What Happened to the Holidays?

What happened to you Christmas? You used to be different. Remember when you liked to spend time with your family? Think back, to that time when your son was more important then buying your son a Nintendo Wii.

There's so much about the, "Holiday Season," now that seems so far off from the original intentions of the grouped holidays. First, let's be realistic, this isn't about holidays, it's about Christmas. I don't see a lot of malls decked out in blue and white for Hanukkah. I don't see many people talk about Kwanzaa except either in contempt of African Americans or to make a joke about the holiday. So, is it the holiday season because we care about other people's sensitivities? No way, it's so Christmas can last from Halloween to New Years.

The Christmas Creep gets more pervasive each year. It used to be weird enough that Christmas basically starts after Thanksgiving, a full month before it started. Ah, Thanksgiving, a holiday where we celebrate the exploitation and destruction of an entire group of people by eating so much that we pass out in front of the television because the Detroit Lions can't even try to make a football game interesting. If this blog had been started a few weeks earlier a whole post could go to the pilgrims, a group of people so disliked they had to go to a new continent.

But now we have Christmas starting even earlier. It's really only one day but the, "spirit," and the, "season," are now starting even before Halloween. Who starts it? Corporations. Who allows it to happen? Us. The consumers.

Take for example, Black Friday. A day of shopping so hellish it was given a name to describe it's evils (Jesus died on Good Friday, so you figure this is even worse then killing Jesus). This day and these sales do not even need to exist. Why do they have to be one day only sales? And why do they all have to be on the same day? It seems like if you had a sale just as good on the next weekend, wouldn't everybody only come to your store.

And now, Black Friday, and the spirit of Christmas have become intertwined. Black Friday is the new Christmas. It now represents was Christmas has become. What happened to Jesus? Where does he fit in? It seems instead we've turned to a mass hysteria of consumerism.

This year it seems we've lost Christmas forever. By now it's not news that a Wal Mart employee was trampled to death at 5 am on Black Friday this year. That's terrible. But really think about it. People were so absorbed in themselves and so obsessed with shopping that they broke down the door of a Wal Mart and killed a man.

I mean, if you're part of a mob that just broke down a door and killed someone, shouldn't you be looting and rioting? That is the brilliance of capitalism. People will riot - to spend their money. Congratulations, when you've given this much power to capitalism you no longer live in a democracy. There is more outrage at someone cutting in the television buying line then when the Patriot Act was signed.

But, like the person supposedly born on the holiday we're supposed to be celebrating, Christmas can rise from the dead. What we need is a power shift, from the corporations to the consumers. We need to use a little self control. Buy less gifts, spread out our purchasing, plan as a family spending limits.

More importantly, remember what the spirit of Christmas should be about. Think of your friends and families. Spend time with them. This is the last month of the year. Cap it off with some family time, recount your favorite stories, cook and bake together, there are so many obvious things that can be done.

I'm taking back Christmas for myself. I want to enjoy it this year.

Next time I'll write something funny. That was just something I wanted to get off my chest.