It has begun. Actually, it began weeks ago, but I’ve managed to mostly avoid it until now. What am I talking about? The premature onslaught of Christmas. I hopped into my car this morning to head to Caribou coffee only to find that 95.5 has started their 24/7 Christmas music extravaganza. Oy vey. It’s not even Thanksgiving! I feel like our consumeristic society has squeezed Thanksgiving right off the calendar – from now until December 25th we’ll all be inundated with “huge sales” and pressure to buy, buy, buy. Is Christmas even about Christ anymore? And why do we just pass over Thanksgiving. As soon as Halloween is over, all the stores switch their displays to Christmas, causing society to lose the emphasis on Thankfulness and instead to be filled with greed.
Call me strange, but for me the thankful reflection of Thanksgiving has always been an appropriate lead-in to the Advent season (you know, the preparation for Christmas that we seem to have completely forgotten). It’s a challenge in today’s society to maintain this rhythm of the ancient church with emphasis so quickly being placed on the consumerism of Christmas rather than on the reflection and preparation for the holiday during the season of Advent – a time of preparing ourselves to recieve the incarnate word of God in the baby Christ. So, I think I’ll be boycotting 95.5 for at least a few days, and focusing on Thanksgiving.
Maybe after Thanksgiving I’ll get into the Christmas spirit.
I think it’s no surprise that this year’s holday shopping marketing blitz is off to an early start due to the economy in general. This is make-or-break time for many retail chains, which employ so many people now. I know it’s easy to get cinical about the way our “Holy” days are marketed so aggressively, but try to remember that people are very nervous and anxious about the future. Bringing the familiar sounds and smells of the holidays in the way of media can be very comforting to those who remember Christmases past with no worries and many wonderful memories. I’m as anti-commercial as they come, but I think that many this season are beginning to understand that “Jesus is the reason for the season” and will hopefully be kinder and more understanding to each other. I am praying that most, if not all will release their clutch on things material and find a deeper meaning this year and love one another with new hearts free from the heavy chains of commercial values. Less “Bah! Humbug!” and more “God bless us everyone!”