'Twas the Months Before Christmas...
Christmas has always been a special time for me, not coincidentally because both my brother and I have birthdays around that period. So Christmas has always been extra spsecial, and my fondest childhood memories are of the Christmas holidays. My mom says I was her Christmas gift.
I love everything about Christmas – the decorations, the carols, the services, the gift-giving, the obligatory Christmas specials and the movies, from The Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life to the Home Alone movies!
I’m a fairly wholesome guy and there is a sort of… wholesome quality to Christmas. Since I’m conservative and family-oriented, to me it’s almost a relic of a bygone era, when there was actually such a thing as family, when people didn’t let work consume their lives, when we weren’t bombarded with corruption with decadence and moral decay all day everyday.
What I like about Christmas is the secularization of the holiday, so much so that today that much of religious aspect has been divorced from it. It has come to the point where any one of any creed can celebrate Christmas without feeling like an infidel. The great thing about Christmas, IMO, is that it’s a shared experience – it’s something that society goes through together; pretty much everyone celebrate Christmas in some capacity.
But there’s a growing trend that’s bothering me. Premature Christmas decorations. Department stores are the most guilty parties. The local Macy’s is already decked out in green and red, replete with wreaths, bells, cotton snow, stockings, Santas, elves... the whole shebang. Saks Fifth Avenue had their Christmas decorations up in mid-October – before even Hallowe’een!
It’s hard to get into the Christmas spirit when the temperature is in the 60s outside and you have yet to receive your first snowfall. All the more so when your calendar says it’s still October. For me, the holiday season doesn’t really get going until December. The premature decorations are clearly symptomatic of the consumerism and crass materialism that has beholden what should be a very sweet holiday for the family. It shouldn't just be about gifts.
Were I the proprietor of a store, I wouldn’t put up Christmas decorations until December 1 at the very earliest. Christmas should be celebrated in December, and really no sooner. Christmas is a very special time, and extending its period of celebration for monetary gain cheapens its value.
I love everything about Christmas – the decorations, the carols, the services, the gift-giving, the obligatory Christmas specials and the movies, from The Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life to the Home Alone movies!
I’m a fairly wholesome guy and there is a sort of… wholesome quality to Christmas. Since I’m conservative and family-oriented, to me it’s almost a relic of a bygone era, when there was actually such a thing as family, when people didn’t let work consume their lives, when we weren’t bombarded with corruption with decadence and moral decay all day everyday.
What I like about Christmas is the secularization of the holiday, so much so that today that much of religious aspect has been divorced from it. It has come to the point where any one of any creed can celebrate Christmas without feeling like an infidel. The great thing about Christmas, IMO, is that it’s a shared experience – it’s something that society goes through together; pretty much everyone celebrate Christmas in some capacity.
But there’s a growing trend that’s bothering me. Premature Christmas decorations. Department stores are the most guilty parties. The local Macy’s is already decked out in green and red, replete with wreaths, bells, cotton snow, stockings, Santas, elves... the whole shebang. Saks Fifth Avenue had their Christmas decorations up in mid-October – before even Hallowe’een!
It’s hard to get into the Christmas spirit when the temperature is in the 60s outside and you have yet to receive your first snowfall. All the more so when your calendar says it’s still October. For me, the holiday season doesn’t really get going until December. The premature decorations are clearly symptomatic of the consumerism and crass materialism that has beholden what should be a very sweet holiday for the family. It shouldn't just be about gifts.
Were I the proprietor of a store, I wouldn’t put up Christmas decorations until December 1 at the very earliest. Christmas should be celebrated in December, and really no sooner. Christmas is a very special time, and extending its period of celebration for monetary gain cheapens its value.
posted by Sen | 11/16/2006 06:52:00 PM
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