How about wealth of the overall economy? When a tornado happens, when a house burns down.. as mentioned, wealth is destroyed because resources are utilized that could've been used for other purposes - investment, new venture, etc.
You give the example of Christmas. Wealth is hardly ever created when you buy lots of stuff for Christmas - that's wealth distribution from your savings to Macys. Savings is still wealth. If nobody spent anything for Christmas, wealth would not decrease - because our money would remain in our savings accounts.
Technology is a good example of wealth creation. With the invention of the internet, we save time on many things like shopping, buying plane tickets, etc. Time that could be used on other things in our lives.
The definition of wealth that you are using is not the same as the one recognized by most economists.
As such, some of the things you are saying are absurd in that context, and it really makes it difficult to keep the conversation in scope. I can certainly tell you that if everyone stayed home this Christmas, the economy would come close to collapsing.
I don't take issue with what you're saying, but you have moved beyond this being a discussion regrading economics, I'm afraid.
You give the example of Christmas. Wealth is hardly ever created when you buy lots of stuff for Christmas - that's wealth distribution from your savings to Macys. Savings is still wealth. If nobody spent anything for Christmas, wealth would not decrease - because our money would remain in our savings accounts.
Technology is a good example of wealth creation. With the invention of the internet, we save time on many things like shopping, buying plane tickets, etc. Time that could be used on other things in our lives.