Okay Christmas

I'm concerned for Christmas this year. This time of amity and peace on Earth and goodwill seems to have been brushed aside in favor of ringing cash registers instead of sleigh bells. I like giving and getting presents but the madness has seemed to reach ever higher peaks. The appearance of Christmas music and decorations before the Thanksgiving turkey leftovers are even finished has me miffed.

I understand the wanting to get a jump on holiday shopping, but does it have to be so commercialized? I can barely watch TV due to the intensity of Christmas advertising smearing its way across the screen. I like Christmas things, like lights and cozy fireplace mantles strung with jaunty stockings and a little garland. I like a good Nativity scene and maybe a little caroling, but not until December at least. And then, only for two weeks before the actual event.

I'm no fool and I am aware of the storied history of the Commercialization of Christmas. Heck, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is not a beloved children's classic but a marketing ploy by Montgomery Ward from 1939. (Although it may be beloved) So there's been no shortage of using Christmas to sell things. It's just this current marketing blitz that is getting to me. It seems it's impossible to go less than two minutes without seeing something Christmas related.

Work has not made it any easier as they have now switched from the smooth jazz overhead to 24 hours of Christmas music. It's enough to make a man want to take a hostage. I had a job many years ago where some of the employees and I started a revolution to escape the constant barrage of Christmas music. We were swiftly defeated and told to leave the radio alone. It was a sad day. The constant music makes enjoying the holiday very difficult. Even though today appears to be the first full day of Christmas music, I'm already sick of Cindy Lauper explaining to me why it feels like Christmas, even though I seriously do not feel like it's Christmas at all. A rhythmic guitar solo hardly ever makes me feel like Christmas.

I've also been very jaded by the numerous Christmas miracle movies I've seen throughout my life. The last minute perfect gift, the realization that greatest gift of all is family or that Santa is in fact, real and will help me get that book published because of my unfailing belief that all men are indeed capable of good deeds.  It often makes me wonder when my Christmas miracle will arrive. I think at this point, my Christmas miracle would be meeting a girl that wants to hang around with me at least through the New Years Eve kiss and maybe longer.

So everybody take it easy regarding Christmas and remember that ultimately, it is about loving each other, even when there's no room at the Inn and we have to sleep in the barn just so we can be present for the Roman census.