of Jewishness with the actions of the Israeli government, Maggie wrote: "The NSW government didn't help when it projected the Israeli flag onto the Opera House after the October 7 attacks. It just increased the confusion in some people's minds between Jewish people in Australia and worldwide, and the current Israeli government, and possibly inflamed anti-Israeli sentiment."

Anita wrote: "The conflation of the Israeli State and Jewish identity is the result of deliberate proclamation by the Israeli government who sought to label anyone against their actions as anti-Semitic. You can't have it both ways."

Sue wrote: "I get why people are angry, but the Jewish community in Bondi had nothing to do with the decision-making they are angry about."

And Daniel said that no one should have the right to own a gun, let alone six. "We all have moments where we can crack and become uncontrollably angry. Having a gun within easy reach only increases the risk of regrettable acts. I thought our gun laws were made much stronger after the Port Arthur massacre. They clearly are nowhere near strong enough."

Peter defended concentrating on Israel's actions in Gaza: "The difference between Gaza and Ukraine is that almost every Western leader has condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while Western governments (including our own) have been remarkably quiet on Gaza, where Israel's genocidal assault has been enabled by our own greatest ally.

"Sudan is essentially a messy civil war: which side do you protest about? And both Sudan and Myanmar suffer from a dearth of media attention: in our Eurocentric world most people know all about Ukraine and Gaza, but few understand the issues in more 'peripheral' places. Gaza is also unique among these conflicts in the endless bombardment of a completely trapped population, with no chance to escape. I have marched for Palestine, and I resent the imputation that I did so out of anti-Semitism."