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...............................................................It truly does start earlier every year, and this year especially we started to see the advertising begin before Halloween. It’s the Christmas season and all is jolly right?

No, not really. No, not at all. In fact it sucks, and the older I get the more it sucks. Bah humbug! That’s what I say.

It didn’t used to be this way. As a child, I thought Christmas the most grand of all holidays. It was the top of the heap, king of the hill, extra best most special, toe-tingling extravaganza imaginable. I recall those exciting times at school, where we could barely contain ourselves that last week before the Christmas break. Then those feverish days and evenings at home, wrapping gifts, shopping with either parent, and oh gosh the pure thrill of picking out that tree, setting it up, and decorating! Every single icicle perfectly draped over the branch, hanging perfectly straight until the whole tree took on a shimmering glow of silver and twinkling lights.

Sleep was full of dreams of Santa and presents. Mostly presents. And they came in dozens for me, an only kid. A kid whose family lived comfortably in the “lower middle class/upper working class” realm. I collected stuff by the truck load, from parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins. It was a veritable bonanza of excess and I reveled in it, unwilling to let the day go, but extending it for several more, nay, through January 1 at least.

There really ought to be a law. It ought to be illegal to let a kid have such wonderful Christmas after wonderful Christmas. Because for most, it simply cannot last, and the fall downward into reality is hard and painful. For me it was complicated by divorce, which left me scrambling between two households each Christmas morn, and worse, both were dedicated to me, and I was sorely aware of that fact as well. I was the prize to be held onto. Who would get me for dinner? Who would get me first?

But in truth, it happens to most of us as we reach adulthood. Now some, who have children, avoid this to some degree. They re-experience the excitement and joy through their kids. But that too can fade, as kids become parents, and then there is another household to placate on this one day. No, the sad fact is that by adulthood, most of us have lost our love affair in reality with Christmas as a secular event.

Are we allowed to let go of the fantasy we have contrived in our youth? Certainly not! Madison Avenue has other more ugly plans. It intends to perpetuate the Ozzie & Harriet, Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, perfection that is known as the Christmas nobody really has, but we all think is the norm for everyone else syndrome.

It starts way too early each year of course. That tantalizing commercial that starts to appear. Diamonds are required of men who are dating or married. That is the only fitting way to show your girlfriend/wife that she is truly beloved. Cars are, well, they are something that REALLY shows you care. But heck, there are other things too, that establish one’s perfect devotion. Chia pets for some, sweaters, slippers, scarves, and oh don’t forget perfume. Beware of things like exercise equipment, kitchen appliances, and other household things. They can be misinterpreted as disguised hints that you aren’t looking your best or cleaning or cooking well.

But don’t just focus on the gift items themselves. Look at the surroundings. People are outside throwing snowballs, dressed in mere sweaters and swanky scarves. Everyone has perfectly coiffed hair, everyone is smiling, everyone is attractive and has perfectly white teeth. Laughter abounds everywhere. All doors have wreaths to welcome the hordes that descend on everyone’s doorstep. Everyone is popular and has oodles of friends and family. Everyone has a piano, and caroling occurs nightly on “Perfect Neighborhood” Street.

Everyone dresses to the nines. All the kids are cute, clean and dressed in finery that would make a grandmother cry with happiness. Everyone drinks responsibly. Everyone decorates with Martha Stewart, with each ornament, a cheap $10 a piece. Only need about 30 of those babes to light up that tree. What is a mere $300 for tree ornaments? Special plates and glassware, matching tablecloths, napkins, and centerpieces round out the decorating finery.

Everyone is shopping and laughing and happy. It’s quite a bit like those delightful “Christmas Villages” you can put together on a big table you buy just for that purpose to wow everyone. Everyone has a train running around the tree too right? Don’t forget that card for the mailman! Don’t forget to cook for a month to get ready. Breads, cookies, pies, cakes, to say nothing of another meal that is to end all meals. We are all so dang happy aren’t we?

Except, except it’s not like that I dare say for most of us. The tree falls over and breaks six very old ornaments one year, you slip and fall on the sidewalk and sprain your back. It’s cold, wet and miserable on Christmas morning, rain washes away the slight sludgy snow that did exist. Parents are divorced, parents die, you are alone in a state where you know nobody at all. You are old, poor, widowed, childless. You are overseas in wars, you are estranged from family because you are gay and they can’t accept it. You are under employed, not employed. You can’t afford to buy your kids all the things they want. Children are sick in hospitals. The stories are endless, but the point is that most people are not surrounded by loved ones and singing carols around the piano on Christmas eve. Nope, mostly its a dull day, that we attempt to brighten up with a string of lights and a turkey.

My point is not to bring people down, but to suggest that Madison Avenue is to blame. I dare say people didn’t expect so much of Christmas before the television showed us this ungodly untrue picture of holiday bliss. They continue to perpetrate it, year after year, making millions of folks miserable as they subconsciously expect and bemoan that they don’t have the Christmas happiness portrayed in every commercial.

Madison Avenue does this to sell stuff. Stuff we don’t need for the most part. That’s all the more reason why they need to make us think we do. But this year it seems even worse than before. This year it seems like a cruel mockery of reality. And I’m not sad, no I am just plain pissed off!

How dare they begin the season before Halloween? Little kids have very little concept of time. It seems sooooooooo long when you are young. Time drags like it is a 1,000 pound ball being pulled by a midget. So thanks on behalf of all parents. Thanks for getting my little ones all geeked up even more weeks ahead of time making them harder than heck to keep in line. Teachers thank you too as they do their best to contain youthful exuberance all geared for presents and chocolate and candy canes.

Oh, and a special thanks since in this putrid economy I can’t buy my kids any where near all the things they have come to expect. Thanks for pointing out to them that “all the other kids” have Nintendo and new computers, and Iphones and Ipods and all the other shiny electronics. Yes they expect that big wide flat screen TV to watch Madagascar on!

Now of course, you can blame this all on me, since I obviously haven’t taught them to regard Christmas as the holy time it is. I have tried you know, but it’s powerfully hard to eradicate all the time you spend teaching them otherwise. You are good at what you do.

I am amazed that that is so, since I find most of your commercial efforts ridiculous in the extreme. After watching one of your gems of enticement, I almost never want to buy the product, but nay, i rather am sure I never will. But still, you must have the charts and graphs to prove that it works. It doesn’t work on me however. I find your commercials supercilious. But that’s just me apparently.

Now I would be enticed should you market your junk this way: Folks, we know times are tough, and you don’t have a lot to spend. We are not going to glut our stores with decorations in this somber time. We are going to set up a place in one corner where we are going to offer you the best prices we can afford and still make a small profit. We are going to offer you some fun items, but mostly stuff you can really use at the best prices. We hope in this small way, we can contribute to making the holiday a bit easier for you and your loved ones.

That will never happen! Anyway, I just wanted to remind everyone that most of us are going to get through the holidays. We aren’t buying much, we aren’t decorating much. We aren’t traveling and visiting. We are just having another day, in which we will fix a pretty nice meal, relax with a good movie, maybe find an item that we can afford together as a gift to ourselves, and that’s it. That’s fine, because you know what? Scores of people don’t even have that. So I’m grateful. I have a loving husband, a roof over my head, food to eat, and pets to enjoy. I still feel bad when I forget that TV doesn’t represent reality. But I remember the truth again.

As Christians this day has another meaning, and I plan to spend plenty of time remembering that, and thinking about what that means to me as how I am to live my life. It’s a good deal more uplifting than watching elves race around Santa land preparing the sleigh. It is a day of hope, peace, and re dedication to qualities of hospitality, friendship, community, and love. Don’t be sad this Christmas if yours fails to meet the Madison Avenue standard. Try to meet Jesus’ standard and it will be enough indeed.

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