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Saturday, November 04, 2006

Fall-ing


I officially acknowledge that it is fall. The leaves have changed and are falling in alarming numbers. Last week I dragged out the leaf sucker and sucked leaves off from my driveway in the midst of a hail storm. A man has got to do what a man has got to do.

Sucking up leaves with a leaf sucker and turning them into mulch is a far cry from the endless raking and burning my father engaged in. I have to admit that I do have fond memories of waiting until my father had raked a huge pile of leaves and then running out from the corner of the house and jumping into the pile, scattering the leaves to the wind. The only downside (other than my dad trying to catch us and smack our butts) was jumping into a pile of leaves and discovering dog crap had been raked up into the pile as well. I suppose it was karma (or dogma considering the source of the crap).

But I digress.

What I really find disconcerting about the fall is the media and business world's desire to push it aside as quickly as possible and get to Christmas. There is nothing like seeing Halloween and Christmas decorations side by side in the stores. Remember when Thanksgiving got at least a few decorations sporting Pilgrims shooting turkey's at the stores. Now it's Thanksgiving? Who needs Thanksgiving?

Pretty soon the baby Jesus is going to be shown going door to door in a Ninja costume trick or treating accompanied by Mary and Joseph dressed in Pilgrim outfits to help cement the holidays into one big mega retail push for the advertising world. Throw in some hearts and flowers and we can take over Valentines Day, too.

Christmas is one day a year, yet much of Western Civilization's retail world depends upon it fund their bottom line for the entire year. There is something seriously wrong with basing our economy on a bastardized Christian holiday artificially celebrating the birth of Jesus. And ironically, more people probably associate the holiday with Santa Claus, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Burl Ives than with Jesus.

But I digress again.

Aren't the fall leaves beautiful?

5 comments:

Whitesnake said...

Fall..........?????
Did you hurt yourself?
Its spring and getting close to summer...........
as for Christmas.....ho hum.......
Stuff was out late September........
such is life.........then they hang ya

Anonymous said...

When are American's going to just GET OVER IT? What's with this once a year spending orgy that I suppose parents are using to prove they "love" their children? Hell, I think a birthday is a more than adequate excuse to get someone a gift, but if they insist on "celebrating" Christmas, then it ought to be returned to what it was made up for and go to church and thank God he sent someone for us to nail to a cross to take out our repressed anger at divinty.
We can buy our endless array of STUFF any friggin time of the year, we don't have to go bankrupt at the end of it with these mindless spending sprees.

As far as fall goes.......could I borrow your leaf sucker? These leaves are inviting me to the dance and I don't want to go!

Time said...

Lights, that's thinking outside the box. I'll start designing the cards now. We'll split the profits 95/5 (me being the the 95 percent of course).

Whitesnake, I forgot your seasons are backwards in Australia. I think "Such is life...then they hang ya" would be a great sentiment for our first Hallothankchristgivingmasween Card.

THE Michael, You may want to rethink giving up being Dances with Leaves. It is that time of year.

Hayden said...

Pah on all of the standard movies. I associate Christmas with the Nightmare Before Christmas. And I can't WAIT to watch it again.

Time said...

Hayden, in the spirit of Hallothankchristgivingmasween, I forgive you.