Merry Commercial X-Mas

We have finally reached December but it feels like we have been in the midst of Christmas week for over a month now. Was it the quick changeover from Halloween candy to the red and green wrapped Hershey's kisses? Could it have been the supermarket decision making we needed to choose Apple Cider or Egg Nog to quench our thirst from raking? The answers, yes and yes, are not alone. The biggest tell tale sign that Christmas has become an over commercialized beast is the radio station switchovers to all Christmas music all the time. One Boston station (ahem WROR, ahem) switched to this format way back in early November.

Who the hell would keep them dialed in for 2 months a year for the same music that is forced down our throats in stores, restaurants and on the air waves every single year? There are no new Christmas "classics" (except comical parodies such as "Deez Nuts Roasting on an Open Fire", but I digress) churned out on a yearly basis. Instead, we are forced into listening to Jessica Simpson's rendition of O Holy Night or some other remake that only brings down the quality level each and every year. When will it all end? Do we have a date with destiny that will have us preset at least one station that will give us Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow in June?

It has been abundantly clear for some time now that Christmas and the holiday season in general is commercial insanity. Slap down $20 and you can sit on Santa's lap in the mall, only $15 more for a picture! Lights that go up after Thanksgiving and stay up until Memorial Day are growing
in popularity. Gift lists that include the post man to teachers to relatives and everyone in between. Hell, a person died at a Wal Mart because of people trying to get the best gifts on the mother of all Christmas jerk offs, Black Friday. People refused to leave the store even after being told someone had been killed, clamoring for that marked down flat screen or hottest toy. How far are people willing to go to get in tune with their inner "Christmas Spirit"?

There are a few reasons (outside of boozing and days off from work) that make a holiday great. It's a time to get together with family, eat some good food and relax. Christmas possesses these characteristics, at least on the actual day. It is the buildup to the 25th that worries me. Lining
up at 4am to shop for everyone on my list, hanging lights on your house while precariously hanging from your gutter and arranging travel all sound like the nightmare before Christmas to me. How does wrapping hundreds of gifts and putting on 10 pounds of cookie and egg nog weight
celebrate Jesus' birthday (that is the original reason for the day, you know) exactly?

I don't hate Christmas or the holiday season. There was a time when it was manageable and only surrounded me for a week a year. I would get some new stuff, light some lights, eat some good food and relax with family. Now we are stretching the day into 2 or 3 months of music, food
and gifts. I hate what has become of this time of year. Gross excess, the non stop, in-your-face action that has creeping closer and closer to Labor Day by the year. These are not what its all about, but what it has become all about.