Tis The 'Season'!

    It’s amazing to me that we are, once again, on the verge of another Autumn Season, with Winter and Holiday festivities soon to follow; at least this is what the commercial-enterprises would have us believing. Actually, it’s over one month away til Halloween, two + months til Thanksgiving, and three months ‘and change’ until Christmas...just in case you need ANY reminding! Once children go back to school and Labor Day is behind us, we barely have a moment to ‘collect’ ourselves, getting used to the idea that Summer is on the wane, before we are INUNDATED by and with the INCESSANT ‘reminders’ that ‘Santa’s on his way’. I know that I ‘date’ myself when I call to mind certain aspects of life that I so fondly recollect; but that’s Ok with me...I AM a 50’s circa baby, after all, and I’ve experienced, in many ways, a life quite different from that of today. One aspect, in particular, ‘stands out’ in relationship to Holidays; this being that all those years ago we NEVER were ‘forced’ to think about another impending Holiday until we were allowed to enjoy the one we were involved in. Each individual ‘special’-day, i.e., Halloween, ‘Turkey-Day’ and X-Mas were ‘given their due’ and NOT advertised MONTHS in advance of their arrival; this preventing the overwhelming need, by some, to ‘get out there’ and ‘SHOP til they DROP’ in order to enjoy a reasonable ‘facsimile’ of these days which are SUPPOSED to provide family-fun and ‘thoughtful’ reflection...NOT angst, not stress, NOR credit-card debt and financial-ruin’. Certainly, ‘commercialism’ has ALWAYS existed; yet, NOT to the degree that it does these days and has for several years running. I know that I’m not alone when I espouse how much I abhor walking in to some certain retail-stores, at this time of year, and am greeted by displays advertising this ‘tri-Holiday’ season. For me, Christmas trees and ornaments sorta lose some appeal when advertised ‘next-door’ to racks of Jack-O-Lanterns and Cornucopia. The ‘good-news’ is that we all have choices as to how we ‘involve’ ourselves in any of this; I, for one, do NOT subscribe to the nonsensical need to rush about like a ‘chicken with my head cut off, spending, spending, AND spending, simply to get through another Holiday. Nope...I prefer doing things the ‘old-fashioned’ way, taking ONE Holiday at at time and getting the most out of it before moving on to the next; fully appreciating the import of each day for its uniqueness and individual offering. In doing so, I am, ALWAYS, sure to get the most ‘bang for MY buck’. Just Sayin’...