Let me start off by saying that I love the holiday season. I love everything about Thanksgiving through New Year. I love snow and peppermint and sugar cookies and reindeer and carols....well, you get the idea. What I do not love is the advertising assault that now begins immediately after Halloween and doesn't seem to let up until around mid-January.
I understand that we are in a difficult economic period and that retailers do the vast amount of their business during the holiday season, but it hurts my holly covered heart to see everything be turned into an advertising gimmick; to be constantly barraged by hackneyed, overly sentimental money grabs. Check cashing, fast food, car dealerships, they all manage to find some holiday oriented angle no matter how tangential. It doesn't have to be this way...
If you have to shop do it locally, from small independent retailers. Etsy.com is another great resouce to shop independently. Over the past few years I have been finding ways to extricate myself from consumer madness. One easy way: turn off the TV. Yep, it's just that simple. Simply hit the off button and all the noise suddenly stops.
My family is small and very close. Several years ago we all agreed to stop exchanging gifts. It was beginning to feel like we were simply handing each other cash. Instead of presents we treat each other to dining out or events--concert, ballet, day spa-or make a charitable contribution in their name-Heifer International, Salvation Army, NPR. People rarely remember the gifts they receive, but they will remember a night at the theatre or a fabulous meal. Get off the consumer merry go round and instead of spending your time with irritable strangers at the mall spend it with the people you care about most.
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