I heart the nostalgia critic. In this video, he discusses our current obsession with over-holidaying, why it's happening, and how to deal. He brings up some good points.
"We're trying to figure out what made us happy in the past, and use it in our everyday lives."
Bingo! Among those of us who feel nostalgic, how many actually want to live in the past? Not me. I just want to feel the way I did back then, before the time of 24/7 cable news and vapid reality shows and pure concentrated greed that would make even the 80s blush. When the world was a quieter, less plugged-in place. It used to be, when someone was outside of their home you couldn't contact them. And it was glorious. Peaceful.
So a quick, easy way to try to recapture that magic is through celebrating the holidays we grew up with. And celebrating, and celebrating, and... I KNOW WHERE YOU CAN ROAST YOUR DAMN CHESTNUTS, YOU BASTARD! Yeah, it all gets to be a bit much, even for me. The same Christmas songs, over and over, starting as early as October. Christmas decorations moving in right after Halloween, or in some cases before. It's a cynical ploy to make money, and it's obvious, yet many of us still buy into it. Why? Because we need it. It's nourishing some part of our souls that today's world simply doesn't nourish enough.
I don't think it's a coincidence that the more cynical, the more greedy, the more stressed out, and the more technology-based our world becomes, the sooner we start celebrating holidays (or getting offended by people celebrating holidays, which is apparently also fun!) We need that joy and innocence, even if it is sometimes fueled by commercialism. (Commercial Innocence, quick someone go name your band that!) Christmas has been a commercial holiday since I was a kid, but oh what fun it was. Those damn toy ads are some of my favorite memories. They were just so catchy. Barbie and Lite Brite and I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys r Us kid! Even the once non-commercial Halloween has been commandeered by our Pumpkin Spice overlords... our delicious, delicious overlords. But I still love it.
It's kind of ironic... the very machinations that make us yearn for our childhoods and things like Christmas, are pushing the holidays earlier and earlier to make a buck. It's like they're getting us drunk on it. But just like actually getting drunk, it can be fun sometimes. It's not all bad. I mean, they could be pushing something much worse than holiday cheer, whatever their reasoning behind it. You don't have to take it in the spirit it's being offered, is what I'm saying. You can enjoy it non-cynically.
As Doug says, the worst casualty is American Thanksgiving. Here in Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving in mid-October, so it's kind of overshadowed by Halloween, but at least it's not as bad as being overshadowed by Christmas. AND it's unsullied by Black Friday. Thanksgiving is the one holiday I feel has been swallowed whole by consumerism, as it seems to be more about Black Friday now than sitting down and eating a damn turkey. Why is this? Well I don't give a rip about Black Friday, I'd rather go hide out in a cave on that day, but turkey day hasn't meant much to me in awhile. Sure, I make dinner for me and my husband, but it's just the two of us. We don't have any family here. And I wonder if that might be part of the decline of Thanksgiving. Families are more and more separated by miles, and people have less time and money to travel.
I think Doug's point is a good way to deal with all this: remember what it is that made you happy, about the holidays or about anything, and try to keep that alive. But does that mean we should start celebrating holidays two months early? Are we that starved for joy?
Next point: "Try doing the things you want to do and being the person you want to be every day."
Yes! I have long been a proponent of surrounding yourself with the things you love, all the time. I've made blog posts about this. Maybe it sounds simple, but how many people actually make an effort to do this in all the stress of their lives? It helps, of course, if you're like me and love lots of simple things. If you give yourself little things to look forward to every day, you don't have to look quite so forward to things like Christmas. It's not like, "Christmas is coming, I can be happy now!" Cause you don't, like Doug says, need permission to make yourself or your family happy. You don't need permission to dress up, or bake something special, or help others.
"Holidays are supposed to be reminders of what's wonderful in the world."
This brings me back to what I was saying a few posts ago about gratefulness. I've been trying to cultivate an attitude of everyday gratefulness for a long time now. It's not always easy, and some days it just ain't gonna work, but don't let those days stop you. Keep it going. Holidays will always be extra-fun times, and that's great. We need special things that only come once a year, times when we go all out, whether it's decorating, feasting, dressing up, giving to charity, or all of the above. But there are plenty of things to feel wonder about the rest of the year, too. Try a new recipe, even a crazy sounding one. Go somewhere you've been "meaning to go." Donate to your local food bank or animal shelter or charity of choice at a time of year they probably don't get much help. Curl up with some hot cocoa and a book. Watch a horror movie, or a Christmas movie, any time of year. Give someone a gift just for fun. These are the kind of things I try to practice, and it cuts down some on the OMG!CHRISTMAS! crazies. :D
And it's okay to start celebrating a little on the early side. It doesn't hurt anybody. Just please, no roasting chestnuts in October. I'm so bloody sick of that song. And try to avoid doing what these people did:
"Ima just put out my ghosts and skeletons AND all my Santa Clauses... welp I'm done for the year LATER BITCHES!"
