Reclaiming December

Arthur Dent and Thomas Paine

"It's the most wonderful time of the year…"

"I hear those sleigh bells ring-a-ling…"

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas…"

Can you hear the music? Yes, children, it's that time again…that blissful season when everyone's spirits seem a bit brighter, children are a bit happier, and warmth towards one's fellow man abounds. Right?

Wrong. That's what this time of year is supposed to be like, but what I've seen instead is parents fighting over the latest fad toy or jostling one another as they push through crowded stores. What I've seen instead is stores blazing with obnoxious advertisements and billboards commercializing what was once a season of sharing. What I've seen instead is children focused more on what they're going to get than on what they're going to give. Times have changed, I guess.

I used to think it was just Christmas that had gone berserk because Hallmark had yet to exploit other holidays like Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, but as I pay more attention to an overly-pervasive entity in our wintertime lives, I see that the holiday bedlam has spread. The nuttiness has transcended the holidays and now has a hold on us so tenacious that we cannot escape the season without hearing "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" until our collective head is set to explode.

So what are we going to do about it? Short of bashing your neighbor over the head with a fruitcake, there are few ways to escape the sheer chaos of the holiday season. However, one can start by eliminating the expectation of gifts. By doing so, one can avoid worrying about the money involved, braving the jam-packed malls, or possibly getting Aunt Margie the wrong gift. What about striving for random acts of kindness throughout the year instead? Randomly call up Aunt Margie and take her to lunch. Besides, time is the best gift you can give.

Purchased gifts are often trite and shallow anyway. How about making something for someone you love? Cook breakfast for your mom. Draw a picture for your best friend. Make a bracelet for your girlfriend. (Yes, even guys are capable of making things!) No artistic or cooking talent? Burn a CD. There's nothing that shows care like taking the time to make something. Any fool can wield a credit card; it takes actual thought to create something.

Find the goodness for which this season once stood, and employ it.. Do a good deed every once in a while. Stop being an asshole for a day. Tell your loved ones how much you care. Then, take your newfound goodness and make it last all year. There's no reason to be nice/sharing/loving in winter only. Take March, for example. We always run into assholes in the month of March; don't ask us why. If more people were nice all year round, our March wrath could be avoided and the world would be a better place, not only in March, but in some other months, too.

Also, don't feed into the commercialization of Christmas. Be you a Jew, a born-again Christian, or a devout Atheist, do your societal duty and don't buy a billion Christmas-themed items. The reason that they begin to envelop us in the stores as early as OCTOBER is that we BUY THEM. If the marketing agents were to see that consumers don't really buy holiday goods until later in the fall, perhaps we would be able to make it through Macys in mid-October without being inundated in a sea of red and green stockings.

The commercialism of December has significantly depleted the magic that was once synonymous with the time of year. Now, it's time to reclaim December from its commercialism (prostitution) and turn it back into what it should be: a time to celebrate family and friends, a time for good food and candy canes, a time for warmth and love. Now, we can hear the music…

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."