If you're like me, you're counting down the seconds until you can get out of that boring class you're sitting in, go home and eat some turkey. And maybe after a day around the dinner table and watching football, you'll consider getting up at the crack of dawn on Friday morning to go shopping with a bunch of other fools.
Every holiday season gets more ridiculous than the last one. Black Friday acts as an outstanding indicator that this country has completely lost its mind.
It's been said that we miss the true meaning behind the holidays and get caught up in the spectacle of spending and shopping. It's true. But why? Getting caught up in the commercialization of the holidays isn't really worth it.
What could possibly compel someone to get up at 4:30 a.m. and hit a grandma over the head just to get the last Xbox 360 in the store?
As a child, I don't remember seeing people get violent over an Easy Bake Oven or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bed sheets. Nowadays, watching insane parents hunt down and pay incredible amounts of money for the magical holiday toy for their child is always a holiday favorite. In many ways, the toys appear to have more holiday spirit than the parents wanting to buy them. Just a few years ago, I watched as two mothers snarled at each other in a toy store, each pulling opposite sides of a Tickle Me Elmo box while Elmo just shook in ecstasy saying "Oh boy! That tickles!"
Each year I find myself looking around the stores wondering which pop artist hasn't released a Christmas album that makes me want to poke my eardrums out with a pencil. First it was the Backstreet Boys, then it was Christina Aguilera, and last year it was Clay Aiken. If this is evolution in music, I believe that we'll find Ashlee Simpson's lip-synched version of "Ave Maria" on store shelves in a few days.
For those that can't get their fill on this year's new dish of musical disaster, there will be one song that will quickly become overplayed this season like it does every year: Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" will became the anthem of couples for the holidays, and those who are single will once again ask themselves why Christmas has anything to do with being a couple.
When it comes down to it, there's not much in the way of toys or music that is worth buying during any holiday season. I'm excited to see that there's no big, must-have toy this year. And besides, with most of us are in our late teens and early 20s, our gifts are slowly starting to resemble gifts that adults get. I find myself asking my family for not another set of Legos, but for a four-pack of Brita filters and a few new dress shirts.
The commercialization around the holiday season has turned our attitudes into the opposite of what they should be. Most people go out of their way to be nice for the season, yet revert to their old ways after the joy has passed and cabin fever has settled in. We get short with those who aren't gift wrapping our presents fast enough or when lines get too long. We get discouraged when our family doesn't give us the presents or attention we quietly demand.
The holidays, for many people, just give us another excuse to complain about the actions of others.
Those of us who celebrate Christmas like to think we know everything there is to know about Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, but we really just mention them after Christmas for the sake of political correctness and pretend we know what these holidays mean.
We're all excited for the holidays, but we should take the time to realize there's really no reason to get worked up over this holiday season. There's no gift that should compromise our temper or our sanity. There's no reason we should ruin the holiday by helping to fuel ridiculous commercialization. Instead, we should learn to just take it easy around the holidays, eat some candy canes or gelt, and watch some National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. The last thing we should do is try and rush the entire holiday season into one day.
