Welcome to Early Holiday Cheer

Thanks, I hate it.

Yesterday marked the first instance of me hearing a Christmas song on the radio. Couple that with the unexpected snow storm on Thursday (or not so unexpected if anyone in the east coast had been paying attention to the forecast) and I am already done with this whole holly jolly season. People were putting up their Christmas lights while taking down their Halloween decorations for pete’s sake!

Am I salty about this?

Maybe.

Am I thoroughly annoyed?

Most definitely.

It’s the same every year, Halloween ends and Christmas takes over. Thanksgiving has turned into the holiday to get ready to shop for Christmas. Black Friday isn’t any fun anymore when store open on 4:00pm Thanksgiving Day.

Granted it’s still a lot of fun to watch people fighting over the latest trending toy when their four year old is probably more interested in the box anyway.

I'm just kind of done with the early holiday celebrations. I may love Halloween, but I don't want my pumpkin spice latte in August...it's too hot for a latte in August anyway. It's like we're trying to make up for the lack of major holidays in the last three months of the year.

Sure there's Valentine's Day, Easter, May Day (if your city celebrates it), St. Patrick's Day is fun, and there's always a ton of stuff going on for Independence Day, but do we as Americans really celebrate those holidays the same way we do Christmas?

No...though I'd make an argument for Halloween.

What draws us to the Christmas holiday season?

It's not like everyone in our country even celebrates Christmas. There's Hanukkah or Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Yule, and Festivus (for the rest of us) that are also celebrated in December. Some families even celebrate more than one holiday.

But we're not inundated with Festivus songs and movies. It's Christmas. We don't get Yule ads. It's Christmas.

Not to mention it's all so dang happy!

I don't mean to be a Scrooge or a Grinch, but can't we enjoy Thanksgiving without hearing the dreaded ballad that is The Christmas Shoes. I beg of the Universe - not the song A Christmas Shoes!

I actually do like Christmas songs...though I prefer the religious ones to the more secular pleas to Santa. I like seeing the holiday lights, especially if there's snow on the ground. I like buying gifts for my family and giving to the people who might not have as much as me. I like the flavors. I like the feasts.

I have a lot of fond memories of Christmas.

Which might be what everyone is trying to invoke.

As a child Christmas and the holiday season was exciting and magical. Anything was possible because of a baby being born and a jolly man dressed in red leaving us gifts under an evergreen tree. A mean nasty man could have his icy heart melted to become the best of us.

Christmas and the holiday season now isn't as magical. In fact, I'm more apt to fall into a depression than I am to feel cheerful or happy at this time of year. Instead of feeling strongly connected to my loved ones, I feel disconnected and set adrift. My emotional needs are no longer simple, but more complex than ever.

And I'm not alone in these feelings. Lots of people experience holiday or winter blues.

I sometimes think it would help me if the world outside my personal bubble was a little less holiday crazy. No Christmas music before December 1st. Keep the decorations down until Black Friday. Less focus on shopping and more time spent volunteering.

So to everyone who has their holiday cheer ready the day after Halloween.

Thanks...I hate it.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to the Holiday Blues

Christmas is supposed to be "the most wonderful time of the year." At least that's what the radio, movies, advertisements, and the media keep telling me. It's a time to spend with family and friends. To share and create memories.

So how come I've been feeling so down?

I'm not going to lie. I cried almost every day this week. It seems silly right?

Part of me was realizing that I needed to upgrade my tech and how pretty soon, everything I own will become obsolete. This should have been an obvious realization. After all, change seems to be the only constant in my life. Anyone who has ever seen an ad for Radio Shack from the 90s knows that everything they used to sell individually is available in a smartphone and/or laptop.

Did you guys know that the last VHS player was built in Japan this year? Yeah, VHS is pretty much gone know. If you have a bunch of home movies, you might want to consider making digital copies. Apple is ditching the analog headphones with their latest iPhone. DVDs players are become less common. Not to mention that kids today have no idea what a floppy disk is (they just think it's a universal symbol for "save").

I think the reason I'm so sensitive to all these changes is because I'm finally realizing how quickly time goes by when I'm not paying attention. I didn't realize until very recently that my loyal laptop from college was pushing seven years. It still works, but it's definitely having issues.

Ten years no long seems like a long time. When I was 15, I felt completely different from how I was at the age of 5. I can't say the same thing about looking back at my teens from my mid-twenties. I think a part of me realizes how much time has passed. I've grown a lot since I graduated college and even more since I graduated high school.

It probably doesn't help that I'm still constantly being mistaken as a teenager.


Feeling down at this time of year is not unusual. Between mass consumerism and realizing how much time has passed since you last had the time to take a breather. Time seemed endless as a kid. I felt like I had all the time in the world. I thought I could do anything and everything.

While setting up my Christmas decorations and cleaning my apartment, I found some of my old journals. I started rereading some of them. There's a lot of bad spelling and I had horrible handwriting, but it was interesting to see my inner thoughts as an 11 year old. I mostly wrote about food (go figure right).

As much as I would love to go back and relive all the good times and visit with friends and family who have passed away, I can't. I can only move forward. It's tough to let go of things and sometimes I've just got to accept the feelings I feel (crying and all) and be thankful for what is happening in the present.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week...which also happens to be Christmas.