The True Meaning of the Holiday Season

[Victoria]

Ok everybody, I don't think that I'm alone in this argument. Every year it becomes more clear to me that the holidays have lost all of their true meaning. Until I joined the Budzu Crew, I worked retail for five years. In this time, I noticed that a company increasing its sales profits was the only true objective for the holiday season. A week before Halloween, I was grocery shopping and low and behold, as I walked in the door to Wal-Mart, I saw a fully decorated eight foot Christmas tree! It really wasn't a suprise, but, it still made me very ill. Gone are the days when the holidays were about togetherness and helping with the family dinner. Now, everything has become all about material needs and wondering if you should get your spouse an iPhone or an iPod. Hopefully, one day, the original values of this most cherrished time can be restored back to its original intentions.

[bill grimes jr]

So true Victoria. To me, the holidays are about my children and enjoying the precious little time I have to spend with them in this corporate driven world. Thanks for sharing my friend.

:-)

[Victoria]

I couldn't agree more!

bill grimes jr said:

So true Victoria. To me, the holidays are about my children and enjoying the precious little time I have to spend with them in this corporate driven world. Thanks for sharing my friend.

:-)

[A.R.Keith]

I think Christmas only loses its meaning if we let it. I don't mean to go all Charlie Brown, but I truly believe that. I'm not a Christian, so I don't mean in the sense of "Jesus is the Reason for the Season." My family didn't really celebrate it...in fact, the short story I wrote for the Feb. edition pretty much is what a REALLY festive holiday would be for my family. And, I really envied the families around me with their traditions. So, when I became an adult (read: had it thrust upon me by my two children) I said to myself "My kids are getting Christmas, darn it!" Thus came Christmas socks. Every year we get goofy socks and wear them in a very show-offy manner. And, we watch all the specials. I love them just as much as I love watching cheesy, low budget horror flicks. I paint cards for everyone and sew or crochet presents. I make gift baskets filled with goodies. I only ever BUY presents for the people truly close to me, because I know what they really want. Everyone else actually seems to love my home made presents, in fact I continue to see them displayed or used for years afterward. So, December, I never see the mall (and avoiding Wal-Mart is a year round mission of mine). I never let myself get bombarded with all the fakeness and stress. I make beautiful things, I let myself be a kid, and yes....I get very drunk when the kids are in bed and the adults are free to party. (My main rule: Holidays are an excuse to party and you should party whenever possible.) So, yeah, I sort of threw out the Christmas rule book and made my own traditions. I love it. :)