Let me clarify.
I hate retail Christmas.
I don't mind spending time in church, listening to carols, driving through neighborhoods to look at houses decked out in lights. But I hate what retail has done to Christmas. This coming from someone who isn't overly church-going. I follow Christian tenants, encourage my children to do the same, but I don't attend church every week.
Yesterday my family (my wife and after much prodding, all three children) tackled cleaning out kiddie toys in the basement. The culling as my wife put it. We aren't finished but we have gotten a huge swath of toys sorted, bagged, and processed (either for donation or garbage). During the process there was much, "I want to keep that", "What was that from?", "Oh look it's the kid's first X", etc. Along with those sentiments there were several tears shed by my youngest. The tears could have been from her seeing part of her childhood being bagged up and given away, or from a bit of a cold that she is fighting. Our society is very much a "give me what I want", "that's mine", self centered culture. Mostly due to Television and the constant barrage of the cool new thing. My family has fallen into that societal shift. The evidence of that is currently in my basement where there are seven rubber tubs now empty of what used to be stuffed animals, dolls, play sets, etc. I have three full 30 gallon sized garbage bags full of old toys ready for donation, a banquet table covered with play sets too big to fit into large garbage bags, and eight 15 gallon sized bags full of trash. Why? Seriously. Why do we have so much crap?
