Thursday, December 03, 2009

Holly-Daze

It all really starts in October or maybe August when the first gleams of Holloween goods show in the stores. Candy, costumes, orange and black anything, arched back cat cutouts et al. A whole month and half ahead of the unofficial holiday itself. Yes, no day off for hard working Americans to celebrate the eve of The Day Of The Dead. Lots of beer and booze is consumed though and tons of sweets are distributed to tykes to the age of 21 apparently. All is well though and it is a good break from the chill of the fall after all. As a holiday it brings office parties, haunted houses and many unofficial days off as well. I give it a 7 out of 10 for being a "good" holiday.
Then comes Thanksgiving, Turkey Day, Harvest Festival etc. Again the stores bring down the black cat decorations and garish costumes and haul up turkey symbology, dried ears of multicolored corn, scenes of feasts and more orange and red leaf motiff
visuals. Gads. With a whole month to go this magical appearance overcomes the blatant commercialism of Halloween by a factor of at least 2. Groceries get involved by stocking cranberries, piles of yams and sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts, and, of course turkeys by the gaggle. All in preparation for the very real (days off!) Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of November. The level of commercialism is heightened by the growing displays of Christmas goodies yet!
As a Holiday, Thanksgiving is a 9 simply because of the family and food centric-ness of the day and the days (and leftovers) that follow.
Christmas is coming and boy can you ever figure THAT out! Christmas tree lots are blooming, artificial trees of plastic and aluminum and even paper. Piles of popular toys are found near the doorways of every kind of store. Red and Green rules the season. I don't subscribe to the commercialism at all...nor does my darling wife Kelly. We try to ignore it as best we can and give verbal butressing to ur friends and neighbors. I handed out fresh baked bread to neighbors last year and will follow suit this year as well. I like the UNTIED WAY to distribute meager cash amounts to those in need...don't give it to a middle man to hand out in dribs and drabs, go to an atm near you and withdraw 20, 40, 60 dollars or more. Find a down and out looking street person and hand him/her/them a bill and move on to the next. Don't go home with anything left. Now...don't you feel better? No reciepts to keep track of for the tax man, it's quick and efficient as well. Another great thing is go to a lower cost grocery store and pay for the persons purchases in front of you. Same thing, it feels great! Do it for a break from the damnable commercial side of the holiday. Do this for a perfect 10 holiday experience.
Bye for now!
And HAPPY HOLIDAYS!