The Aardvark wishes ALL my many Reader a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.
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Now to biz. Went to Dollar General last night for a few last-minute things: brown sugar, sweet potatoes, like that. I have become inured to the Christmas-ey colors and toys that have been out since Hallowe'en, but last night, the day before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Eve, even, and they had their radio tuned to 96.9 (used to be "Beautiful 97" in the old analog days, when it didn't matter) which plays non-stop Christmas music starting the day after Thanksgiving. As Commodore Decker sez, "...But not 'nymore!". The ever-homogenizing glacial creep of holiday mashing-up continues unabated.
I am the guy that is horrified at the business of opening presents on Christmas Eve. That is only acceptable when the opener has already received Last Rites. There are Temporal Lines of Demarcation which should not be crossed. Christmas Day is Christmas Day. Do you eat your turkey dressed as a skeleton or Captain Jack Sparrow whilst handing out fun-sized candy bars? I understand the lead time deemed necessary in retail, but people sure bought well enough in the early '60s to fuel a booming economy without tinsel up at half-past August. Beck's HanaRamaKwanzMas may well be just around the corner. Our culture's inability to wait bodes for debilitating emotional problems in the future. If everything must be RIGHT NOW, then there is little to look forward to. Having your dreams fulfilled instanter is great in fiction, but even then there is a Price. The Genie and the Monkey's Paw all exact their toll.
"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven." In our individual lives, let us try to live seasonally, taking them as they come. Why rush life? Let it come to us as it will, and savor each day's, each season's arrival.
Happy Thanksgiving.
4 comments:
Just finished Thanksgiving with the folks. A "ritual" we have is the Christmas present drawing we have after.
Each draws a name of a family member out of a hat. The name you draw is the only person you have to buy a present for & no one else. That way we avoid the Christmas rush/hassle. Of course any kids are excluded from this. They always make out like bandits every year.
My TV, as you know, is only used for my vid collection, so no holliday krap from that direction. I don't listen to radio stations that carol through the season. Being a guy, I "hunt" rather than shop & thus am in & out the store with a minimum of exposure to Yuletide cheer.
Scrooge was right.
Bob Cratchit was a whiner.
Tiny Tim was a malingerer.
Ho ..... Ho ..... Hum .....
I'm fearful that I'll live long enough to see this time of the year commemorated as a "major economic event with some ancient and obscure religious overtones attached".
Now that the Christmas Season is officially underway, I can now start working on my checklist of Holiday Traditions.
1. Watching at least one version (hopefully one of the better ones) of "A Christmas Carol".
2. Hearing Eartha Kitt sing "Santa Baby".
3. Giving some money to a Salvation Army person at a store (NOTE: and the SA person must be in full uniform, standing outside the store and ringing a bell).
4. (Recent Addition) Watching Bob Dylan's video for "Must Be Santa".
And now I'm hearing reports of people shooting each other during "Black Friday" shopping.
(Wal-Mart: two shoppers enter, one shopper leaves!)
"It's the most won-der-ful time of the year!"
Bah, Humbug.
Mike, I have a soft spot in my head....er....heart for the musical "Scrooge".
"Santa Baby" by Kitt is teh hotness.
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