Altogether now... S.H.I.T. (So Happy It's Thursday)!!!Well, dagnabit... it's begun already. I ignored it for a couple of days (denial is bliss) because I was so wrapped up in election coverage. Fact is though, we are already being bombarded by holiday ads. This morning I was driving to work, had just finished grooving to Snow Patrol's Shut Your Eyes - which was so apropos considering how hard it was trying to snow out there in my forest habitat. Anyway, I happen to love the song and it fit well with my mood, only to have it all shattered by the ad announcer who came on to say, "Now that the holidays are upon us... This season when you do your shopping... blahblahblah...." My hackles raised immediately and I yelled at the radio in my very best You've-Been-A-Bad-Pit-Bull voice, "No, NO, NO!!!" That ad was followed by another for some kind of eyecare gig (ok, nevermind that selling eye stuff on the radio seems odd to me), and then yet another holiday advertisment (complete with full orchestration of Sleighride - *yurk*) for the Seattle Symphony's Christmas concert. Agggghhhh!!!! Most stores are already fully decked in holiday gear and are already pumping dreadful musak versions of Christmas songs over the intercom. It makes me crabby. I'm not a Scrooge, really I'm not - but this is just too much. Too much, too soon.
Yesterday I had to stop at RiteAid and I knew it was gonna get ugly. So, I waited a moment after parking, took several deep breaths, and reminded myself that the poor Philistines are just tryin' to make an extra buck during hard times and why should it affect me and who am I to nay say. It barely helped. The minute I stepped through the tinsel-garland infested door I heard a low growl and realized it was coming from me. Simmah down there, gal... simmah down.
It's not that I hate Christmas (cue John Merrick yelling, "I am not an animal!"). I don't hate it at all. I do, however, abhor the commercialism. Loathe it. I get that soul crushed Charlie Brown feeling from it all that makes me just want to hide out in the woods (hey... wait a sec...). And, say hey... when did "they" (y'know... "them") decide that Thanksgiving and Christmas were all one holiday?! I know a month isn't a very long time, but they are, in fact, separated by such!
I really intensely dislike having stuff crammed down my throat. The more something is forced upon me, the more resistant and recalcitrant I become. I know I'm not the only one. If retailers only understood the negative impact their zealousness engenders. Evidently they've never heard the term "familiarity breeds contempt."
*longsuffering sigh*
*deep breath*
"... shut your eyes and think of somewhere...
... somewhere cold and caked in snow..."
~Snow Patrol, Shut Your Eyes
Yeah can't believe it's Thursday already - sometimes I wonder where the week has gone.
ReplyDeleteThankfully over here they've not start the "Holiday" ads yet, note YET!
Good Snow Patrol track, I can actually semi-claim them to be a local band as they Hail from Dundee / Ireland - Yeah Irish Band, Scottish Based good singers, I've got that album, and the last one "Final Straw" as well as their 1st one "Songs for Polar Bears" which well sounds nothing like either of them it's really early stuff, I am eternally greatful to my good friend Marie, lovely girl from Ireland now somewhere in Texas living with her boyfriend, well she's happy and that's all that counts..