»
Discussion
»
The Alley
»
Be-earlied Christmess
| The Alley |
|
Be-earlied Christmess |
|
|
Essorant Member Elite
since 2002-08-10
Posts 4769Regina, Saskatchewan; Canada |
Is it just I or do the sound and hues of Christmas begin earlier and earlier every year? Why does this nonsense need to begin so early? |
||
| © Copyright 2008 Essorant - All Rights Reserved | |||
|
Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
I would rather it didn't either, Ess; believe me, it does distract from the other days prior to this precious season. |
||
|
oceanvu2 Senior Member
since 2007-02-24
Posts 1066Santa Monica, California, USA |
Hi Ess -- You seem to be quite right, the Christmas "season" begins earlier and earlier each year. It's sad, but the season has everything to do with merchandising and nothing to do with the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Without getting into any religious controversy at all, it stinks. Best, Jimbeaux  |
||
|
Denise
Moderator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-08-22
Posts 22648 |
I don't know, I usually feel that it starts too soon also, but for some reason I am enjoying it this year. I saw the pretty red and gold ornaments in the trees downtown the other day on a break at work and it made me smile. And I don't have much money, but I am looking forward to getting some small things for my girls and grandkids. There are some awesome discount stores downtown that I plan to check out. I got some great gifts there last year! Merry Christmas! |
||
|
Essorant Member Elite
since 2002-08-10
Posts 4769Regina, Saskatchewan; Canada |
We get more than enough "Christ"mas in December. I don't think it should take over November too. |
||
|
Denise
Moderator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-08-22
Posts 22648 |
It would be nice if the spirit of Christmas took over the entire year, though, wouldn't it?! |
||
moonbeam
since 2005-12-24
Posts 2356 |
quote: Yes, if you'd like a whole year of greedy, self satisfied gluttony and waste for those who "have", and a miserable, excluded and lonely year for those who "have-not". |
||
|
Grinch Member Elite
since 2005-12-31
Posts 2929Whoville |
Wanna swap names Moon? |
||
|
Essorant Member Elite
since 2002-08-10
Posts 4769Regina, Saskatchewan; Canada |
It is good to be generous and respectful at most times, but the spirit of those things is rather belittled at Christmas time by the kind of materialism and excessiveness that comes about. |
||
|
moonbeam
since 2005-12-24
Posts 2356 |
 Grinch Yes, Ess, Christmas has become too important to the very survival of too many commercial interests. It's little more than a competition the world over to part people from as much of their money as possible in an orgy of circular and meaningless present "giving", travel and eating. The sooner it implodes the better. But it might not. And btw most of the lights are garish and tacky Denise. Oh, plus they consume vast quantities of power, thus adding to our environmental problems. Oh, and the cruelty to turkeys is truly barbaric too. Looking back future civilisations will view the Western Civilisation's Christmas orgies in the same way as we view the horrible excesses of the Roman Empire during its declining years. The last fatal writhings of a corrupt materialistic power. We are all doomed! |
||
|
JenniferMaxwell
since 2006-09-14
Posts 2423 |
I’m with Denise on this one, wish the season that is the true spirit of Christmas - hope, love, compassion and charity, lasted all year long. I think Christmas is what you make of it. I don’t much care for the garish commercial decorations you often see on private homes, or in the malls, so I avoid them, but the park near where I live is beautiful with simple white lights on bare branches of oak, maple and beech trees. Sometimes I just sit there at night with my cup of hot coffee, watch the lights and imagine what the world would be like if only... and for a few minutes it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HoLYlhL_KM |
||
|
Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
There are demons ice-skating in Hell. Jennifer and I actually agree on something. You have made a very important point in a beautiful way and touched on the true meaning and beauty of the season. Moonbeam, you need Dr. Phil....badly!  |
||
|
threadbear Senior Member
since 2008-07-10
Posts 817Indy |
The serious answer? Because retail sales for Christmas make up over 30% of the volume of most retail businesses. $435 billion in retail sales in the US. Businessess thrive or fail based on the Christmas season, especially if the item is a 'whim' item (one that is a 'want' not a 'need.) An average 2 person household in the US will spend $1500 on Christmas. Because we OVERSPEND so much for everyone, it takes much longer to save up to spend and find the bargains, which extends the 'buying season' for the consumer. It also gives big businesses time to reassess what is selling and produce more of a product late. In the old days, X amount of product was produced for Christmas and that was it. Huge shortages of certain toys were the result. Now, the only shortage of an item is a high-priced technical item that takes a while to produce. The lengthening of the season has had a tremendous positive effect on capitalism in the US, but a tremendous negative one, since it effectively kills off any true Thanksgiving celebrations. This year the retail folks are already saying that MOST of the buyers are using cash instead of credit cards. Heard a report on the news today that credit card rates are going up for everyone to compensate for the losses. There are current C.card rates as high as 36%! Good golly: how can this NOT be called illegal loan sharking? |
||
|
moonbeam
since 2005-12-24
Posts 2356 |
There are demons ice-skating in Hell. Threadbear and I actually agree on something. You have made a very important point in an unemotional way and pin-pointed the true reason for the season.Save the planet: kill the lights and shut off Rudolph's nose. |
||
|
JenniferMaxwell
since 2006-09-14
Posts 2423 |
Swing around on my park bench and what do I see instead of 30 days of 5 hours a night beautiful Christmas lights on a dozen trees surrounding the pond? The 24/7/365 lit neon signs on the bank, bar and grill, shopping center, strip mall, recruiting office, pizza parlor, burger joint, laundromat, pet store, chiropractor’s office, beauty shop, second hand and hardware stores, optician’s shop, Mom and Pop grocery, UPS store, insurance office, and cell phone store. Want to save the planet? Shut off those lights and leave Rudolph’s nose alone! |
||
|
moonbeam
since 2005-12-24
Posts 2356 |
Oh nooooo, you can't switch off the lights of commerce and capitalism. Those lights earn their keep attracting the gullible punters to buy their pills and panaceas. Christmas lights, on the other hand, are but frivolous baubles, uneconomic and unnecessary. |
||
|
Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
I wouldn't like to live in your world, moonbeam. |
||
|
rwood Member Elite
since 2000-02-29
Posts 3793Tennessee |
I feel badly for anyone who works in retail around the holidays. Been there. Done that. So I do each of those hardworking people a favor each holiday-consumer-hell-event. I stay home. Most retailers stay open longer hours through the holidays, and 6pm on Christmas Eve. I've seen people ramble around the store at 6:30pm, while being asked since 6pm to please present any articles to cashiers so they may close and go home to be with families, and some consumers still had to be asked to leave so the doors could be locked. There is nothing in the stores that I can't get at an earlier date, and I don't mind paying a percentage more to avoid crazy crowds and lines, especially if it might possibly help the clerks get home at a decent hour to be with their families on Christmas Eve. Black Friday, too. Workers have to go in around 3am or earlier. Which puts a damper on their Thanksgiving holiday plans with family the Thursday before. it's a job and somebody has to do it, but I thought holidays were about loved ones and personal time. |
||
|
moonbeam
since 2005-12-24
Posts 2356 |
quote: Fortunately for you Balladeer you won't have to live in the world that your generation (and mine?) has rendered almost inevitable. Unless of course every major power elects an Obama clone within the next few years. |
||
|
Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
That's not the world I'm referring to, as you well know. Have fun there  |
||
|
moonbeam
since 2005-12-24
Posts 2356 |
Well I guessed that when you said "your world" Balladeer you were presuming to make an extrapolation from the comments I've made here (and maybe elsewhere) about the mental world I inhabit. I chose to ignore what seemed to me a pretty pointless, and pointed and likely inaccurate personal assessment, and instead attempted to guide the discussion back onto the more serious question of the way in which our generation continues to exploit the planet for its selfish ends; the relevance to Christmas being the supreme irony that we choose to dress up a time of year that epitomises that exploitation by pretending it's a festival dedicated to Christ. But if you want to focus on, or even fantasise about, my mental state - go to it, and good luck to you! Heh. |
||
|
Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
a pretty pointless, and pointed and likely inaccurate personal assessment Sorry, moonbeam, I was making no personal assessment at all and your mental state is not something I would want to waste time focusing on. I made a simple observation of my own preferences. Instead of regarding the Christmas season as a "supreme irony" that "epitomises that exploitation by pretending it's a festival dedicated to Christ. " or Christmas lights being" frivolous baubles, uneconomic and unnecessary.", I prefer to sit on Jennifer's park bench and get lost in the beauty of the Christmas lights bouncing off children's faces. I prefer to feel a nice glow while watching "It's a Wonderful Life" for the umpteenth time. For that matter, I also like to see kids on Easter egg hunts, improbably laid by a large bunny. I also like to see small children put their fallen out tooth under their pillow for the tooth fairy. I like to see goblins and Darth Vader wannabes knocking on doors for treats and I love the thousands of fireworks that decimate the ozone layer on July 4th. In other words, I believe that a well-rounded world needs to contain both fantasy and reality, and that both are important in their own way. I'm not knocking the way you think or feel. You are entitled to any world you want to inhabit. I simply stated that I'm glad I don't live there. You may be glad you don't live in mine and that's ok, too. On Christmas, I will be having a peaceful feeling that will not necessarily have anything to do with religion and I will admire the beauty of Christmas lights, without giving the smallest thought to how much energy they are using and I'll smile at the sight of kids opening gifts from a ficticious character.That's good enough for me. As grandma used to say, "Reality is for people who can't face fantasy". |
||
|
Essorant Member Elite
since 2002-08-10
Posts 4769Regina, Saskatchewan; Canada |
I will enjoy it too, eventually. I always do. But not while Christmas is still a month away! Please, if you already have your tree set up, take it down, and go see a doctor at once! |
||
Mysteria
since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328British Columbia, Canada |
Balladeer - you had a darn smart grandma. Move over and make room for me on that bench will you? |
||
|
moonbeam
since 2005-12-24
Posts 2356 |
Ok, sorry if I was being oversensitive, and of course I wouldn't want to dowse poor Rudolph's nose. I even sweep the chimneys on Christmas Eve morning. The irony is that I do inhabit a Christmas of It's A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, homemade mince pies, hand made presents that mean something, lights and candles that actually shine in the dark, hymns and carols against the stillness and peace. The world as I see it today doesn't. Instead we have parking lots heaving with irritable shoppers and fraught mothers grasping for the last and latest craze for little Nigel before the Jones's next door get it. I see mountains of cheap food bought and then thrown out, I see garish lights blazing and drowning the night sky (how can you appreciate beauty without context?), I see tacky chat shows and "comedians" with an endless stream of apparently funny smut on TV, I see presents exchanged, a token kiss and then into the trash, mince pies that are plastic, music that is a cacophony of heavy metal jingle bells, office parties in pubs at $200 a head with a free pass to infidelity ... this is Christmas? I think the point here Balladeer is that we often mould the evidence of our eyes to fit the desires of our minds. Of course it's possible to pick out a park bench in a beautiful park and sit on it away from reality and watch the fairy lights illuminate the face of a passing child, and if more people did it, perhaps we wouldn't be where we are. But, then it's also quite possible, to use the Star Wars analogy, to smile in wonder at the beauty of the twinkling lights from the power cells on the approaching Death Star. |
||
|
|
⇧ top of page ⇧ |
|
| All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format. | ||
