The problem with holidays is there are just too darn many of
them. I can’t keep up.
I've seen this quotation "Until Further Notice, Celebrate Everything" making the rounds on Facebook. What a wonderful thought! Celebrate the little things in life. But the pre-Christmas holiday barrage has changed its meaning for me and the proliferation of "National Fill In the Blank" days has given me celebration and holiday fatigue.
I’m not talking about the days that are actual honest to
goodness get off from work holidays. The US Federal government recognizes ten
national holidays and, believe me, that hardly seems like enough.
It’s those quirky I-Didn’t-Know-That holidays that make my
head spin. Not only are they constant opportunities to feel that I am out of
the loop, but the regular old holidays are changing, too.
Today is Monday, November 21. Bet you didn’t know it’s World
Television Day. I didn’t either until I started writing this blog.
How did I miss National Chocolate Day (October 28)? I Love To Write Day (Nov
15)? National Beaujolais Nouveau Day (Nov 16)?
There’s a National Pickle Day (November 14).
Not all holidays are quirky marketing ploys. Who wouldn’t
want to honor a nurse on Operating Room Nurses Day? Who can argue with the necessity of National
Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day on November 15?
November is not only Adopt a Senior Pet
Month, it’s also Adopt a Turkey Month, American Indian Heritage Month, and Aviation
History Month. That’s just a few of the A’s.
In a very modern move, November 25,
known as Black Friday, has also been declared Buy Nothing Day by those
protesting commercialization of the holidays and consumerism. In the same vein,
Thanksgiving Day is celebrated by some as Turkey Free Thursday.
Holidays wax and wane.
Days to commemorate life changing,
world changing events are becoming forgotten, transformed into a brief
announcement by a radio announcer as you battle rush hour traffic. Labor Day
anyone? Pearl Harbor Day?
Veterans and Memorial Days have become days for car sales.
Like the lone World War Two soldier at the parade, these holidays stand noble but bent
with age, wearing a uniform too many find unfamiliar.
Bad enough that Halloween has spread its tentacles all over
October, turning a kid-centered opportunity to shake down adults for free candy
into an R rated gore-fest. Marketers have spoiled the most magical of holidays,
Christmas, with a constant sugar plum barrage of ads, tinny music, and guilt.
Seems like the more holidays we have,
the less we enjoy.
So I’m choosing my holidays carefully
and looking forward to curling up with Grumpy
Old Men on a Sunday, January 29, 2017: National Curmudgeons Day.
What’s your favorite holiday?
The only thing Congress seems to be able to agree on is that everything/everybody needs their very own special day (which since we only have 365/366 a year means a lot of sharing). I ignore them all. Each day can be as special or as mundane as you make it. I'd prefer they were special.
ReplyDelete~ Jim
I celebrate the Wheel of the Year, which is based on the changing seasons. My favorite of these is Yule, the Winter Solstice, which we celebrate by hanging out with friends, playing games all day, sharing good food, and then staying up by the fire to wait for the first light of the sunrise (which we used to do outside by the bonfire, but now that we are all creakier, we do by the hearth). Yule has managed to rescue the stillness of this time of year from the commercial onslaught, and restored a bit of sanity to my holiday season.
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of Pi Day in March!
ReplyDeleteShari, I've heard of many of those days, but as soon as I hear of them, I forget them.
ReplyDeleteAs for my favorite holiday it's a toss up between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love Thanksgiving because I'm together with family, and I don't have to cook. I love Christmas, because I always have loved it - the music, the decorations, the Christmas cards sent and
received, the anticipation of the day, and the joy of being together with almost all of my family, and all the fun and laughter. The only thing I don't like about it is the cleaning
up and undecorating afterwards.
Seems like some of the weird holidays could be combined for the greater good - a National Chocolate and Red Wine Day, for instance. I could get on board with that!
ReplyDeleteTina - I've always been partial to Imbolc and the hope that spring is on the way. Your Yule celebration sounds wonderful.
Pi Day! I published a pie-themed KRL story last year on 3.1416 (March 14th 2016). It's an excuse to eat pie for dinner and dessert.
ReplyDeleteWhat about today? It's Revolution Day in Mexico.
ReplyDeleteHi Jim, I'm with you. It's up to us to make our days special.
ReplyDeleteHi Tina, your Yule celebration sounds wonderful and magical. The simplest things are best, yes?
Hi Carla and Margaret - I could definitely get behind pie for lunch and dinner!
Hi Gloria, I do love Christmas. The un decorating isn't fun - kind of bittersweet.
Hi Julie, maybe we can combine National Chocolate, Red Wine and Pi day! Then we'd have to have National Sleep Off the Sugar High Day.
Hi Warren, I'll have to leave it to others to celebrate Revolution Day for me.
If you need me, I'm at Julie's. We have a lot of work to do so we can discover which wine and which chocolate. May take a number of days. LOL.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post, Shari. I have to say, all these holidays have me longing for the good old days before every day was a holiday and a cause for a sale!
Tina, I love your celebration of Yule. Sounds wonderfully peaceful and respectful.
Happy everything, everyone!
Tina, do you use the four or the eight wheel? I've always been partial to the eight.
ReplyDeleteHolidays are what we make of them, and if we want to celebrate some of the stranger ones, we can always do so. Or ignore them, if we'd rather.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, my mother would try to make Christmas so "perfect" that she usually ended up exhausted (up until 3 AM sewing matching dresses for 4 little girls to wear to church)and upset (the Yorkshire pudding didn't raise properly)which lead to further disasters (not keeping a close enough eye on a toddler who managed to pull the tree over)
I try to pay attention to the people and how they're feeling, rather than the specific details. And meet the unexpected disasters with a touch of humor.