please, no cutting allowed in the holiday line

wow.  my lovely bride pointed out that it has been almost a year since i posted on here!  looking back, i have no good excuse.  i have plenty of excuses such as no time, can't access my blog at work, etc., but no good ones!  well, there've been a few things bugging me here in the last weeks, so i decided to dust the old soapbox off and get a few things off my cyber-cyber chest, so to speak. 

my first post of the group is on the holidays.  many of you who have spent any time around me know that i have a strict policy concerning thanksgiving.  while it may be popular for retailers to decorate for CHRISTmas immediately following the fourth of july, and our neighbors may already have their lights and trees up, i remain adamant:  one holiday at a time!  much to the chagrin of my bride, who would love to follow suit and have our CHRISTmas decorations up (after all, we are only allowed to keep them up until january 15th, according to our housing agreement), i remain steadfast on my commitment to observe one holiday at a time.  i have been called scrooge, old-fashioned, and even silly, but until today, i was never questioned as to the reasoning for my stand, and i had never really had to answer it. 

so, what was my answer?  i know that is what you are thinking as you shiver with antici..........pation. 

while at first, my resistance was simply out of nostalgia for the past that i remembered as a kid, the magic in the air following thanksgiving and leading up to CHRISTmas day, but now, there is far more substance to my resistance than mere memories.  before i state my case, let me first say that i am not against CHRISTmas.  i believe as scrooge said in his tale, that CHRISTmas should be kept in our hearts all the year long.  what i am against, is the CHRISTmas rush that is forced upon us by over-amorous retailers trying to make money.  why am i against the rush?  it has to do with two principles that are in direct conflict with each other:  thankfulness and greed.

the problem with the current relationship of thanksgiving and CHRISTmas is that the rush starts earlier and earlier and thanksgiving becomes nothing more than a speed bump on the way to CHRISTmas.  in today's society of greed and entitlement, thanksgiving is not something that should be neglected or taken for granted.  yet every year, we are faced with a barrage of commercials and advertisements designed to initiate want and desire in us for things that we don't have, and usually don't need.  by the time the retailers are done, our desire for "stuff" gets misconstrued in our minds into need.  so instead of focusing on what we have and what we should be thankful for, we focus on what we don't have and become materialistic and selfish.  the stores know this, and throw their materialistic gasoline on the public's fire of desire for stuff, to the point that many stores now are opening at noon on thanksgiving for black friday sales.  thanksgiving has become nothing more than another shopping day. 

in the 1800s, the average kid received one, maybe two presents, which were usually something useful, such as new clothes for school.  today, we have families calling our marines working "toys for tots" with a list of extravagant items their kids want, and even have the audacity to get upset when they don't receive what they want!  we have truly become what the apostle paul prophecies, when he says in the last days, that men will be selfish, loving themselves more than God.  we have stripped what should be one of the most sacred holidays in the christian calendar and turned it into an occasion for one of the seven deadly sins:  greed.

i admire nordstrom for taking a stand and saying that they will not begin their CHRISTmas rush until after thanksgiving.  i had a friend from overseas tell me upon driving past a mini-storage facility, "americans have so much stuff they have to rent extra space to hold it all.  they have no idea of what it means to be in need!" 

so i choose not to focus on all of the propaganda and the allure of the lights and the decorations that serve as distractions from a time that should be focused on being thankful for the sometimes countless blessings that we have been given by God.  so this year, at thanksgiving, enjoy your turkey and football, and the time with family, and take a moment to take inventory of all of the things you have to be thankful for.  and especially be thankful for Christ, who was sent at CHRISTmas (which, by the way, was more than likely in the spring rather than in the winter, and sure not december 25th!), to die on good friday, and rise again, so that we could experience true freedom.