2 days before Halloween The Inventor and I walked into our local “everything you need kind of store” looking for Halloween items. We wanted to give a little gift to the women who watches The Inventor for about 10 min. before school everyday. We were thinking about a cute fall item. You would think on Oct 29th, this would be a reasonable request. Well after we walked through 3 aisles of Christmas items, we finally found a small endcap with Fall items! The endcap was filled with many lovely fall items, but it was only an endcap at the end of an aisle. That’s was it……. there were 3-4 aisles of Christmas stuff, but barely any fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving things.
We ended up finding several nice things for a little trick or treat bag for our friend, but I was dismayed at the commercialism of Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas……I love the music, the decorations, the Christmas tree, the traditions of the season, BUT NOT BEFORE HALLOWEEN! It seems that Christmas is becoming more of a retail holiday, the retailers are thinking about how much money they can make, and consumers are thinking about buying gifts, toys and the latest fad or craze they can have. Somehow the true meaning of Christmas seems to get lost. It appears that Christmas has become more about the stuff you can get, not the savior who gave.
I think Linus had it right in the infamous Charlie Brown Christmas special, Here is a short synopsis of his words and insight.
Charlie Brown finds himself depressed at Christmas time, searching for the true meaning of the holiday amidst the glitz and commercialism of the modern age. ( the modern age was 1965, can you imagine what Linus would say about the year 2007!!) He finds his answer in the passage below:
“And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them! And they were sore afraid … And the angel said unto them, “Fear not! For, behold, I bring you tidings o great joy, which shall be to all my people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ, the Lord.”
“And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, and good will toward men.”
“That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” – Linus Van Pelt
Jesus and Dark Chocolate 
I totally agree! Commercialized Christmas has it’s good points. People everywhere adopt a giving attitude, but in turn that forces them to also be caught up in the buying hype. It’s an endless cycle.
Good ole’ Charlie Brown is a classic, and when you quote the Bible you never go wrong.
I love Christmas. I agree with Linus. Thanks for posting this 🙂
Amen Sister! I haven’t been around much in Blogville, but I’ve been thinking about you guys and hoping you are doing well! I’ve got several posts to catch up on tonight. Hope you have a great week!