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.
