NO Christmas trees before Thanksgiving, you holiday-ruining turkeys!

There really should be a law about playing Christmas songs before Thanksgiving, at least.

The commercialism and forced yuletide cheer is annoying enough without bombarding us with Saccharin-sweet ditties that were stale and headache-inducing when our grandparents were young, for crying out loud.

How many times, people, can you really listen to Alvin the Chipmunks sing about Hula Hoops and the holidays?

Even before Halloween, the big box stores were stocking the shelves with fake trees, ornaments and all the other Christmas detritus.

Let us progress, as the holiday deities intended, to Thanksgiving and then, if you must, start flocking the pine and/or plastic trees and caroling, or braving the manic aisles of the toy stores, etc.

So, it should be no surprise at all that I am a Facebook fan of Playing Christmas music BEFORE Thanksgiving is ANNOYING!
That's where the awesome cartoons come from.

Finally, a place to give vent to my primordial Scrooge.

Some wisdom from the site:

"Everytime a Christmas Tree is lit before Thanksgiving, a baby reindeer is drowned by an angry elf."

The HallowThankMas Marathon of Greed

Two-thirds of the way through the corporately homogenized *HalloThankMas season: a veritable blur of consumerism on steroids, appeals to greed and gadgets as the keys to happiness. 

It can be . . . maddening, depressing, frustrating and leave your soul black and blue. And if you watched TV news coverage of "Black Friday" -- and mobs lined up to scrum through the doors for a bargain on electronics, toys and whatever else will not survive the first week of January as a source of visceral joy -- you know this "happiest of seasons" can leave you physically black and blue, too.

Or bleeding, in the hospital, with a bullet in your gullet.

Still, I refuse to surrender Christmas to commercialism in my heart. And, that's where the message, and person of the season should live, thrive and be honored . . . if we do that, it should gush out of us in patience, understanding, love and generosity of spirit, action and thought. 

It should; but that, my friends, is entirely up to us.

 

 *HalloThankMas: OK, I made it up. Musing over how goblins, turkeys, elves and Santa seemed to have merged into one, months-long orgy of spending and partying, I even suggested just coming with with a suitable mascot . . . perhaps a vampire turkey in a red suit.

 

 

'Life of Pi,' no pumpkin pie . . . but still a nice Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner at IHOP this year,just Barb and me. Couldn't make it work with the family this time of year -- life and work and priorities just didn't mesh to do it on "the day."
So, will be doing post-Thanksgiving Japanese food with my son and his sweet wife on Saturday. And, we're "thankful" for that.
But this Thanksgiving Day, we but shared with a happy Pacific Island family, a young Latino couple and their baby, a couple of old folks (well, older than we are). 
The turkey was moist, dressing was tasty, broccoli steamed nicely.
We also saw "The Life of Pi." WOW. My head is still spinning, and both of us had tears in our eyes. Amazing acting, seamless special effects, beautiful film work. A nice departure from the assembly-line Hollywood pablum that stretches perception, and humanity.
And, I'm talking about the regular movie format, not the 3-D. I would imagine that would be something else, just as wonderful for different reasons. 
So, of course, I now must read the novel by Yann Martel from which the movie drew it's inspiration. It's a commitment I made to myself as a young man, beginning with seeing "Little Big Man." 
And yes, as great as that movie was, the book by Thomas Berger was better. Same with John Irving's "World According to Garp," and while the "Lord of the Rings" movies were wonderful (and I look forward to seeing "The Hobbit" soon), I'm sorry, J.R.R. Tolkien's writing, genius and story-telling stand alone as art.

Challenges, yes. Still, the best Thanksgiving, ever.

A tough year. And, the best Thanksgiving, ever.
Seems unlikely, looking at 2012 in cynical perspective. The near-miss with what would've been a massive, instantly deadly cardiac event. Open-heart surgery to replace the failed aortic valve, and a long (still ongoing) recovery.
Having to face the darkness and drawn-out grief of Alzheimer's, and the need to move my folks into assisted living.
The hard decision, made inevitable by Washington residency requirements for guardianship, to see my big (older)-little (mentally disabled by cerebral palsy) sister become a ward of the state.
Callie, my best furry friend, claimed by cancer long before her time.
But, perspective is the key. Always has been.
And when I look at the blessings, instead of the challenges, this has been a great year:
I'm alive, and getting stronger and healthier all the time, the Grim Reaper fended off indefinitely.
My folks, having adjusted to their move, now seem happy and are safe and provided for, even as their bodies and minds leave this existence and are resurrected in the broader, eternal realm of Love that comes next.
My sister is in a group home where the staff cares, and is happy with her life and sheltered workshop duties.
Callie -- I was able to say goodbye to my sweet-natured border collie, holding her head in my hands and speaking words of love as the light faded from her trusting eyes.
And then there's my daughter, Brenda, finding love, a new husband and a little daughter . . . giving Barb and me a wonderful son-in-law, and a sweet granddaughter to bless our family . . . already blessed by a wonderful daughter-in-law and grandson.
So, yes. This is the best Thanksgiving, ever.