Tis the Season

Ah, the Christmas season.  A season filled with good cheer, goodwill toward man, and peace on Earth.  If you listen closely you might even hear the faint sound of carolers singing for Figgie pudding.  That is unless it is the day after Thanksgiving.  If that is the case, then the Christmas season is one of punching, kicking, and pepper spraying your way to a two dollar waffle iron with the sounds of pain, despair, and cries for help.  Though to be fair to the mobs storming retail stores, I have given plenty of thought to punching another human being in the throat for far less than huge savings on a kitchen appliance but none of it is in the true spirit of Christmas. Or is it?

Christmas has been inching further and further down the calendar for years (don’t be surprised when your kids start getting candy canes in their Trick or Treat buckets).  With each month and holiday Christmas eclipses, it seems as though the longer it takes for the Christmas spirit to work its way in to us.  This recent Black Friday only goes to help prove this hypothesis (Clean up the pool of blood in Aisle 7 please).

Fifty two billion dollars, a few arrests, a fair share of electrical burns, and questions about humanity and we have begun carving out a new Christmas season more closely resembling an MMA fight than anything else.  You’d have a better chance of surviving the running of the bulls without being gored than you would trying to grab the last Xbox without being tased, sprayed or kicked in the groin.  Pretty soon the volunteers for the Salvation Army are going to have to start packing heat or at least a cup with their bells.

Is this the lesson we want to pass down to our kids?  Do we want our children to think running at full speed through a department store to the electronics section, elbowing the person next to you in the throat, laughing as if it is somehow amusing that you had to hurdle the guy who just had a heart attack in the middle of the Woman’s Underwear section, is the way we should behave on any day on the calendar let alone the “Christmas Season”?

“Don’t cry honey, Mommy’s misdemeanor assault charge was worth it. We’ll open your present after my hearing. Now put Daddy back on the phone, I only get one of these.”

Is this the Christmas season/spirit we want to show the rest of the world as our indiscretions, criminal behavior and lack of human decency is broadcast on every newscast?

If we are going to embrace the idea of Christmas starting earlier every year (get ready Labor Day) then we should embrace all of Christmas.  That means we embrace the music, the decorations, the “snow” spray painted on the local grocery store’s front windows, and the goodwill toward man and peace on Earth no matter what time Best Buy is opening its doors on Black Friday.  Otherwise you aren’t in the Christmas season or spirit.  You’re just in November.

And you do not have to subscribe to virgin births, Frankincense, Mir, or Christianity’s savior, to embrace the Christmas season. If all you remember is Santa is watching is enough. Because Christmas’ most simplistic sense, is just about being nice. Smiling, holding open a door, being patient in ‘8 Items or Less’ line even though the lady in front of you clearly has 4 dozen things.  Christmas is about family, and friends, and copious amounts of food, and it is about giving (and not giving black eyes and family embarrassment)

So if you have let the Christmas season in then let all of Christmas in.  Don’t ignore or forget about the goodwill toward men and peace on Earth parts just because a waffle iron is 70% off (and for gods sakes, holster that pepper spray lady).  Because everyone loves a good deal on high priced electronics for their kids but no one wants to take it home stained with blood.  The season is here folks, and it is high time we got in to the real season of Christmas, one that does not include mob rules, Taser guns, or pepper spray, no matter how good the deals are. Try to remember, before you knock the teeth out of a stranger’s mouth on your way through a store at the crack of dawn, tis the season and Santa, your family, and the rest of the world will be watching.