Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Making life easier

I would have to agree. Alcohol does indeed make everyday life easier. And I have been known to crack a beer at 7:00 a.m. on a Sunday.

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

The Holiday Curmudgeon


I don’t hate the holidays. I hate what the “Holiday Season” has become. Christmas music starts on the radio, 24 hours a day, right before Halloween. Municipalities decorate their lamp posts with twinkling lights and red ribbons two weeks before Thanksgiving. And I don’t think I even need to mention the excess of Black Friday. When did Christmas become synonymous with buying big screen TVs at a deep discount? Is it any wonder that by the time December 25th rolls around that people are tired of Christmas?

The “Holiday Season” gets stretched longer ever year. Soon it will resemble a presidential campaign in length. It’s hard for Christmas Day to be special when we’ve been “celebrating” for over two months. (I will give special dispensation to those businesses that celebrate Christmas 365 days a year like Bronners in Frankenmuth, Michigan.)

One of my favorite holiday TV specials is “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. I’m old enough to remember watching it when it premiered in 1965, and pretty much every year thereafter. Many people today would love to go back to that simpler time. But do those people remember the main theme of that holiday classic? Charlie Brown was repelled by the over commercialization of Christmas and went in search of the true meaning of the season. And that was 45 years ago. What would Charlie think of today’s over-hyped and pepper spray scented holiday shopping binges? I suppose if he could listen to Vince Guaraldi while carving a pumpkin he’d probably be okay.

Peace. And Happy Birthday Jesus.

Yes, I waited to post this until after the holidays on purpose.