Christmas Comes Early

I usually love going shopping in the fall – new pants, new shirts, and of course new shoes. I love trying things on, figuring out my accessories, and even eating in the food court. I have found over the past few years though that I’m loving shopping this time of year less and less. Is there a reason that Christmas needs to start in September? The leaves hadn’t even changed color and I was seeing artificial Christmas trees at Costco, flyers that had wreathes on them, and people were asking me, “Do you have all your Christmas shopping finished yet?” Finished? I’m still thinking about Thanksgiving, Halloween, Remembrance Day, and all of the birthdays to celebrate in November. I don’t want to see or hear about Christmas until the beginning of December.

All of the malls are now setting up Santa displays, while snowflakes, snowmen, and reindeer can be seen hanging from posts and over sidewalks all over the city. I love Christmas, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want to hear “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” for the next 7 weeks. I think the worst was seeing Halloween and Christmas candy in adjacent displays in the grocery store. If I buy Christmas candy now it won’t last until December – or maybe that’s the point. Commercialism has completely taken over this important holiday.

My students are already talking about their Christmas lists, and how they know everything they’re getting. My mother is asking me what I’m getting my grandmothers so that she can take the gifts to Cape Breton when she goes, and she’s already talking about the baking we’re going to do, and where we’re going to be eating Christmas dinner. When I go over to visit and ask her to turn off her collection of Solitude Christmas music because it’s only the first week in November, and she tells me that I have, “No Christmas spirit” and that I’m “Taking all the fun out of Christmas,” I just want to scream.

By the time Christmas actually arrives I’m so sick of seeing and hearing about it that I feel relief when it’s over. I’ve spent so many months anticipating the 25^th of December that I’m not sure I appreciate it like I should. How much money did I spend on my family? Did I get people what they really wanted? Did I get what I really wanted? Oops, this person spent more on me than I did on them – I have to remember that for next year . . . When does it end? When can I just enjoy spending time with my family and friends? I want to celebrate the true spirit of Christmas, not what commercialism has turned it into.