A relaxing start to the Christmas season
Our Christmas tree is up. This is a record for us. Usually it takes us two to three weeks -- the month of December -- to decorate it, and most of that time is taken up by picking up ornaments the dogs and cats have batted away.
Of course, like most people I know, I still have plenty to do for the season. I've got to lay out the village, shop for presents, pen the Christmas cards etc. etc. Yet, I've scaled back those duties considerably. The immediate family, for instance, does a gift exchange, and I've given away lots of the houses in my village. (It had become a megalopolis.)
The last couple of years I've been trying to get the season back to basics: peace, goodwill and time with the family. And you know what? I enjoy the holidays so much more this way.
Of course, like most people I know, I still have plenty to do for the season. I've got to lay out the village, shop for presents, pen the Christmas cards etc. etc. Yet, I've scaled back those duties considerably. The immediate family, for instance, does a gift exchange, and I've given away lots of the houses in my village. (It had become a megalopolis.)
The last couple of years I've been trying to get the season back to basics: peace, goodwill and time with the family. And you know what? I enjoy the holidays so much more this way.
posted by Ana Veciana-Suarez at 8:33 AM
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1 Comments:
Ana, you are right on target. It is simply natural to relate holidays with family, peace, and spiritual well-being. This is something that I have been doing for years and as everyone in my family enjoys it better this way-- we all spend less and less on gifts and shopping as the years pass. Notice on network news how the first and only thing reported for holidays is the shopping craze and how they relate the DOW and S&P figures. In most cases it's at the top of the news.
It is well-known that in the US the holiday spirit is marketed as a business tool for retail companies to boost profits in year's end quarter. Now, wouldn't it be nice that just for even one year; consumers would retain the holidays as merely a time to spend it with family and just cut the shopping bill to half or more.
As unlikely this would occur; networks would report it as something bad and un-American. As always, a sign that the good ol' Federal Reserve is just trying to save itself.
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