Well, Thanksgiving is past, which means we're now onto the holiday of Giftgiving, which is a true celebration of selfishness, capitalism and greed. I'm sure you can find a few Christmas songs to that affect; you probably won't even need to look very hard.
I know every year around this time I like to buy myself things. Of course, I'm usually employed and can afford to buy things for both myself and others, but it often makes me wonder what Christmas really means these days--or at least what all the sales are really for.
When listening to the radio, it's hard to tell if the songs are more annoying than the commercials. Both of them have me gritting my teeth in seconds, and vowing not to leave the house.
When I was a kid I put a lot of stake in the family traditions we had; Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family for dinner and gifts, and then we'd travel an hour or so, spend the night with my dad's parents and do stockings, gifts and another dinner with that side of the family. But as we've grown older, moved to different parts of the country and started growing our own families, the traditions of my childhood fell apart.
We're left with only one side of the family to visit, a crazy grandmother in the nursing home, my sister and brother-in-law taking off early to see his side of the family, parents who prefer to be home, cousins who live in distant states and a million other changes.
I know we'll eventually settle into having new traditions, but I can't shake the feeling that they'll always be just that--new. I'll never have that childhood experience of a traditions that's been done every year of my life (except for the year my little sister had chicken pox) ever again.
Maybe that's just part of growing up, but I still miss it a little bit every Christmas.
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