Quote:
Originally Posted by mordant
That is a great point; aside from tradition and habituation, Christmas provides a "reason" to spend lots of $ that wouldn't otherwise exist. And the system is getting desperate as it collapses under its own weight, so it is even less likely to want to keep retail in the winter doldrums.
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As I become less materialistic, I contribute less to the global impact of economic excess evidenced at the retailers in December. In fact, if more people followed my lead, the acquisition of goods would impact the season as more people turn to inward creativity and aesthetic appreciation as opposed to hoarding and gifting. And I would be public Enemy #1 in the sight of Macy's and JC Penneys.
the best gifts turned out to be tickets to events , such as "an evening with a Mel Torme impersonator" and "Cane fishing off the 201 bypass"
Purchasing a new item starts a chain of destruction upon our planets and inhabitants. First, oil must be extracted at great pollutive cost to the world , resulting in groundwater contamination, ocean pollution and carbon output to transport it to the refinery, where it must further pollute the air to be manufactured into plastic. From that plastic, the item must be manufactured in a Chinese sweat shop where 13 year old girls spend 10 to 12 hours a day working for 3 Yuan a day under the watchful eye of giant portraits of King Jong-un only to have to ship the item back to the USA where it can be placed then under the Christmas tree. On Dec 26th, the process starts in reverse, as the item is returned to china, disassembled at the components resold to Indian factories where 5 year olf kids paint them silver and gold and post them for sale on Ebay under the brand names of Rolex or Gucci......
OK well you get the idea.
When I was a kid, we celebrated so few holidays (We were not allowed to have fun) that I remember by Mid March Spring Break I was about insane at never having had a break since New Years.
Now, we celebrate many Holidays. January or Feb is always set for a short vacation. Some places like Snow Mountain and Skiers Cove are crowded and expensive, but other places, like Michigan amusement parks are practically empty.
Vegas is next month.
Feb we always celebrate Presidents day by having a meal and then playing presidential impersonations, like saying "Well I m Not a Crook..." and then the others have to guess which one is being impersonated.
March is big for St Patricks day. Less so without the amount of drinking I used to do, it was one year that I staggered home from Beef O'Brady's (a very Irish name) on st Patricks day and found the receipt was for well over $50 ...that is a lot of Guinness.....
April is a celebration called "say goodbye to any decent weather until November " here in Florida. It is also Easter, which I do not celebrate or observe. May is a fun holiday month. Mothers day of course. I used to put a communist flag in front of the house for May Day, but in today's world, most younger people do not know who East Germany or the Soviet Union were so we instead put out energy into a massive Indy 500 weekend spread....
June is Flag Day, and we always make flag colored cupcakes, pies, steaks and red white and blue mashed potatoes, but not the same as the ones for July 4th. July 5th is celebrated as "Sweep the street day" meaning that someone, and it always ends up being me, has to take a trashcan and broom around the neighborhood sweeping all the sidewalks, driveways and picking up remnants of used fireworks from the night before.
August is a month that needs a good Holiday, or even better, a two week vacation as far north or maybe to the Antarctic out of the Florida heat. When the kittens were younger, we celebrated the first day back to school, but now, as they are full grown (more or less) a week in New England or Canada is far better.
September os a very huge month. Birthdays, Labor Day, first day of football, first day of Fall, decorating for Halloween. And Halloween here encompasses all of October (which diminishes Columbus day sadly) just as Christmas encompases all of December. Which leaves November as Veterans Day, Thanksgivin and more football......
Point is, when would we do Christmas if not December? I don't think it would work anywhere else.
Ask the people here who live in New Zealand who sing"In the beak Midwinter" at Christmas Eve mass just as the sun is disappearing for a couple of hours .....
People there may feel that they are missing out on something....kind of like Texas Ranger's fans in April to October.
Of course, we can find a day to celebrate any day we want. May 4th is a Star Wars day, "May the 4th be with you" and the next day "revenge of May 5th" Aug 19th is
Talk like Jar Jar day and Sept 19 is
talk like a Pirate Day. If boredom is an issue, then we could get the community together and schedule a huge week-long or weekend festival around talking like JarJar Binks.....we could have carnival rides, contests, meals, film festivals...this would bring in some of the money that retail lost out on because of my non-materialism this year.
And feel free to make up your own holiday. Nothing at all wrong with that.
But alas, let us leave Christmas where it is, for most of us enjoy it as it is, and it was summed up best by our own
phetaroi who suggests
"Leave well enough alone. Don't hope for something that will merely cause public dissension."
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