If I hear the Little Drummer Boy beating that drum once more, I’ll kick a hole in it. And Rudolph. Don’t even go there. Why someone hasn’t taken that poor reindeer to a doctor for that red nose, I’ll never know. I love the Christmas music, but it began being piped throughout all the stores (along with the Christmas decorations) before Halloween. Our local radio station has played every Christmas song invented 24 hours a day since the beginning of December. I know what you are thinking: “change the station, Stupid!” But actually, it is quite pleasant. Even Rudolph!
The season has changed immeasurably since my childhood. The things I remember, my grandchildren have never experienced, but then the things MY grandmother enjoyed, seem antidiluvian. I’m not sure which is better. The best present I ever received was a red-and white checkered rag doll I saw high on a shelf in the dime store when I was six. They don’t even have dime stores anymore! Of course NOTHING was ever a dime even then, and during the Great Depression, even a dime would be too much for some.
Today’s wish list runs to X-Box, IPads, Kindles, etc., draining the wallets of indulgent parents by mega-bucks. The Norman Rockwell vision of Holidays is simply that; a vision. The answer is just relax and enjoy it, it is what it is. Like the 10,000 teenagers yapping away on their cell phones in the mall. Of course, they do this soundlessly, because of non-stop texting. It is amazing to me that a teenager can be present at a family dinner, cell phone in lap, and carry on a fairly lucid conversation while meanwhile notifying all of their friends of even the most minute details of their existence. Talk about multitasking!
But the tech world has captured all of us. “I have to start the going to bed ritual 30 minutes before I have to actually be in bed. Plug in personal cell (android, so it soaks battery juice like a Hoover.) Work cell (Iphone and this one sucks like a Dyson,) IPad touch, IPad and Jawbone bluetooth headset. The sad thing is I can’t remember my life before I had more phones than pockets.”
That last part, is not exactly true for me, but I’m sure it is a daily thing for a lot of people today. And our kids will have to cope with even more tech as the years go by, so they may as well sharpen their wish lists in 2011.
My cards have been sent, the packages wrapped, Christmas cakes baked and distributed, Hanukah greetings sent, and special phone calls made, so I’m ready to relax and dance around the room to Rudolph’s cheery bounce. I hope you do the same.
Pachofa-Unfinished 