Aug 20 # 6 of 18
Ok - they are pushing it - they want to make money - and they are already complaining that they are not making their holiday monies - even tho most of us haven't started OUR shopping yet. They are advertising 4 - 6 months ahead of time for the almighty dollar.
In June - it's the start of back to school
In July - it's the Christmas display
In August - it's Halloween
In September - it's Thanksgiving and reservations for New Year's
In October - it's Valentines
In November - It's Easter and the January white sales
In December - it's St. Patricks Day
In January - it's summer sportswear and swimming pools
In February - it's communion and confirmation
In March - it's graduation
In April - it's last years summer styles on close out because they are gearing up for the holiday displays
In May - it's for the weddings that will take place 3 years from now
In June - the store buyers have already place orders for what the stores will be selling 13 seasons later..................
and don't forget - by the end of June all the reports come out of how much the stores did not make - and all their losses - which are not true figures anyway - they are based on what the PREDICTED they would take in which is ten times of more than would normally take in - so they cry poverty
and so it goes...............................
hmmm - let's see---last year the store made a 17% profit and we wanted 999% profit so we can claim on our reports that we did so bad and ask the government for tax breaks and then we have a good reason to lay off employees, get rid of full timers and keep just part timers with no benefits.........................
Posted By: chubbyalaskagriz
Aug 20 # 7 of 18
I indentify w/ everyone's frustration regarding the rushed retail holiday thang, but I just don't let it bother me. I'm not a very commercial/materialistic sort anyway- and I definitely feel in the minority- so from that perspective I've always been kind of a holiday outsider.
I get a buzz outta the holidays- but that buzz rarely occurs on October 31, Dec. 25th or Feb. 14th. So I gotta just catch that buzz whenever it occurs! My kitchen career always had me working every holiday, so I don't know what it's like to enjoy turkey at the family table on a Thursday, wake up and open presents on a Christmas morning, or share a romantic meal w/ a sweetheart on the 14th of Feb. Holidays were always busy/stressful times for me. But that doesn't mean I opted out of celebration! I just found myself typically celebrating before or after the specific date. I always tried to enjoy some "normalcy" and mark the occasion, whether it be turkey sandwich and a wedge of pumkpin pie at 2:00AM in the staff dining room, or a yummy dessert and a smooch the day after Valentine's Day when all the dust had settled!
I grew up with a Dad whose constant gloomy "Eeyore" remark about special days was "Ah- it's just another day!" And he never did special things to mark occasions. As a result, we kids grew up not wanting to be that way. So I try to keep a healthy celebrate anytime/anywhere mentaility.
Aug 20 # 8 of 18
My parents never did anything with us for any holidays. I cannot ever remember getting presents as a kid. Sucks being born to two alcholics. I get to do the holidays my way now. I always appreciate my little family but even more so around the holidays. Makes me remember what I never had growing up and appreciate what I have now even more. I love to go in the stores and check out all the new holiday stuff.
Aug 20 # 9 of 18
Don't get me wrong, Kevin. It's not that I don't get a buzz from holidays. What turns me off is all the long, drawn out hoopla leading up to them; all of which is promoted by somebody looking to make a profit.
When I grew up we celebrated Christmas with friends. We (the kids, that is) would go up there the day before Christmas, and help decorate the tree. In that family, decorating, and putting up lights, etc. was reserved for Christmas Eve. And they came down right after twelft night.
Christmas Day my folks would arrive, and we'd all celebrate together with a wonderful feast, and opening presents.
Friend Wife would start decorating Thanksgiving Weekend. And the stuff would remain up through January. I just got bored with it.
We also had a tradition. We celebrated with friends who had kids the same age as ours. The rule was: you could exchange presents, but they had to be homemade. Something from the heart, in other words, instead of something from Walmart.
A great tradition that I wish others would follow.
Posted By: chubbyalaskagriz
Aug 20 # 10 of 18
I totally see and respect your point, Brook- and I share it. I hope the words in my ideas above didn't seem to disregard, discount or write-off yours'.
Part of it for me is, I hate shopping. I don't go into malls or stores so I'm not so exposed to all the commerical months-ahead money-grabbing that goes on. I've always been that way, but then my many years in Alaska impacted me that way , and then along came the internet- and suddenly 90% of my shopping was done on-line and the stuff comes directly to the house- no shopping, no hassle. Even now that I am back in civilization I find myself ordering eveything online- even though I have tons of shopping all around me!
Our Christmases growing up were much like you describe... we actually never put our tree up until the weekend before Christmas- then took it down normally on New Year's- unless the needles were falling-out like crazy- then we might take it down the day after - or during the week after the holiday. Many neighbors put their tree up the d ay after Thanksgiving- or in some cases even before! That was 30 years ago, and even more seem to follow that practice today.
Dad had a factory job with a modest income so our gift-giving was either homemade stuff as you describe, or cheaper, basic stuff. Even today I don't go for the lavish gift-giving and the over-indulgence people do often do for one another- particularly parents with their kids. I love my sister and bro-in-law, and my niece and nephew to death, but they've completely gotten sucked into the current contemporary practice of lavishing everything onto their children that they possibly can- even stuff they cannot afford- even going into debt for these "things". Their kids have everything- and what's more is last season's "everything" still sits there, unused and under-appreciated.
It seems I make an Alaskan connection to absolutely everything that comes up- but those 13 years really shaped who I am today. In the north were I lived a traveling lifestyle and where I often made my home base small living quarters or a backwoods cabin without a lot of excess space, I really developed a knack for scaling-back and not over-indulging. I lived in quaint, charming places with fantastic views and expansive ways of personal enrichment outside of "having things".
I got to learn what it felt like to live on the tundra with a back pack of music, a single shelf of books, and a single framed art print. And I tell ya- to have someone snow-shoe miles up-hill to your cabin from their truck parked 3 miles down the pass because the snow is too deep to drive through, carrying a satchel with a gift of city-bought tea-bags, and a used volume of poetry, in that rustic environment did the same thing for me as a tree-full of fancy-wrapped presents! And to sit in my cabin and savor that simple gift was a treasrued experience.
What's more- that guest would sit in the warmth enjoying a shared pot of tea, and we felt snug and satisifed with my one shelf of books, that one framed print and that tiny collection of music- as though we were surrounded by a complete museum of inspring art!
Something about being in the vast, quiet woods with no neighbors or civilization for many miles- with very little- yet "just enough" brings a total feeling of fulfillment that I just never got before from close proximity to huge bounties of "stuff". I got to learn to appreciate "little" as though it were truly "a lot"... and I love that fulfilling feeling!
Anyway, where I go with all of this is- I feel learning that "secret" has greatly affected me. So today I really block out a lot of the things out there around me that I consider indulgent excess. I know that Wal-Mart starts shoving Halloween masks down our throats before school even starts. I know they're trying to condition us to believe we need wrapping paper and ribbons and bows in Sepptember, but I totally block it out and since I r arely am even in stores, I am not likely exposed to the goofiness of it all, as others are. So I feel far less impacted by the materialism and excess of it all than most folks are. It's kind of an "ignorance is bliss" thing, I guess!