XMAS XCESS

To Elizabeth Scalia at The Anchoress: No, you're not the only one who feels this way, but we are definitely in the minority! Thanks for putting it into words so well.

"I confess, I despise 'Black Friday' I hate the way consumers are urged to haul their Thanksgiving-exhausted selves out to stores — away from family members who have often traveled some distance to come together — so they can surrender their human dignity or assault the dignity of others in order to snag a ten-dollar sweater and a waffle-maker for $9.99.
And I hate the way consumers go along with it.
I hate the way the mad buying and bad behavior is attached to Christmas — the coming of the Christ was meant to set us free, and yet the over-commercialization of  'the Holidays' feeds our greed and tethers us to our possessions in a way that can only weigh us down, more firmly, to earthly concerns.
We are not released, only further encumbered.
And am I the only one who, each year, finds the Christmas commercials less ingratiating and more off-putting? “The season” has only just begun, but already I can’t stand the commercial where a son travels through snow to see his parents, only to find an empty house, because his Boomer parents — not interested in welcoming him — have sneaked out the back and taken his car for a spin? 'Click!' The channel changes every time that commercial comes on."

Being Jewish at Christmas is hard enough, but the nonstop stampede of greed and commercialism at the expense of religion makes me loathe this time of the year more every year. (Read about this maniac shopper, for example. For shame!) I'm always relieved when it's all over. You can't blame the stores -- they are only giving the public what they want, and what they want is to recklessly spend without being held to any personal accountability.  Maybe Obama can come up with a bailout for Christmas shoppers.