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This is best time of year anyway
(by Barbara Christian - December 04, 2008)
WINDOW ON MAIN STREET, BY BARBARA CHRISTIAN
This is best time of year anyway
Hate to go all Scrooge on you. That's the last thing we want to be called this time of year. But ...
Seems that, in the age of enlightenment, some of us still have an issue with what name we give to this time of the year. It used to be so effortless when we were kids. For one thing, we didn't have to be politically correct and call this time of year "the holidays." The most obtuse it got was when some retailer used the word "Yuletide."
Heck, I'm Jewish, and I don't mind saying "Christmas" one bit. You will recall that Christ was one of our boys.
Now, we see the "H" word used more often, but it's so generic, and it just doesn't trip off the tongue as beautifully as Christmas. Hanukkah, even with its hard "h" sound, and Kwanzaa are fun to say. But now, they all come under the "holiday" umbrella.
Another thing that should sadden every single person when it comes to this time of year is that Thanksgiving gets lost in the shuffle. Halloween almost gets devoured in the rush.
This year, it was 70 degrees and two weeks before Halloween, and the stores were awash in red and green. "We were told to do it," the store manager said when we pointed out that the timing was bad.
Do retailers really think that customers are more willing to buy, buy, buy when they get in your face before the autumn wood smoke has cleared the air? If anything, it should give new resolve to savor our autumn holidays before crashing headlong into winter solstice. That, by the way, is another name we are seeing more of these days.
Perhaps we could form a union of shoppers who agree not to set foot in a store for the purpose of gift buying until after back-to-school promotions, Halloween candy buying and the Thanksgiving turkey is disposed of. We of the shoppers union should also agree to put the TV on "mute" when one of the big-box stores shrills their buy, buy, buy message. Even a TV marathon of "It's A Wonderful Life" isn't worth the harangue.
And what happened to the goodwill this season was supposed to be about? The floundering airline industry got Grinch-like when it decided to get into the retail business. Most will charge you for the extras and the amenities. Frivolous stuff like luggage.
It's probably cheaper to Fed-Ex or UPS your luggage to its destination, and it probably would even get there.
But for all annoyances of this time of year, there is the good stuff. That includes the season's greetings cards. Our favorite over the years has come from "Ed and Harriet." We have no idea who they are, and they obviously send them to the wrong address, but I still look forward to their annual greeting.
Sadly, with postage costing what it does, it is getting more expensive to send cards than buy them. Even for good old Ed and Harriet.
We are told retailers are going to have a hard time this year, and we feel for them, but we can only spend so much. For most of us, it's going to be a season of less. No matter. It's still the best time of year.
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