It starts with the turning back of the clock. The blatant reminder that darkness comes earlier and settles in for the winter is just the beginning. That one single hour shifts attitudes and priorities. Halloween comes and goes and suddenly Thanksgiving looms on the horizon. Plans start to take shape and lines form. Before long, people scatter in a million different directions, like cockroaches suddenly caught under the harsh glare of unforgiving light.
For the next five weeks, people hunt, gather, hoard, shop, decorate, cook, bake and go missing inside their to do lists and frenzied bubbles. Navigating traffic and negotiating agreements with their own sanity and what’s left of their family tree, people paint themselves into corners of delusion. It’s a delicate balancing act that’s equal parts tradition, obligation, nostalgia and stress test.
It's theatre of the absurd at its finest.
Each year, I retreat further into seclusion as I witness this crime against culture that I refuse to be an accomplice to. It plays out on TV, in magazines and on pocketbooks that in many cases, are beyond recognition or repair. Friends disappear into the ether of shopping malls and cave to the pressure of consumption.
At no other time of the year does the fairy tale notion that we all are entitled to live happily ever after play more tricks on more people than it does during the holidays. And yet, people still willingly succumb to this crazy idea that this time we’ll get it right or things will be “better”. This massive buildup has not once yielded victory over the war of a hunger that gnaws so deeply at our own humanity.
Our hearts are chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
We choose to ignore the signs and get doused annually with the burden of that truth that we are still too blind to see. It manifests in disillusion and disappointment. And that’s before the credit card statements arrive.
For those in waiting, if there is no small box under the tree, dreams get shattered that very likely, were already destined to be broken. The stack of long overdue expectation delivers the cruel truth that every kiss does not begin with K. DeBeers cleverly extends second chances to cold feet into the manufactured promise of Valentine’s Day. Credit is given where credit is due. Time is running out.
It’s an American phenomenon.
It drives me crazy.
Loathe is in the air.
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It's theatre of the absurd
yes shipping out boxes of goodies to family that really do not care.
But even if I am crazy I will never stoop to their lows.
Yup crazy. I am nothing but nuts.
rated with hugs
These here Norse give shallow materialism a run for its money.
I have thown a monkey wrench in the frenzy this year by declaring a moratorium on any gifts for anyone over the age of 20. They don't know what to do with that. I don't want it, I ain't got it to give and I won't play.
so i treat me me me me me
this time of year to
Tasteful Gifts
as a cry against the Darkness
like the Kindle i bought other day
and the new silver
and the shearling bedspread
and the knife set
and the DooWop Internet Radio Ball Cap
and it is all balanced cosmically by my yrly
Donations to
NAACP
ACLU
WRVV DooWop Radio
good writing, as always, patricia.
Can I join OE and you for that quiet drink?
Why do so many decide that no one cares, that no one feels at this time of year?
I love the smiles I see on faces, the extra willingness to be a little friendly to strangers on the street, I love the joy of giving -- we make our presents, so instead of seeing greed and Grinches, we're in the shop or at the sewing machine, or canoeing in the snow looking for just the right rocks that are at the far side of the lake for the fountains we're making for the kids' rooms...we make trips to the local homeless shelter with sleeping bags and jeans and we see smiles and steaming cups of warmth held in glad hands (our own!).
If I see full parking lots I don't see greed, I see people who care about others and want to give.
I see the Jewish band playing traditional songs at our plaza downtown right after the Santa gives out toys, just before the Tibetan Buddhist lamas here invite the town to an open house for their new Buddhist temple and center...
I wish for you a smile, and for you and for us all-- peace.
Lezlie
Agree Cartouche. I do the standard things for my kids and grandkids and will contune to do that but.....we also celebrate each other.
Screw the gifts and the hoopla. I'd rather have my family, friends and...........in my home together, as one, as it should be.
~r
People've become prisoners of the dueling dilemma of keeping up with the Jonses to the point that I'm glad when January comes and a new year begins.
Well put. My sentiments exactly.
But what to do? I keep trying to figure out a solution for it...and each year, I'm more baffled. Simplicity, I find, is key. And no more presents! Done with that marketing scam.
Crawl into bed and pull up the covers.
Still, we have that baby, who loves and laughs over an empty box, a little book, a ball, which helps a lot, plus I can give him back to his parents when I've had enough. And Alex and Amy need lots of love in lots of boxes, so I'm less cynical this year.
But... I hear you.
Thank you for giving voice to the loathe.
Bah humbug and pass the Bailey's.
"I think Abe Lincoln was right. People are as happy as they want to be."
I'm not sure how much weight I would want to give to Abraham Lincoln's opinions on happiness.
I did that for five years before I figured that out. Jerks.
Everywhere I look around
Loathe is in the air
Every sight and every sound
And I don't know if I'm being foolish
Don't know if I'm being wise
But it's something that I must believe in
And it's there when I look in your eyes
{[R]}
Best Wishes,
Blittie
Nigel: This really puts things into perspective.
David: Too much fucking perspective.
Artfully written.
Let's say I empathize. Deeply. R.
So far, Christmas season has meant giving time to school to clean the grounds with the students and other teachers (we don't have enough janitors), decorating the school, going to my girls' school for their Christmas pageant. Full of laughing and sharing and arguing. So far, so good.
In recent years, tho, I celebrate Yule with fellow Wiccans, in a solstice ritual, followed by feasting (but we do that alla time anyway) and possibly exchanging a few token gifts (damn, why didn't I pick up more chintzy Eiffel Towers when I was there...) Back to the original celebration, leaving off Jesus and the non-Jesus-like stuff that goes on...
Christmas is Christ's birth, a man devoted to raising the dignity of the poor. This, as extended benefits have just been denied to the long term unemployed. Now, there's a gift...
But here's the thing: It IS dark out there (and for us living in the north, cold as well). I don't like that the days are getting shorter. Neither did the ancients, which is why, before the festivities were coopted and converted into a Holy Day, there was a winter solstice celebration, which featured its own excess--eating, drinking, magic incantations, the whole works, along with one wonderful piece: a recognition that the days turn around again and things begin to grow.
The hyper-religiosity is something that I, as a very tiny minority have always found uncomfortable (raise your hand if you're unaffiliated with a religion? I thought so). But that's what I get for living in a "Christian-majority" country with a so-called "Judeo-Christian" sensibility (whatever that means). It's a little tough this time of year, sure, but late March/April is no picnic either.
Still, I like the lights, the joy I see on tiny little faces, the feelings (however ginned up) of goodwill, and the temporary truce this time of year seems to produce. I wish it were the real thing but I'll take what I can get.
exhibit A?
the one above.