Skip to main content

A Very Scary Merry!








Okay, it’s that time of year again. You know, the Holiday Season – when Halloween morphs into Christmas. We’ve barely had time to put away the cobwebs, ghosts and gravestones before out come the snowmen, holly and lights. In fact, retailers don’t even wait for Halloween to be over before Christmas starts blending into the mix


 Yes, I’ve written about it before, but every year it’s becoming a swifter race from Halloween straight down the highway to “Hell-o Santa.” We’ve officially entered the age of Happy Hallomas or Merry Christoween.

 Listen kids, you’ll need to binge eat your Halloween candy there’s Gingerbread Oreo’s and Candy Cane Kisses waiting for you. Let’s all go from ghoul time to yuletide without taking a breath.

 I was at the mall before Halloween, and Santa’s Workshop was already under construction. Count Dracula and Kriss Kringle were outside fighting over a parking space. It was the showdown of “Bats” meets “Fats.” Who should win?

 I say when you commingle the holidays no one’s a winner. Shouldn’t we follow the holiday calendar and allow a few weeks of downtime? Let each holiday stand alone.

I blame the mashup of Halloween right into Christmas on the evil genius - Tim Burton. In 1993, the film The Nightmare before Christmas was released.

 It’s a fantasy/musical about Jack Skellington, who is the pumpkin king of Halloweentown. Jack decides he’s bored with Halloween and wants to replace Santa. 

Thanks Mr. Burton, you’ve helped change our psyche of the two holidays. Now, Halloween’s the lead-in to the Christmas Season. Spooky then jolly, is there anything else we need.

 Guess what? I do believe there is another holiday between these two mega-merchandised celebrations. Let me see what I remember. It has to do with a sailing ship; English emigrants escaping persecution; something about a Plymouth; “I think that’s what they drove after their ship landed on a rock;” and eating a meal with turkey. Oh yes, that’s right, it’s called Thanksgiving. This day use to be the start of our official Christmas holiday season.

 Unfortunately, Thanksgiving has been downgraded to a quick meal, that we inhale, while scanning our Black Friday circulars. It was different when I was growing up in days of Yore. You remember the Yore’s - Ted, Carol and little Bobby Yore. They lived right next door, and they really knew how to celebrate.

They took time to enjoy every holiday, and followed the traditions of each one. Oh, how the Yore’s take me back. I remember how they’d bundle up; drive to the turkey farm; pick out the biggest bird; have the farmer strap it the the roof of their car; and bring it home to decorate.

 Wait a minute! Even I’m losing my sense of Thanksgiving. That’s because I’m busy putting up my Christmas tree and humming along to Andy Williams singing It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. I have to admit, even I’ve joined the cult. I’ve been brainwashed into entering Christmas Town early. Yes, I’ve drunk the egg nog. I need an intervention - a call from the Butterball hotline and Gilligan’s three-hour Mayflower tour.

 Thanksgiving is slowly losing its allure. In the world of the “Sexiest People Alive;” “Hollywood Hunks;” and “Madison Avenue Beautiful;” let’s face it - the Pilgrims weren’t that glamorous. Their clothes were drab, and their lifestyle chaste.

 Have you ever seen a sexy Pilgrim costume? I think not. Where are the aisles of decorations to deck your halls Pilgrim-style? You can be sure the Rockettes won’t be doing their high kicks in aprons and bonnets. Where’s the glitz, the hype, the twerking turkey?
At Halloween, everyone can put on a costume, turn their lawns into cemeteries, and go into insulin shock overdosing on candy. For Christmas, everyone can enjoy a wonderland of beautiful decorations; exchange gifts until their credit line is maxed out; and get herpes from mistletoe overload. At Thanksgiving what’s the best we can hope for – a drumstick and a bag of giblets?

We live in stressful times. There are wars, terrorists, police brutality, economic inequality, Ben Carson, Donald Trump and the Kardashians. We’re all hungry for holiday cheer! We’ve been fed a diet of excess, so we expect big spectacles featuring ghosts, goblins, elves and flying reindeer. The simple holiday that celebrates family and being thankful, is now just a Plymouth Rock cramping Santa’s fur trimmed boot.

Maybe it’s time for Tim Burton to make a sequel to his 1993 film. It will be called The Pilgrim’s Nightmare Before Christmas. This story will feature Tom Turkkington who is bored with the Pilgrims, and doesn’t feel like being stuffed for one more Thanksgiving. Tom takes a blunderbuss shoots the Pilgrim’s and escapes to the magical North Pole.

Santa, in his sleigh, brings Tom back to Plymouth to stand trail. This can instill the Thanksgiving principle of “going home” to celebrate a harvest of shame. We’ll rediscover the connection that Thanksgiving is important to the arrival of Christmas. Sure, it’s a little twisted, but it could work.

I saw Nordstrom posted a statement to all their customers that they believe in celebrating one holiday at a time. They won’t be decking their halls until the day after Thanksgiving. They are bringing back the original tradition of the holidays, something many of us don’t remember.

It was a time when you didn’t see Santa Claus until the conclusion of the Thanksgiving Day Parade. He wasn’t sitting on his throne in the mall on November 1st bored and texting Mrs. Claus on his iPhone, because the kids who sit on his lap have weeks to go before their holiday break.

 Although it will be an adjustment for me and I’ll have to retrain my brain, I think Nordstrom’s holiday campaign should be followed by other retailers. Let’s slow it down and appreciate each holiday when its time. We don’t have to stitch them all together like a huge endless quilt. Let each celebration have its own borders. There needs to be recognition for all the special days on the calendar. It’s just a thought, but change needs to start somewhere. If you don’t believe me, ask Tom or Carol Yore.








Comments

  1. Garyradin@gmail.comNovember 19, 2015 at 11:39 PM

    A fantastic way to start the holiday season!

    ReplyDelete
  2. CassandraDecember 19, 2015 at 2:33 PM

    This article is right on point!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SparksIgnitesDecember 20, 2015 at 10:52 AM

      Cassandra: Thanks for reading my article. Your words are very much appreciated.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Recent Posts

Waking Up in Vegas - Happy 2014!

Neither, Gary or I, are really gamblers, so we try to find other activities to occupy our time when visiting Vegas. We have visited Red Rock, Hoover Dam and Valley of Fire State Park on previous visits. We had even traveled as far as Zion National Park in Utah, during an earlier stay. There are definitely natural beauties to discover while in Nevada, and they have nothing to do with showgirls or stripper poles. This visit was about relaxation and ringing in the New Year, so we didn’t need to stray far from Vegas this time. We bought tickets for a concert featuring Kristin Chenoweth. She is a very talented singer and actress best known from Broadway shows, movies, and multiple guest appearances on GLEE. The concert was on New Year’s Eve at the newly built Smith Center. Although she is about three feet tall, Kristin has a powerhouse voice. She sang songs from her career and, of course, sang one of my favorites “For Good” from WICKED. It was a great way to ...
7 comments
Read more

Mental Health - Destroy the Stigma

I believe that I am a fearless writer. I share my personal experiences, thoughts and beliefs. I’ve not been afraid to express my emotions. Self-expression is fundamental to writing. I am a man of my words Recently, I became concerned that my blogs about depression and mental health might shape my reader’s opinions of me in a negative way.   The more I thought about it, I realized that I had internalized the stigma that surrounds mental health. Stigma is defined as “a mark of disgrace or infamy.” The word bears a negative connotation and it devalues the person to whom the stigma is applied. While the conversation about mental health is receiving a larger forum, damaging misconceptions are widespread. According to surveys, there are between 42.5-46 million adults in the US that have some type of mental illness.   Statistics show that one in four adults experience mental illness in a given year. These numbers of individuals are all impacted in some manner b...
12 comments
Read more

Summer Adventures Part 2 – The Backyard Backlot to Broadway

  My childhood summers weren’t all the glitz and glamor of vacationing with cousins, wobbly shopping carts and bloody feet. Actually, most of my summer days were spent right at home in my yard. My parents never took a vacation. Our family never packed its bags and took off for other ports of call.   I never boarded a plane, a boat, or a train for a family adventure. My adventures were self-created. They were products of an imaginative mind that could travel to the moon, ride the rapids in the Amazon Jungle and lead a battle for the Knights of the Round Table, all before a lunch of Spaghettios with a side of Hawaiian Punch . I have always loved going to the movies. This helped provide the inspiration to my over active mind. The Saturday afternoon matinee was a childhood staple for me. The smell of fresh popcorn as you entered the lobby and the crisp cold air of the air-conditioned theater helped set the atmosphere on those hot, summer afternoons. I would get lost in the d...
2 comments
Read more

Depression, Drugs & DNA

When diagnosed with Clinical Depression, my doctor recommended medication to help the illness. The art of medication management can challenge professionals who need to find the right drug and dosage that will be effective for treatment. It’s frustrating for patients combating the effects of depression when their medication doesn’t quite alleviate the symptoms. Part of this cocktail of drugs can also cause intolerable side effects ·       Sleepiness ·       Insomnia ·       Dizziness ·       Weight Gain ·       Headaches ·       Increased Anxiety ·       Sexual Problems ·       Nausea The feeling of hopelessness and frustration is just compounded when you’re waiting for relief that never really arrives. There are so many drugs available...
3 comments
Read more

Communication - The Art of Words

I read a posting, a few weeks ago, that the song “Enjoy the Silence” by Depeche Mode was celebrating its 25 th anniversary. The song, released in 1990, speaks of how you can be beyond words. It relays the message that there are times when words can’t describe feelings or emotions and seem inconsequential. I do understand when people say that something is “indescribable.” We all have moments when we just want silence and time to appreciate the world beyond words.   A feeling or an emotion can be hard to verbalize at times, but are we ever beyond words? We have to realize that if we want a space of non-communication we have to communicate that. We can’t “Enjoy the Silence” unless we can tell everyone we want silence.   For people to know we are at a loss for words, we have to tell them that. Everything we say and do lies in communication. We could not function as a community or a society without it. We don’t stop to contemplate that our whole world is cr...
8 comments
Read more