Christmas. We have officially gone off the deep end in this country when it comes to Christmas. One of the local radio stations is now playing 24/7 Christmas music. They started this on November 14. More than a month out, two weeks before Thanksgiving, and an adult contemporary (don't judge me, radio in Wichita sucks) radio station is playing White Christmas. Christmas decorations started showing up in stores before Halloween.
Yet you turn around, and people are telling you how evil this country is for marginalizing Christmas. I can't find the link anymore, but some outfit called Focus on the Family released a listing of stores that are "Christmas Friendly", those that don't mention Christmas, and those that mention Christmas, but apparently not enough. There were a whole 5 stores that are apparently going with Happy Holidays this year. How will we survive as a country?
Actually it's the middle listing that most fascinated me. IIRC they referred to them as "Christmas negligent - Marginalized use of the word Christmas" or something like that. I can't help wondering what the criteria is for making the "Negligent" list. Do they send secret shoppers into stores across the country? Do they just look at the ads in papers leading up to Black Friday? Is there a set of rules for how many times a store can use the phrase "Happy Holidays" before they are officially "Negligent"? Do they get docked points if they advertise for Hanukkah or Kwanza?
It's strange. If you were to ask this Focus on the Family, I'm sure they would tell you that it's wrong that Christmas has become so commercialized, how people need to do better at remembering Jesus as the focus of the holiday. Yet they go out of their way, and presumably spend a not insignificant amount of time, effort, and money to bring to light when said Crass Commercial Retailers date to recognize other holidays around this same time period.
Every year Christmas has meant less to me. Probably this will change now that I have two little ones, if not this year then next, when they're old enough to begin grasping the concept. But still - and I know this isn't exactly a unique sentiment - can we as a country just take a step back and lower it a few pegs on the importance scale? It's damn near a 2 month holiday at this point.
Speaking of the girls, I'm going to be taking care of them for most of the month of December. Jenn is headed back to work the second week of December, and I'm taking 3 weeks leave to stay at home with them. I feel kind of guilty taking that much time, but I was already planning on taking the week of Christmas off anyway, and work didn't have a problem with it, so there you go. Watching how Jenn's days go right now, I must admit I'm a little nervous. Girls still obviously don't sleep through the night, and are usually fussy enough that she can't get any sleep between the hours of 11pm and 5am. Every once in a while she can catch an hour or so around 3am, but it's rare. Usually I can give her an hour in the mornings before work, and her mom will come over and let her get a nap in the afternoon, and often she gets more sleep in the early evening when I'm home. When you have two, if it's not one that decides to be fussy, it's the other. Still, it'll be nice to have so much time with them, I'm excited.
We're headed up to Canton tomorrow for Thanksgiving, quite a bit of my dad's side will be there. I'm sure the girls will be a huge hit. We had them up at Brookville in Abaline last weekend, to eat chicken for Mom and Dad's anniversary with some of mom's side. Little girls seem to have an uncanny knack for getting hungry/fussy right as you're about ready to eat, and this time was no exception. They were in car seats happy as could be, and almost the minute the chicken and mashed potatos came out, away they go. Jenn and I ended up feeding them while everyone else ate.
Little else has been going on besides taking care of the girls. I got copies of the new WoW expansion for me and Jenn, and while I've installed it, I haven't played it for more than probably an hour total. Haven't even got it installed on Jenn's computer yet. Picked up Iron Man, Hellboy 2, and the new Futurama movie as well, which sit unwatched. On the plus side, I figured out that Boomerang and Toon Disney replay old Justice League Unlimited/Superman cartoons at night, which I've been DVRing and watching whenever I'm feeding/rocking a little one. Also episodes of The Universe, Cowboy Bebop, Harvey Birdman, and a bunch of other stuff I went through and put on season pass. There's only so many times you can watch the same Sportscenter at 5am after all.
Yet you turn around, and people are telling you how evil this country is for marginalizing Christmas. I can't find the link anymore, but some outfit called Focus on the Family released a listing of stores that are "Christmas Friendly", those that don't mention Christmas, and those that mention Christmas, but apparently not enough. There were a whole 5 stores that are apparently going with Happy Holidays this year. How will we survive as a country?
Actually it's the middle listing that most fascinated me. IIRC they referred to them as "Christmas negligent - Marginalized use of the word Christmas" or something like that. I can't help wondering what the criteria is for making the "Negligent" list. Do they send secret shoppers into stores across the country? Do they just look at the ads in papers leading up to Black Friday? Is there a set of rules for how many times a store can use the phrase "Happy Holidays" before they are officially "Negligent"? Do they get docked points if they advertise for Hanukkah or Kwanza?
It's strange. If you were to ask this Focus on the Family, I'm sure they would tell you that it's wrong that Christmas has become so commercialized, how people need to do better at remembering Jesus as the focus of the holiday. Yet they go out of their way, and presumably spend a not insignificant amount of time, effort, and money to bring to light when said Crass Commercial Retailers date to recognize other holidays around this same time period.
Every year Christmas has meant less to me. Probably this will change now that I have two little ones, if not this year then next, when they're old enough to begin grasping the concept. But still - and I know this isn't exactly a unique sentiment - can we as a country just take a step back and lower it a few pegs on the importance scale? It's damn near a 2 month holiday at this point.
Speaking of the girls, I'm going to be taking care of them for most of the month of December. Jenn is headed back to work the second week of December, and I'm taking 3 weeks leave to stay at home with them. I feel kind of guilty taking that much time, but I was already planning on taking the week of Christmas off anyway, and work didn't have a problem with it, so there you go. Watching how Jenn's days go right now, I must admit I'm a little nervous. Girls still obviously don't sleep through the night, and are usually fussy enough that she can't get any sleep between the hours of 11pm and 5am. Every once in a while she can catch an hour or so around 3am, but it's rare. Usually I can give her an hour in the mornings before work, and her mom will come over and let her get a nap in the afternoon, and often she gets more sleep in the early evening when I'm home. When you have two, if it's not one that decides to be fussy, it's the other. Still, it'll be nice to have so much time with them, I'm excited.
We're headed up to Canton tomorrow for Thanksgiving, quite a bit of my dad's side will be there. I'm sure the girls will be a huge hit. We had them up at Brookville in Abaline last weekend, to eat chicken for Mom and Dad's anniversary with some of mom's side. Little girls seem to have an uncanny knack for getting hungry/fussy right as you're about ready to eat, and this time was no exception. They were in car seats happy as could be, and almost the minute the chicken and mashed potatos came out, away they go. Jenn and I ended up feeding them while everyone else ate.
Little else has been going on besides taking care of the girls. I got copies of the new WoW expansion for me and Jenn, and while I've installed it, I haven't played it for more than probably an hour total. Haven't even got it installed on Jenn's computer yet. Picked up Iron Man, Hellboy 2, and the new Futurama movie as well, which sit unwatched. On the plus side, I figured out that Boomerang and Toon Disney replay old Justice League Unlimited/Superman cartoons at night, which I've been DVRing and watching whenever I'm feeding/rocking a little one. Also episodes of The Universe, Cowboy Bebop, Harvey Birdman, and a bunch of other stuff I went through and put on season pass. There's only so many times you can watch the same Sportscenter at 5am after all.
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