Early Christmas
In the past, I think I've commented on how Christmas season seems to start earlier every year. It's gotten pretty ridiculous in the last couple years, as we're seeing Christmas stuff show up in stores before Halloween is even over.
At first, I think the phenomenon annoyed me, because I saw it as another representation of corporate greed imposing their will on the public. Kind of like Hallmark making up holidays, we see these retailers depending so heavily on the holiday shoppers that they try to stretch the season out as much as possible. (As if Christmas wasn't overly commercialized already).
But this year, I'm starting to see the whole thing a little differently. Not that I like the commercialization, but now I'm kind of glad that Christmas season is starting early. I mean, I love Christmas season - the movies, the songs, the overall "holiday spirit". If people want to make it last longer, I should be all for it, right?
In a way, I think I've started to depend a lot more on Christmas season to get me through the winter. Especially in the last few years, when it seems like the cold weather and shorter daylight of winter has hit me harder than it used to, when I was a kid.
Like right now, I'm already dreading the next few months of snow, blistering winds, walking out of work to gloomy gray skies. When it snowed that one day a couple weeks ago, I refused to bring out my heavier coat in one last act of denial, preferring to brave the cold temperatures in my thin windbreaker (it did not do the job). I find myself thinking more about when I could take a vacation to somewhere warm, to escape the Chicago winter for a while. And I'm already looking forward to next summer, even as summer 2006 barely ended a few weeks ago.
As I said before, I didn't always feel this way. I don't remember hating the winter that much when I was little. I remember it being cold, but it's not like I would ever dread an entire season. But yeah, now when I know winter is coming up, all I can think about is how much it sucks to leave work when it's dark already, the hassles of driving in snowy weather, having to bundle up in a million layers when I go outside just so I don't freeze to death, how the wool in my sweaters makes my neck itch, or the way my normally moist lips start to become dry and crack (yes, I still refuse to use chapstick). I just want it to be July again so I can wash my car, go to baseball games, and grill food on my deck.
Anyways, I guess what I'm getting at is, with all the depressing thoughts about winter, I especially need the happy thoughts about Christmas season to counteract all of that. Winter may suck otherwise, but what could be better to cheer everyone up with than getting multiple days off from work, exchanging presents, seeing the houses on your block decorated with lights, listening to Christmas music, spending time with family, or watching Home Alone and Home Alone 2?
Personally, it scares me to imagine what winter would be like without Christmas season. I seriously think a lot of people would crack during the long winter, if there wasn't anything to look forward to. So if the department stores want to bring out the holiday stuff a little earlier than expected, I will no longer complain.
