.jpg)
Pop Goes The World
We really have Macy’s to blame for this. The retail giant established its Thanksgiving Day Parade as a way to kick off the holiday season and bring customers to its store in New York City’s Herald Square. Initially marionettes were used in the parade, but as the crowds grew, no one could see them. So the idea of putting puppets in the air in the form of balloons came about. I don’t know why I have to explain this to you, Christmas. I mean, you should know your own history.
Halloween is tomorrow. Halloween is trying to be a lot like you, Christmas. The holiday has always had its own songs and its own decorations, but now it’s more than just one day. Time was that Halloween candy was something that children filled their bags with just on Oct. 31. Now the month of October is chock full of trunk-or-treats so children are getting their candy fix many times before Halloween. I also noticed that the Halloween commercials began airing in September.
Christmas, you should know that I love Halloween too, but I will never love it as much as I love you. When I’m out on the streets of Lexington taking pictures of the trick-ortreaters, I’m secretly thinking about people gathering for the Christmas parade in two months.
I remember when I was growing up, the Sears catalog would always arrive in the mail a couple months before you, Christmas. I know the postmen must have dreaded the day the catalog came out because each one weighed about as much as a fourth-grader. The cover always featured a cherubic child with blond hair looking at a Christmas tree as though it were the most miraculous thing ever witnessed. I can still remember the smell of the pages, a combination of fresh ink and sweat from the poor postal carrier who had been lugging those catalogs in a sack all over town.
Oh, Christmas! What a thrill it was to get that catalog! I’d circle all the things I wanted Santa to bring me. I knew I wouldn’t get that Barbie pool or that Barbie camper, but I’d probably at least get a Barbie and some clothes for her to wear.
I remember too when I was in junior choir, we would start rehearsing for the cantata at church while we were still in shorts and T-shirts. It seemed so weird to be singing about the holly and the ivy while there were still green leaves on the trees. The songs we practiced made us look forward to your arrival, Christmas. Not only would we be out of school for a while, but we’d also be getting presents!
I have to admit, Christmas. I do incorporate some of your elements into Thanksgiving festivities. After dinner is served, it’s time to crash in the living room and watch “White Christmas.” For the next two hours I’m commenting on Vera-Ellen and Rosemary Clooney’s costumes and singing along to the songs. And if I’m feeling especially ambitious, I’m thinking about going down to the basement and retrieving the tree.
Last year the tree was up the day after Thanksgiving. It wasn’t decorated, but it was assembled and plugged in. It’s the same pre-lit artificial tree we’ve had for over a decade.
I didn’t decorate much for Halloween this year. Normally I fill the entertainment center in the living room with all sorts of spooky things I’ve collected over the years. My heart wasn’t in it this year, Christmas. I placed a couple ceramic pumpkins on the front porch and put a gothlooking wreath on the door. There’s too much real scary stuff going on in the world to augment it further with faux frights.
Christmas, I just want to wake up in a world that is not so troubled. Every day there’s a new area of the globe that’s exploding and there’s rubble where there was once a building that housed humans who are now displaced or among the dead.
Perhaps we do need a little of you, Christmas, right this very moment. And not just your tinsel, your pretty lights and presents under the tree. We need your peace on Earth and your good will to everyone. We need to put hatred aside and embrace each other as brothers and sisters no matter the time of year. We all live on this one planet and once it’s destroyed, the tombstone on it will not be a plastic decoration that can be put away once Halloween is over.
Dear Christmas, I have loved you for as long as I can remember. I love everything about you – your songs, your decorations, your cookies and candies. And because I love you so much, I have some advice for you that you should take to heart: Stay in your lane!
Christmas, it is not your time yet. In the Bible we are told that to everything there is a season and your season has not arrived yet. Technically Christmas is just one day of the year, but now because of our consumerdriven economy, the Christmas season starts as soon as the Thanksgiving leftovers are put away.
