It's Christmas time!
Well, no, actually, it isn't. But if you're feeling like you're terribly behind on your shopping it's probably because you've seen the inside of one too many malls. The day after Halloween I went shopping with the kids and everywhere we looked we say maintenance people balanced at the top of tall ladders. They passed down the orange and black everything and - without even coming off their ladders - began to hang snowflakes, lights, ribbons, and gobs of fake greenery.
I think the people who run malls would like us to believe that they own the seasons. Actually I know that this is what they do think, as I used to work in one. Around September a memo from the mall office would arrive telling us when to drag out the Christmas junk (November 1st). As I worked in a store that did a huge portion of their business during that season, we hardly needed the memo. In a basement store room were stacks and stacks of pre-made gift baskets. The week before Halloween a massive truck was due to arrive with the props for this year's 'decorative theme' as well heavy tome explaining where we were to put all the stuff. Was the placement of a plastic sugared pear really important? Of course! "The customer depends on visual stimuli to cue him/her to begin shopping." One slip-up with the tinsel and our apparently moronic customers would wander the mall wondering why they felt no urge to slap down their credit cards.
If there is any sure sign that we're really and truly living in a free-market world (i.e. "going to hell in a hand-basket") then it's probably that people often do depend on their local indoor shopping complex to clue them in on seasonal changes. I don't think that's because people are stupid. It's because in order to maximize periods of frenzied shopping, retailers continue to push the 'season' back so that its tie with anything happening outside is tenuous at best.
It doesn't, of course, have to be this way.
This year I'm going to spend a whole lot of time outdoors where I can see things happening. Even this time of year, when the natural world is apparently shutting down, the world is moving and interesting. It's a good time to walk through bush lots and along trails as visibility is good, the ground is firming up, and there are no longer any bugs. This is also the beginning of the (very short) season where basket making materials can be gathered. I'm also getting organized to pot up some bulbs this week and I think I'm also going to take Jackie's tip and put down some liqueur to give as presents.
I know that watching the bulbs put out green shoots and shaking a jars of oranges and vodka will be very pleasant ways of building anticipation for Christmas. Certainly more so than the glaring lights and chemical whiff of the mall.
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