Ok, then...Today, Friday the 16th of November ~ a good 5.5 weeks before Christmas...and it's starting again...the crowds, the traffic, the mess, the commercialism, the too-early decorations for every holiday/Holy Day between now and Valentine's Day, which will, I'm sure be rearing its pink and red head sometime about the beginning of January.
Today I had to take my daughter to her work ~ and one of the managers is sick, so the owner of the shop asked if my other daughter, who also works there, could stay. She had to take care of some banking and promised to be back as soon as she could, so we had to drive to the bank and try to make it back in a short amount of time, if possible...not that I minded, but the traffic was horrendous! And no one seems to know how to be courteous, cautious, or any other 'ous' that I am sure they must have been taught in driving school.
However, that done, we did make it back to the shop and I dropped her off there, promising to be back at quitting time to pick them up...and then I bravely made the drive home.
So, now safely back home, here I sit @ my laptop, typing away and gratefully sipping my cup o' joe ~ and not envying anyone who is still 'out there' fighting the rude, pushy, dangerous drivers still on the road.
I always have to wonder as I make these drives out and about, where are all these people going? What are they doing out there, and do they feel happy about it? Wouldn't they rather be at home, like I would? Do they 'go crazy' every year at this time, shopping like maniacs, out-buying everyone on their lists, swallowing the whole commercial diatribe like they have no choice?
Last Christmas, we cut back. Our children are older now, they don't need 15 gifts apiece...and they were actually the ones who told me to cut back! I had wanted to for the past few years, but our youngest was still an early teen, so I felt that he deserved as much as the older ones had gotten when they were his age, so I waited until he became 18, and old enough to be considered beyond all that...
Happily, I was, after all, convinced on Christmas morning when, as a family, we gathered around the Tree and passed around our presents, only a few for each, taping the reactions and laughing for hours, literally, spending the time as the loving family that we have grown to be...and not one said anything (that day or since) about only getting 'a couple' of gifts! Besides, they are all working now, so they are buying for each other as well...
...In my humble opinion, it was one of the best Christmas Days that I have ever experienced...
It occurs to me now, looking back at the last year ~and looking forward to this year's Holy Day ~ that good ol' Saint Nick is a canonized Saint for a reason...he knew the Reason for the Season, and he kept It in his spirit of giving and prayer...his Charity for those less fortunate than himself was unfettered by any crass commercialism like that which abounds in our day and age! He gave from his heart.
I have been observing so-called Autumn decorations going up all over the place, on homes in the neighborhoods and in the stores, and more than one shop being nearly overrun with unnecessary 'decor' for everything from Sweetest Day to the most obscure other-culture type of 'holiday' that one can imagine. There is really only one reason that I can see that one would want to decorate, and that is to make one's home more attractive for a Season that is going on 'at the time'...not two months in advance! I see no advantage in decorating for Christmas in the middle of September, but believe it or not, I have noticed it! Way too early...and just a wee bit silly, as well...
...Anyway, there is my rant for the day. I am completely thrown for a loop at the commercialism of our times ~ and wondering 'where will it end?!?'
And when will we begin to understand that the too-early decorations really only serve to make us look like sheep...and pay more attention to what is actually happening right in front of us at the time ~ like treating others (on the road, for instance) the way we want to be treated ~ and taking our lives as they come, not as they will be two months from now?!?
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