11.26.2005

Reluctant Spirit

Wendy is crazy. So is Kelly. I can't believe how early they got up to do their Christmas shopping yesterday. 3 AM? 4 AM? The real madness is that there were lines in each instance, and these weren't remote occurrences. All across the nation, people either completely mad or truly dedicated to their families embraced Black Friday, waking up insanely early to battle crowds and catch bargains a month before Christmas, and a good three weeks before I'll probably be shopping.

I suppose their actions are commendable, but I personally dislike crowds at any time, especially during hours I reserve for sleeping and dreaming of a better life. Every year, my holiday spirit seems to decline a little bit more. Earlier and earlier, commercials skew toward the holiday season. If movies only have a few holiday scenes, the trailers magically focus on them. Garland and lights begin to insidiously creep over houses and street signs. When I walked into work last Wednesday, I entered a perfectly ordinary office lobby. When I left for the long weekend, there was a wreath and a tree set up already. Radio stations are cluttered with holiday music, and people in the halls may belt into song without warning.

I'm not sure when I soured on the magic of the holidays. I used to look forward to getting presents every year, and playing in the snow. Now buying presents is a chore, and snow is nothing more than an impediment to driving. Maybe this is a natural phase between being a kid, and being an adult with kids. One good thing this year is that there were several family members I didn't get to see last year, whose presents are still wrapped. The workload will be less. At some point, gift giving loses its meaning and becomes more about “trading” than an actual gesture of generosity. Why do I have to get a gift for So-and-so? Because So-and-so always gets me something. I wonder if somewhere relatives aren't having the same exchange about me. It'd be nice to restrict gift giving outside my immediate family to children, and just buy things for my cousins' kids.

I realize how horrible this all sounds. It's not about money. I have a decent job and I live at home. I can afford to buy presents. It's about sheer unadulterated laziness. Every year I have to go to stores, battle crowds, accumulate about 50 items for my parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and their children, and subsequently wrap, label and sort them. Every year at this time I'm still in serious denial over the end of Summer and the falling thermometer. Holiday decorations hammer the point home that it's now Winter. Sometime in my life, “I can't wait for Christmas!” became “I can't wait until the holidays are over!” At some point, I became the Grinch.

Of course, I'm just letting off steam. Eventually every year I brace myself, set foot in stores, and get the job done. Last year I made my life easier and bought gift cards for all the adults in my extended family, and personal specific items only for children and my parents. More importantly, no matter how much I fight the holiday spirit in November, it still creeps under my skin and grows more powerful each week. Now I'm complaining; in a few weeks I'll be merrily wrapping and whistling carols. There are some who'd say marching in a parade at night this time of year is as mad as shopping, yet tonight I found myself way out in Patchogue surrounded by people in Santa hats and elves and various radio stations. The sidewalks were packed with families, and children huddled under blankets cheered as we played songs very much out-of-tune due to the cold metal of our instruments. It wasn't as cold as last year's parade, but it was cold enough. I still feel it in my bones. But I also liked seeing all the colored lights, brightly wrapped presents, and cheesy light-up plastic candy canes.

Holiday spirit. I fight it every year, and every year I lose, darn it.

6 Comments:

Blogger Janet said...

Maybe that's my problem. I have enough money to buy presents, but I'm lazy. Sure I get everyone presents, but I feel like I can never find the perfect gift. Even this year, I finally was proud of myself in deciding to buy my parents tickets to see a Broadway show. I was happy bc this is something they never do for themselves. Then my dad says he might buy the tickets. So then I'm forced to tell them what my idea was. So much for surprises.:(

11/27/2005 7:53 AM  
Blogger MCF said...

Janet: It's tough to do a big thing like a show as a surprise. Back in 2003 for my mom's 65th, my dad wanted to take her to a show though we were both concerned about how she'd react, because she gets mad if we spend a lot of money. Since I'm the guy who knows how to use the internet, I took care of all the arrangements, looked up a few shows, and ordered the tickets. He told her a few weeks ahead of time to prepare her, we went to see Mama Mia, and it was actually a nice day. The theater has changed though. We were way overdressed, and didn't know what the play WAS. My dad just thought it was about an Italian wedding when he saw the name and the bride on the poster, and I tried to explain it was some old disco band or something, so it was odd seeing women in their 40s jumping up in the audience and dancing like they were much, much younger. ::shudder:: Still, it wasn't a bad show and my parents had never gone either. They used to drag me to all the school plays when I was in Middle School though, so I knew that was something they'd enjoy just, like your parents, never actually did.

Wendy: I knew the kid thing had to be a factor. Maybe my stance will change when I'm older and have my own family.

11/27/2005 12:39 PM  
Blogger kevbayer said...

Rubi and Elizabeth got up and 4am and left the house at 5am. They only had three places they wanted to go (four if you count McDonalds!) and they were back by 9:30am. They only hit a couple of craft stores and a grocery store that had a deal on meat...
I slept in until 7am!

11/27/2005 7:54 PM  
Blogger MCF said...

All the way to 7, Kev? You must be the family slacker! =)

OK folks, I can see I'm outnumbered on this one. Maybe next year, I'll give the wacky 3AM shopping thing a try. And maybe monkeys will something something...

11/27/2005 10:36 PM  
Blogger Lorna said...

It was a suspenseful read---trying to figure out if you were going to cave or keep yourself in Grinch-mode. Glad to see you discarded the Dark Side. I lvoed your story aobut going to see Mama Mia but had to shudder myself at your shudder. It's what keeps us crones from showing our inner dancing queen---but of course, that's what you had in mind...

11/28/2005 12:13 AM  
Blogger cube said...

Wendy is braver than I am. There's no way I'd brave those crowds. I hate crowds.

I saw one poor woman get trampled to the floor & her wig fell off. As she lay there, while people streamed around her, she picked up her wig & put in on her head. She has her priorities.

11/28/2005 10:15 AM  

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