The Holiday Rush
Thanksgiving just passed and Christmas is on the way with lots of decorations and displays to dazzle us! I remember back in early Fall when the first Christmas decorations came out! Halloween hadn’t even happened yet and Christmas trees were up in some department stores! By the beginning of January, all Christmas tokens will be down and we will see Valentine’s displays and likely even a hint or two of Easter decorations. We’re “holidayed” out before the holiday even arrives!
Reasoning for this phenomenon centers around the economic upheaval we’ve all witnessed worldwide; but they also claim it allows shoppers the opportunity to begin placing desired items on lay away, which allows ample time to pay for the purchases.
I wonder, however, if we aren’t rushing our lives away, in nearly every way imaginable. We are so concerned about the next “event” we miss the now! We rush to work, often over the speed limit because we were running behind; do as much as possible in the workplace, as quickly as possible, until lunch time; eat a fast food lunch, rush home, and rush through the events of the evening, which often includes a trip to a child’s ballet recital, or sports practice, to finally drop into bed from sheer exhaustion; and then start the process all over again the next morning. (Granted this is altered a bit due to COVID-19 but my point remains the same!)
I chatted with an old acquaintance, who married an older man, who had a college age daughter. Several years after their marriage, she became pregnant. They were overjoyed and blessed with a baby girl. When the child was about a year old, the family was staggered by the death of the father from a massive heart attack. Love surrounded the mother and family as they struggled to regain some semblance of normalcy, despite the grief. A week after the funeral, the family had yet another surprise. The young woman was stunned to learn she was pregnant again. Panic eventually was exchanged for joy as she realized she was going to be blessed with another child; this time, she learned, a boy. As she and I chatted, she shared that while she was excited, she was also frightened.
What does she care about the next holiday? She has greater worries, as most of us do, yet we are inundated with decorations for the next holiday, regardless of how unimportant it may be. Her focus isn’t on New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, or St. Patrick’s Day which is still months away. It’s on how she is going to provide for her daughter and upcoming newborn. So why is the business world so intent on flooding our senses with a pounding of the next holiday? Aside from purely economic strategy, I can’t answer that one. Personally, waiting until two or three weeks out from a holiday is soon enough to begin the onslaught of decorations that signal the upcoming event.
What is more important, is making sure our family knows they are loved, regardless of how much money we spend on celebrating a holiday. I’ve learned the holiday will arrive whether we decorate or not. It is a day on the calendar that someone decided was important. There are those celebrations of our faith which we should and do recognize, like Christmas and Easter. Many of these in our cultural world, however, have lost their religious value and are replaced with only monetary worth. Perhaps if we reflected on the real reason for the celebration without all the glitz and glamour that has been added, we may find reason to cherish the holiday even more.