We are Desensitized to the Holiday Season
We’re not exactly at the Bah Humbug level quite yet, but this holiday season isn’t ‘rolling in the merry’ like it traditionally does for many of us.
And I think I’ve figured out why I’m no jolly old elf like I have been in the past.
I blame it on the stores…the ones that proudly displayed the Christmas decorations before we’d started trick or treating for Halloween.
They’ve desensitized us to the season because they’ve stretched it out so very long, almost like that old Stretch Man doll that my brothers begged for one Christmas many years ago. You could only pull that guy so far. I think you can say the same of this holiday, a period of time that used to last three weeks, four max. Now, it’s easily double that, thanks to the commercialization of Christmas.
They want this to be a ‘season of shopping’ and we’re just ready for it to be over already.
Not that we don’t find joy in the season, because we do, when sharing a holiday movie together, or enjoying a cookie made from a favorite Christmas recipe.
But the stores have had decorations up so long now, that, when we walk by, we can’t help but ask ourselves, ‘What’s that still doing there?’.
(Photo taken October 26, 2015)
It hit me just yesterday, as I walked by the lights and decorations outside our local Walmart. I realized it’s been up for so long that it just looks like part of the store’s exterior now.
It took a second to register that NOW is when it’s SUPPOSED to be there. And I barely noticed, because I’m so used to seeing it now.
And it’s the online guys, too. All the excitement that used to come with Black Friday was trumped by the sales that started Thanksgiving night. It left us confused and overwhelmed.
Then, the Cyber Monday sales somehow evolved to Cyber Week Specials.
Something tells me they’ll be Cyber Month Specials at this rate.
The end result?
Who knows what the sales will show once it’s all tallied up, but stretching out the holiday to before Halloween in hopes of improving sales is taking its toll on the holiday spirit, leaving us feeling immune to its impact at the very time when we should be feeling it most.
It’s enough to make you believe Christmas in July is a very real possibility.
To that, I do say Bah Humbug!
