I have noticed over the years that as soon as Halloween is over you start to hear advertisements for Christmas and radio stations start to play Christmas songs. It has always puzzled me because you haven't even hit Thanksgiving (which is practically a full month away) and there is already pushes for people to spend money on the Christmas season, which is still two months away. Commercialism has really taken the holiday season and condensed it down. For me I wish that they would spearate the two seasons again because they both have their unique aspects, and of course they are both times to sit back and relax for a bit. I am a huge fan of the holiday season, and like most people, it is my favorite time of year. It isn't because of the gifts that I receive or anything like that. No, during this time of year I see a general shift in the personality of people going towards the good side. People are more kind and giving this time of year. I don't know exactly what it is, but it always causes me to smile inside when I see acts of charity being done. I wish that people would be like that the whole year round, but that's not the way it is.
The Christmas season has always been an anticipated thing in my family, but we have usually abstained from doing anything Christmas-like until after Thanksgiving. We enjoyed both holidays to their fullest. On Thanksgiving we would go over to our grandparents house and have Thanksgiving dinner. That was always fun to have the family together. I never really had opportunity to see my extended family much, and this was a time that I could. The day after Thanksgiving is when the Christmas season started in my family. That is when my dad would break out the christmas tree that we had (it was fake because my mom was allergic to the real thing, and it was more economical) and my brothers and I would participate in decorating the tree. After the Christmas decorations were set up around the house is when you would start to hear Christmas music playing throughout the house. Within a few weeks of this my dad would put up the Christmas lights around the house.
Growing up this way I felt a greater appreciation for the holiday season. It is a great time of year, and I think that commercialism has rushed this feeling for most people. They don't get to enjoy the full aspects of Thanksgiving, and they are rushed into thinking about what they are going to get their friends and family for Christmas before everything is sold out. To me, that is not what the holiday season is about. Of course I didn't always feel this way. I was a little kid once, and I couldn't wait for Christmas, but now being older, I see the bigger picture. I still anticipate the holiday season, but I have a greater patience now for it. If we as a nation would just sit back and let it come then I think that it would help us all to appreciate better what this time of year really means.
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1 comment:
Well said. But haven't I heard this story before?
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