It has almost become a tradition. November is the month for me to curse the end of year festivities. I am happy to play the role of Scrooge on steroids and no amount of ghosts will make me think otherwise about the festive season.
Scrooges on the increase
This year I found out that I am not a lonely Scrooge. There are more Scrooges in the world, as a matter of fact there seem to be an increasing number of them. Now what could be the cause of that?
morally compulsary
Let us consider the timeframe. November and December are months of many special days. Within only a few weeks we are forced to present ourselves on our best behavior on several well meant but still morally compulsary occasions connected with Halloween, Thanksgiving, Sinterklaas (Dutch celebration), Christmas and New Year’s eve. Our families demand attendance, our friends demand it, our employers demand it and above all the retail sector demands it.
a tad early
October has just passed and already the Christmas decorations are going up everywhere. Not because Christmas is nigh upon us, it is still almost two months away. No, the decorations are going up because, as one shop decorator snapped at my mother when she asked whether October might not be a tad early, “I won’t be finished in time otherwise!”
latent guilt
Retail stress. Commercial pressure. Sales figures. Making big bucks. That is what is driving the whole festive season into the ground. The retail sector is stretching the bounds of what is acceptable as a festive related selling period to breaking point. As much money as possible must be made from our latent guilt. Guilt about anticipated expensive presents from loved ones which have to be retaliated in advance by even more expensive and elaborate presents.
impossible to ignore
In the meantime many of us are getting sick and tired of hearing Christmas songs in October, of seeing that bearded git sweating in the late spring heat, while he desperately tries to fend off accusations of child molestation with his irritating HO! HO! HO! Retail is forcing the festive season down our throats with such force that it is impossible to ignore. All media outlets are joining forces to make sure they, as advertising driven businesses, get the full benefit of our gullibility in buying crap we don’t need. And by the time it actually is Christmas, the party atmosphere has worn so thin that even the most ardent reveler finds it hard to still raise a glass due to repetitive strain injury of the glass raising arm. As for Father Christmas I’d happily paraphrase Monthy Python and say, “Crucifixion is too good for him!”
festive season free zone
As always I declare the noisepollution.nl domain a festive season free zone. On a personal note: we have cancelled all parties connected to the season, which in our Dutch tradition means: no Sinterklaas, no Christmas and no New Year’s parties. We are going into hiding as much and as often as we can until January brings a more level headed atmosphere.
“Humbug!”
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