The day after Halloween is when Christmas Hell breaks loose. Even the day of Halloween, Christmas decorations and wrapping papers and knick-knacks are on display. Stores have unloaded their abundance of Christmas crap, red and green tinsel shoved in your face, every home decorated with "Ho Ho Ho" pillows and covered in Santa's throw up.
We can't escape the same thirty Christmas songs that play throughout the loudspeakers of every store. There are hundreds of variations of these songs, each one progressively worse than the last. Every recycled Christmas commercial makes a comeback, like the gritty quality of the M&M commercial, which doesn't even fit the TV screen, and hasn't been updated since 1990.
Department store Santas have already taken their seats in their plastic thrones, overgrown elves forcing children to sit on the fat man's lap, while moms and dads try to capture the screams of their shrieking children. You can't walk down the street without passing a Frosty the Snowman inflatable, or a twiglike light up reindeer, which only moves when someone remembered to plug it in.
Starbucks has already been promoting their new holiday drinks, 2,000 calorie peppermint and diabetes infused over-priced coffees. Target stores have their finest Christmas decor on shelves, that entire Christmas corner full of tree ornaments that will set you back a pretty penny if you don't know how to control yourself.
When did Christmas get so commercialized? It's starting to look like another money-making holiday, which is supposed to be about love and romance, but is now about money and displaying these great acts of love and affection. You can't just give someone a meaningful gift without someone else saying, "well look at these grand gifts I've given to someone." It's a competition between who is the better gift-giver.
I remember when we used to look forward to the holidays when they started in December. Where I grew up in Miami, we had Santa's Enchanted Forest, the largest Christmas-themed amusement park, and it would open in December. Within a few years, it opened the day after Thanksgiving. Just a few years ago, the amusement park opened on Halloween. What. The. Hell.
The neighborhoods are filled with competing houses. Who can have the brightest house with the most outrageous light show? Who can have the biggest tree, so tall that the star on the top of the tree is crooked? Who can throw the best Christmas party with the most people and most alcohol? Who can give their bratty children the coolest Christmas presents that they can play with in front of the other neighborhood children?
What I'm trying to say is that I'm tired of seeing Christmas being commercialized. It's less about spending time with family and friends, and more about the material things and who can have a better Christmas. Didn't anyone see "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"? We're supposed to be happy and love each other without all the presents and decorations and expensive coffee. With the reboot coming out, you should all learn about the true meaning of Christmas- love, I think.
