Holiday shopping season is upon us, and estimates predict that it's going to be a big one this year. But as consumers clamber over each other for discounts on trendy items and seasonal decorations, others are repulsed by the bald-faced consumerist lust.

The below meme sums up that sentiment pretty well:

Consumerism around the holidays tends to split popular response: people either love it or hate it. Either way, we know by now that "Field of Dreams" maxim holds a tight grip on American consumers; give them a deal, and they will buy.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), average spending per person is expected to reach $805, amounting to about $630.5 billion overall this November and December. That's up almost four percent from last year's average, and markedly higher from the 10-year average growth of 2.5.

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The growth can probably be traced to a growing economy, though the holiday shopping industry is usually a robust one, sending sales surging for both brick-and-mortar and online retail operations. Online sales are expected to see an increase of between six and eight percent this year. The NRF estimates that retailers will also hire between 700,000 and 750,000 extra workers to handle booming sales.

Wikimedia Commons/Petr Kratochvil - wikimedia.org

It can also seem like holiday items show up on store shelves earlier and earlier each year. It's what some retail researchers call the "Christmas creep." The idea basically breaks down to stores competing with one another in cornering the consumer itch to buy early. And it's that race that universally seems to trigger the backlash against holiday consumerism; to what end will we be obsessed with literally buying into Halloween or Thanksgiving or Christmas, the logic goes.

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Regardless, there's a reason retailers push the envelope when peddling holiday goods: consumers respond.

"Some people will complain as they're putting it in their basket," Marlin Hutchens, market vice president at Walgreens told NPR.