Christmas Antics

Sometimes I get really overwhelmed and pissed off about Christmas. These are my reasons:

1. On Christmas I receive a lot of presents and the true comfortableness of my financial status comes to light and it makes me really nervous. I don't like to think of myself as well-off, but on Christmas I am really well-off. I choose to think of myself as existing in moderation. I want to work moderately, spend moderately, drink moderately, etc. On Christmas nothing seems moderate.



2. Last Minute shopping is the worst! It is pointless to give a gift that you have no desire to give but do it because you are supposed to. Why does everyone have to be so polite? It just makes a lot of people pissed off in the end because things didn't go how they were "supposed to." It is like having to invite certain people to YOUR wedding because other people are going and you have to invite them if you invite someone related to them. These are supposed to be free and personal decisions. You should be able to invite people to your wedding if you want to and give a gift if you want to or NOT.



3. Exterior decorations. I can understand festiveness, a couple of strands of lights here and there. I can understand decorating as a hobby too, relating to art or as a kind of obsession. But having 15 or more giant inflatable Christmas decorations on your lawn is not a hobby. It is just plain wrong. At a minimum of 50 dollars a piece, that is 500+ dollars that could have been spent on something useful. Why blow it all on looks? Give a cold kid a coat for cripes sake.



4. The must have hot item of the gift giving season. The first time I learned about Christmas season shopping was when Tickle Me Elmo was big in 1996. Wikipedia of Tickle Me Elmo I couldn't turn on the radio without hearing about a Tickle Me Elmo contest. This article describes the toy's success as kind of fluke and I bet some people got very rich and love Tickle Me Elmo for that. Economic Investigation on Tickle Me Elmo phenom But Tickle Me Elmo was only cute for a week at home, and then he got annoying. He is probably sitting lonely on the tops of kids bunk beds with the My Buddys and Kid Sisters. My mom said that's how it was with cabbage patch dolls... CRAZE-y. But this year was much worse than a Walmart worker suffering a broken rib and a consussion. A woman is dead after all...
   
   This story is about a mother who died after she tried to win a Nintendo Wii for the 2006 Christmas season. Associated Press article about mother who dies in radio contest for Nintendo Wii It says she had 3 kids who I bet would rather have a mother than a Nintendo Wii. Isn't it easy to understand that the Elmos will be sold after Christmas and that enough Nintendo Wiis will be kicked out to meet buyer demands? Why is everyone in such a hurry? Article Comparing Contest to College Hazing Death