More Power To You!

In this day and age when everything tends to irritate everyone it is easy to cast the first stone. Here we sit, a few short days from Halloween, and already that one neighbor is putting out the Christmas lights. Yes. Like many of you I remember the days when Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas were three separate holidays. No more. Blame it on a culture that is motivated by marketing if you want but the result is the “Holiday Season”. Christmas movies showing alongside the traditional Halloween thrillers, advertisements touting the necessary baking accessories for Thanksgiving and beyond appearing while I was still using my air conditioning on a regular basis. My pumpkin is still largely intact as I am dragging my Christmas tree through the front door and heaven help you if you run out of candy on Halloween because all you will find in the stores are little chocolate jingle bells.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not a holiday hater. I love all three holidays and my season of joy really starts with the lighting of the jack o lantern. And maybe that is the point. Maybe in this push and shove world what we are really looking for is a little more joy. The unabridged kind that comes only with special days and by prolonging our celebration time we can lose a little more of ourselves in something simple and joyful. Now we have three months to smile and remember all that we loved about this time of year instead of just a few short weeks of build up.

This morning I awoke to hear another speech on the horror of the religious shooting that took place this weekend. It is difficult for me to wake up to the news even though I consider myself a news junkie. I need a few moments to steel myself for the world. I used to pop up and turn on the news to start my day but now I leave the television off as much as I can in the mornings and late at night so the worst of the real world is not the first or last thing I see and does not set the tone for my day. Since when do we shoot people just because they do not agree with our view of the world? Apparently the trend has taken hold and that is the absolutely saddest thing about our era of political correctness. We all believe that we are right and with right on our side we are justified in whatever action we take.

So, If hanging the Christmas lights when the Halloween jack o lantern is still smiling is your thing I say more power to you. If the worst irritant is hearing Christmas song before Thanksgiving then the world is pretty good. Beats the heck out of random shootings or not so random shootings. Years ago my mother made the decision to have her home decorated for Christmas by Thanksgiving Day. At first it seemed a little strange to eat turkey in the same room as Christmas tree but eventually I go used to it and now I even anticipate turning on the tree while putting away the turkey leftovers. What can I say? We have embraced the celebration of the season. Bring on the music and commercials. Bring on the lights and the tinsel. Bring on the turkey. We will eat it with gusto and have our Halloween candy left overs for dessert. Who am I kidding? There are never any left overs. How do you think I knew that the Christmas candy was in the stores on Halloween evening? Facing the holiday season, no matter how much of a Grinch you might be, is much better than facing the real world. Happy Halloween from the Jefferson County Post! Hope you and yours have a safe and happy holiday!