Saturday, November 22, 2008

'Tis the Season.

It's the dreaded holiday season. The time of year when those of us who are displaced in society have to put on the happy face and wish others a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year, even though, as Lennon said in "Help" - I don't Subscribe to your religion.
Whatever that religion is. Something tells me the religion is guilt and the guilt plays itself out in the form of how large a pile of junk one can accumulate under a dead tree that somehow translates into the love mom and/or dad feels for their children. It's a sick and twisted society we live in.
I gave up on that concept in the mid-70s, once I realized that the silliness of the holiday didn't translate into actual love but artificial love. Love via Visa or MasterCard. It can be an enjoyable season, but it's for kids and couples and I find myself lacking in both, so for me, it's just another day on the calendar.
We will hear news stories of how this "holiday shopping season" is the worst ever because of what people tell us is "the economy." It's a nice excuse, but maybe what is happening is that people are realizing that the economic hardships are making them think about the largess they impose on others is unnecessary, much as they realized that driving became unnecessary once gasoline prices neared $4 a gallon.
It takes economic hardship to make people realize the spiraling nonsense they have found themselves in. Wasting gasoline is no different at $2 a gallon than it was at $4, just as a pile of junk on Christmas morning is no more or less useful now than before. But we believe that if we don't spend we don't love. That's sad.
Instead of a pile of stuff, try finding one thing that might mean more than the pile. Realize that more isn't necessarily better. Think before you buy and save wrapping paper and expensive gasoline. It's the same story every year, and now more than ever it's time to reign in the spending and take a look in the mirror at what we've become. Stop doing what they tell you to do.
Take it from an outsider - they'll still love you after Christmas, even if you don't max-out your credit limit. And most of all, you'll feel better about yourself. So, fuck 'em if they can't take it. The sooner they learn the harsh realities of life, the better.
Besides, there are 364 other days in the year.

12 comments:

kimmyk said...

our families aren't "doing" christmas this year...we're just "getting together and having dinner as a family". which is how it should have always been all along.

of course i will buy my kids gifts, cause i will, but my children have also had the "chat" about the economy and it's trickle down effect and sadly since they are just above the dogs in the food chain i like to call my immediate family, they know santa isn't going to be as generous as previous years. and they're okay with that. and i'm glad they're okay with that. just means they get it. which is good.

i dont know what a bukkake site is. i gotta google that word. hold on. oh for fucks sake anthony. good lord. OMG. i still can't believe that ecards. gah.
no.

kimmyk said...

sometimes out of no where you completely baffle me....but i'm sure keeping ole kimmyk in ohio guessing is a good thing, right? but still...the shit i have learned over the past 10 years of being on the internet has forever changed me.

Firestarter5 said...

I can show you those free sites...

susan said...

Brilliant. Why aren't there any smart NJ boys in my neck of the woods , Anthony?

Anthony said...

kimmyk: I think your kids are ahead of the economic curve. I'd be willing to wager that the vast majority of kids growing up in these small castles their parents have mortgaged to the eyeballs are expecting more of the same this year.

FS5: I may take you up on that.

susan: I was dropped on my head as a child when I fell from space. Just happened to land in NJ, completely out of touch with the rest of the state.

kimmyk said...

i'm not surprised that firestarter5 offers to give up the addy for the free sites.

firestarter5 = porn peddler.

misery loves company. and so do porn hounds apparently. stay strong anthony and dont let him take you down that path of despair and destruction.

shame on you firestarter5...shame.on.you.
(i still love ya though-okay both of ya)

Handsome B. Wonderful said...

Preach on brother!!! Lori and I are a couple and we don't like Christmas but we're not your "normal couple."

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this post! Thanks for the picture! Thanks for the bukkake card, but no thanks...

Anthony said...

Aw, c'mon ... it's free! :)

Anonymous said...

I LOVE this picture! It's so suggestive! A caption could be: Suffocation. If the tree was still alive (conditional II), this treatment would be its death sentence: tied up in chains, smothered unter all the "gifts". (I can't help thinking of the German word "Gift" here, which means "poison".)

Anthony said...

It's like an iceberg tree. All that shows is the top 20%.

The poison = gift thing is kind of freaky.

Kate Michele said...

the boys get two gifts from us every year and one is a together gift. this is how we started it so its all they know.

they also know that after thanksgiving we go through their toys and give them to little boys who arent as lucky as they are.

i see things differently than most parents, i also dont shop at abercrombie and fitch spending 100.00 for jeans for a 4 yr old haha

xoxoxo