Nothing merry about this Christmas

30Dec08

This year was probably the first year in my entire life that I actually loathed Christmas. Or maybe not Christmas per se, but the holidays and everything that comes with them. And really I don’t think it would have been that big of a deal except I experienced the only kind of chaos and sheer pandomonium that occurs when you work at the mall. Usually, I get into the Christmas spirit right after Thanksgiving. My family puts up decorations, we crank up the CDs in the car and all of this goes on happily until New Years. But this year it was all different. For starters, the mall started playing Christmas music 3 weeks before Thanksgiving. Yes, Thanksgiving. So before we even had the chance to thank the Pilgrims for jacking the Native Americans land amd then feasting with them, Santa rolled out his sleigh and brought Rudolph, Frosty and the little elves with him. What luck! So I was forced to become holly and jolly almost a month before I wanted to. Not to mention the Christmas decorations to accompany the music. Huge red ornaments, foliage shaped reindeer, lights outside of Macys…if you don’t work at the mall or have never experienced working at one during the holidays, you probably don’t understand why Im such a Scrooge. And then, just like everything else in America, we have the commercialization. The Black Friday sales “hurry and get it all before it’s gone!” And did no one want to wrap their gifts this year? It seems like almost everyone that came in asked us to wrap the gifts for them. “Oh, I just don’t feel like wrapping this year,” one customer said. “I’m just going to stick everything in bags.” Nothing like the joy of giving right? Why, the kids will rush downstairs Christmas morning and unwrap gifts? Heavens, no! They’ll just take the tissue paper out of the bag, peer inside and see a new (insert item here) staring at them. Yep, that’s Christmas. For all the people that I’ve seen at the mall this past month, the only thing that comes to mind is recession? What recession? But don’t be fooled. While I do think  everyone does have a glimmer of hope for the coming year, the only thing driving sales was the incredible amount of price slashing retailers were doing. And thus, the masses came holding out for those special bargains, haggling, complaining, returning, exchanging and sucking the life out of everything I used to love about Christmas.

When I was little, Christmas is what I looked forward to all-year round. The minute Thanksgiving passed I knew it was time. And I think the best part wasn’t even the gifts but the stocking stuffers, because well, who doesn’t like receiving little gifts in a stocking everyday? And then finally, the morning would come. My dad would have everything set-up, the video camera on the tripod, Little Drummer Boy playing. And we would each take turns opening a gift. And even better was decorating the tree. Building it from bottom up, putting on the lights and the ornaments. The garland on the staircase and my mother would take the time to place red bows along it. Wreaths on the door, angels on the table. Christmas pillows. collectors edition Christmas bears. This is what I lived for. And now because I’ve had a drastic year and was forced to get into Christmas early, I hate it. Well, hated it. The truth is I still love Christmas and everything about it.  But I must say this is the LAST Christmas I spend working at the mall.

And if you were one of the people out in the hustle and bustle trying to find that perfect gift, don’t. Just stop. Go home and be with your families. Take the time to decorate the tree and put in little stocking stuffers. I feel like Christmas has become a ”oh crap, not again” holiday instead of a “finally, it’s here” holiday like it used to be. Or maybe people were just dying for a sense of normalcy. Spending like there’s no tomorrow even though they just got laid off or can’t pay their bills.

Who cares? We said. Recession this, recession that. I don’t care what anyone says Im going to have my lavish Christmas. I would like to think thats what everyone was thinking. That we aren’t going to let doom and gloom get the best of us. But then, I remember waking up at 5 in the morning to open up the store at 6 and all I could say was, ‘Screw this! I don’t care what sales are going on today, I’d take being at home over this anyday.”

Oh Christmas! Sorry, but this year, I’m going with the Grinch.

Filed under: Uncategorized   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Christmas, holidays, shopping