| | Early Christmas DecorationsWhen I saw the stores putting Christmas decorations out with Halloween decorations I thought, "Oh no! It's only the first week of October. This is the earliest I've ever seen this. It gets worse and worse each year. It's ridiculous." Actually, I think the stores are trying to force an early Christmas spirit on us to lengthen the season. That will certainly backfire. The backlash will kill the shopping altogether, because Christmas is a special time of year, not an long drawn out thing. And to have The Christmas Spirit, it must be a short season. Drawing the season out as the stores seem to be doing can only kill the spirit of the season and reduce sales. Finally the season will no longer exist except in the hearts and homes of a few Christian believers. And that might not be a bad idea.
But I digress. What struck me first was the skimpy little artificial Christmas trees that no one would bother to buy. Then there was the paper decorated chimney that was supposed to be Santa's entrance to the homes of all those kids that were naughty and nice. The next day a sleigh and some reindeer were added, along with some blue Christmas ornaments. This is nuts, I thought. It's just a grocery store. Why are they doing this if not to annoy me.
Then I thought, why not forget about it altogether and return to the true meaning of Christmas without all the commercialization. I can do that. I can ignore all this and get a simple tree when the time comes. A few dozen homemade cookies and cakes will suffice as gifts for special friends. Some hand made Christmas greeting cards can be prepared to add a personal touch. And no expensive gifts for anyone. That's the ticket.
So I made myself a promise that this will be the year of my return to a more traditional Christmas. Not only will I save some money, but I will be less stressed, because I won't be out there in the mad rush to spend spend spend until I drop under the weight of too much credit card debt. And the "get even" part comes when I email a thank you to all those stores I would have spent money in. I'll tell them that they have saved me a fortune. I'll end with something like, "Sorry for the revenue you lost by burdening me too soon with the come-ons, but that's the chance you take. And now that I've learned that I don't need you, don't look for me to spend big next year either."
"Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almight I'm free at last." |
| | Posted 11/8/2007 3:32 AM - 16 comments
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