The Bah-Humbug Girl

I can't help it. I just can't get into this Christmas thing. With all the bright, glittery, flashy green and red lights decorating our neighborhood and malls (and streets, and restaurants...), it just seems like such a waste of money...and time...to fall into the melee again this year. Well, I should add that last year was a complete bummer of a holiday except for the fact that a lot of people opened up their pocket books and contributed to the needy. This year they are doing the same.

Just in time for a tax write-off, eh? 

It gets me that people think they are doing something so worthwhile and wonderful during the holidays but at other times of the year, when people still need assistance...i.e., food, shelter, clothing, basic necessities...they have to go without. Because hey, it's not the holidays. We don't want to give until that Thanksgiving turkey is gobbled down and the first Christmas songs are heard on the radio. We wait and see what we have left over from our own spending. Then maybe, just maybe, we'll write a check out to a worthwhile organization to help the needy.

Again, just in time for a tax write-off.

Yes, I am being cynical. I get so tired of the wanton waste of our nation. Tired of Black Fridays rolling back to Black Thursday evenings. What about the employees of these stores? Don't they get to stay home on Thanksgiving night and spend some lazy, after dinner time with their families? I actually know of one big department store that threatened to fire employees if they did not come in on Thursday evening. At 6:00 PM no less. 

Of course, of course, there are a lot of lovely folks out there who give freely of their time and their money all year round. But these are not the norm. They are the folks who can usually least afford to give but they do it because they know it is the right thing to do. Not because of some Karmic aspiration but because they know that we need to pay it forward. They have received the blessings of life, a roof over their head, food to eat, maybe even a job. They dig deep into their pockets and organize fund raisers for the less fortunate. They help out at hospitals crowded with cancer patients and old folks who probably won't see another Christmas. They are the good guys, the ones who really care. Unfortunately, there are not enough of them.

Think about it: Anyone reading this probably has it better than 70% of the American population. Do your kids really need that big pink Barbie car that costs $100.00 plus? Do they need the new t.v., the Kindle Fire, The X-box or Wii system??? What they do need is to learn about values, about caring for others, about volunteering and helping and loving people. They need to understand that there are kids out there without parents, without a home to go to, who are aging out of the system and will have no where to go but maybe the streets. In a nutshell, they need to learn compassion.

This year, I am basically broker than normal and my grands will be receiving home made gifts that I have made on my 20 year old Singer sewing machine. But they are being made with much love. Last year's gifts were toys and doo-dads that have already been relegated to the trash. Broken and squashed. They are also getting books because if there is one thing I learned at a very early age it is that if you can read, you can go anywhere and be anyone you want to. It's like closing your eyes and riding a cloud to another world. 

For those of you who take umbrage with what I am saying here, I have to admit I would love to have a few fancy things myself this Christmas. And the big malls lure you in with their glitter and glam and sales, which aren't really sales at all if you think about it. The wealthy buy big, expensive gifts for everyone...in their family or their friends or their co-workers. The not so wealthy whip out their credit cards and charge them to the max, only to have to pay for the next few years or end up in bankruptcy. I do know what I am talking about. I have been in both situations. And I prefer to keep what little money I have close to the vest so I can offer it to charity (or charities, in my case) and to people who really, really need a helping hand.  If you are one of the more fortunate ones who can afford the luxuries of life, I hope you realize that you did not earn that wealth all by yourself. There were people who worked with you, for you, who gave birth to you or in some other way helped you get that money. You are no more deserving than anyone else of having a wonderful holiday. So put down the expensive toys, the fancy gadgets, the extreme decorations and all of the other fiddle faddle of the season and count your blessings.

Because if you think about it, you really do have so much more than you think you do.

Happy Holidays from the Bah Humbug Girl