Sleigh Bells Ring… But Christmas Is Becoming Extinct

Driving through my town last week ( that would be somewhere in the late  November vicinity) when I happened to pass by a large home that was….ugh .. being decorated for Christmas. The fact that the Christmas season starts earlier and earlier is increasingly troubling for me and detracts from whatever spirit I am able  to muster . If it  weren’t for my kids I would have none. Why this insistence on rushing it in happens is very clear to me and I will address that in a minute. Anyway, this house is being decorated and I realize as I pass that not only is it being decorated far too early but the people decorating the house are…. landscapers..Thats right!!!! Landscapers are putting up this families lights , wreaths and snowmen. The family is ummm lets guess .. Busy?? Shopping? Partying? Fighting? Regardless,why on earth would you want to celebrate a holiday in which a month before you have to pay someone to  put up your sentimental decorations? I find this to be a very curious  phenomenon.                                                                                                               Christmas has become for many people an obligation to keep up with the idea that they need to fit in. When their home is done being decorated all the people in town will see that they have a nicely decorated home  but inside, where the heart is, there  can be no true spirit of the holiday. I wonder if the landscapers hum Christmas songs as they decorate or if they shake their heads and curse to themselves about  the ignorance of people.       It appears to me that  any last vestige of the spirit of christmas has been devoured by the media and retailers. Hurry everyone  its Black Friday! The economy is dead and you  need to save money.. Go go go!! Christmas music is now being pumped monotonously in every store imploring each person to get busy and spend . The music which was once festive now seems more like a poisonous gas  that seeps through florescent retailers jungles  catching unsuspecting  patrons and forcing them to  buy buy buy.  People describe Christmas as a time of great stress. The absurdity of what Christmas has become is a very sad commentary on how we choose to live our lives. It is at its simplest a celebration of the birth of Christ.   How it has become to be a source of panic for shoppers is a grotesque deviation of what it should be. Wouldnt it be such a welcome relief if we could all just make a concerted effort to turn all  the noise down. Simplify! Dont listen to the television screaming at you to buy .. Dont pay attention to the lovely Christmas decorations in Nordstroms window on October. Dont hire strangers to decorate your house. Do what comes naturally from your heart and if you are Christian celebrate the birth of Christ.  I hope that someone out there will hear me and try  ..I certainly will.

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