We are six days into the new year, with schools reopening and all industries back on their tracks again after the festive break.

Before long, we will usher in the Spring Festival.

With less than a month to go, the market has been flooded with a diverse range of festive goodies that serve as reminders to consumers that it's now time to prepare for the festivities.

However, what we were fed with last Christmas were not good tidings or encouraging news, but the deepening and propagation of the global financial crisis and that the fallout will be extended to our economy this year.

But as the authorities have put some preparatory measures in place, the good news is that Malaysia is not anticipated to sink into real bad recession anytime this year.

Having said that, many factories across the Causeway reportedly closed down or imposed compulsory no-pay leaves for their staff, affecting many Malaysians, during the Christmas and New Year season.

More alarmingly, some half a million Malaysian workers in the Lion City may be laid off this year, while foreign investors in Sarawak are also preparing to retrench redundant workers.

All these have painted a very gloomy and worrisome picture of the economy this year.

A sluggish economy will invariably erode public consumption power, with the festive merchandise market an apparent victim. Past records show that hamper orders were as high as 50% a month before the Chinese New Year. However it appears that the market has yet to pick up the heat this year, with hamper orders plunging by almost 40%.

Businesses, nevertheless, remain upbeat that the hamper market could pick up momentum a week before CNY, as exchanging gifts has become an indispensable part of the festive season among Chinese Malaysians.

Most families may not want to rush through their festive shopping for the time being. Besides a bleak economic outlook, coupled with the school reopening which sets parents' budgets aside for their children's stationery needs, it is not unusual to see them going into any serious festive shopping only during the closing week before CNY.

On the upside, this is always the case year after year, and consumer sentiment will most likely be given a boost shortly before CNY.

But spending generously on festivities, snatching all kinds of festive goodies without any financial planning, or being engrossed in nothing but gastronomic enjoyment or gambling throughout the festive season, strictly speaking, are not the right ways of celebrating a truly good quality new year.

While new year still needs to be celebrated even though the economic prospect is bleak, we can always adjust ourselves and adopt a different approach of celebration to ensure that the festive season is spent in a more meaningful and rewarding manner.

In the past, we used to suffer from the so-called "holiday syndrome" after CNY. This year, we may be greeted with the additional fears for retrenchment after the holiday season.

In view of this, it is wise for us to get down to map out what kind of good quality new year we really want.

According to psychologists' categorisation, other than bad, and painful stresses, we also have good, and joyful stresses.

It is inevitable that we have to fork out considerable sums of money to replenish our wardrobes or get some festive goodies, or distribute ang pows, while the still single may have to come under parental pressure to get married. But nothing comes more depressing than the fears of losing our livelihoods after all the joyous celebrations.

However, there are many things which we should be able to take control or adjust ourselves to. The option lies very much with us ourselves.

Lay out a proper plan and not to allow the festivity to become a source of our sorrows tomorrow.

Perhaps we can't do away with a more sumptuous reunion dinner, other meals could be less flamboyant, with organic menus a good option.

Playing cards and mahjong should all be kept in the shelf this year; so should alcohol. Enjoy a refreshing picnic, or hearty talk with friends or family over coffee. Reading some books could be an excellent pastime, not at all a taboo.

Let us revert to nature this festive season, and conduct a serious soul searching for what we really want deep inside. If we can alter the way we celebrate, we will discover that simplistic and restrained lifestyle could sometimes be more rewarding and elating than extravagance and uncurbed consumption.

Whether the ecomomy is good or bad, once we have suppressed our material lusts, we should find ourselves more peaceful and enriched spiritually.

As if that is not enough, along the way we will also discover that we have accumulated invaluable things that money can't buy, such as relationship, friendship, and even wisdom. (By CHONG LIP TECK/Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily)