Reading harold_maude's journal

October is almost half over. The mad rush has begun. The crazed shopping has begun.
Events both large and small have begun to fill calandars everywhere and the race to find a parking spot will now commence.

This is the general condition of your local mall, wether mini or the massive grotesque collections of groups of stores crammed into a rather unique sudo art structure.

First comes halloween: candy, the perfect costume, feathers, glitter, foam rubber, glow in the dark lipstick, body paint, nail polish, rubber masks, fantasy to your hearts content.
Pumpkins disapear out of bins and off of stacks everywhere,
faster than they come in, at least for a little while. The prices drop and then after the day is over, you'll find bits and parts and peices of the fleshy orange critters strewn about.
Part of the festivities.

Then there is a bit of a lull on the shopper's front, not much though, because the early bird shoppers for christmas are on the look out for gifts. Tons and tons of gifts. The decorating hounds are on the look out for just the right look for thanksgiving, and the prices on turkies drop like rocks. If you like turkey meat it's a good time to stock up. 7 or 8 birds outta do you for a while.
Cans of cranberry sauce, and canned pumpkin disapear off grocery store shelves in a quickened pace, and it gets faster as thanksgiving approaches.

"Do we have enough? You remember last year, we ran out of this or that long before the turkey was done, and we need more pies!"
The clean-up after dinner is a nightmear, and considering that alot of people are on the verge of falling asleep because they've eaten more on this one day than most of them do durring the entire week before, the idea that someone has to do the dishes is not a subject of popluar disgussion at this point.
"Is there another pumpkin pie? There's a great movie comming on and I'm in the mood for desert. I can't move, but desert sounds great. The dishes arn't going anywhere"

The morning after feels a little groggy, and maybe a little like a hangover, a food hangover.

But wait, the biggest shopping day of the year is at hand! All thoes sales! Everything is on sale! Buy! Buy! Buy! It's the time of the year to max out the credit cards! But we don't care, we have the next 12 months to get them paid off so we can do it all again.

Stuff, things, gagets, candy, jewerly, clothes, books...more stuff, the perfect gift for some realtive you've been informed will becomming to your house for christmas and they've decited to come and see you because they haven't seen you since you were this tall, and on and on and on.

There are shoppers everywhere. It makes one wonder where all these people were stashed durring the rest of the year.
Do they only come out after thanksgiving?
Shelves are cleared out faster than you can think, and there is an overload of people getting crabbier and crabbier as the big day approaces.

Then there are the parties, and school vacations to think about.
If you have children, when it comes time for vacation to begin, you'll have these people in different degrees of shortness who are more excited than you can deal with, sleeping less and less the closer it gets.
The activities planned at this time of year for them may include driving arround the local neighborhood or downtown to look at all the lights.

Ah yes the lights. So many lights in so many varities that it looks a little surreal.
And going and visiting, and hoping you can keep the yonger ones from becomming little monsters who need a nap!
You need a nap most of the time, because this is more excitment than the rest of the year combined.

Then there is the post office visit. The fine art of getting thoes cards which weigh a ton and packages from your car to the over tired worker at the counter who looks half crazed and yet so composed most of the time.
But the festive dressings and trappings of your surroundings not to mention the music of the season which has been going on since thanksgiving is something to help take your mind off the fact that your arms are aching by the time you reach the counter to get your packages off and into the mail.

It gets worse if you are among the thousands who wait until the last minuet to take care of this holiday tradition...

The big day approaches, the children haven't slept for days, the kitchen is something of a constant disaster area as well as where ever you've been wrapping gifts and there are pine needles that will have to be contended with for the next six months if you have carpet.

It desends. And desends. And desends. The food, the unwrapping of gifts, paper everywhere, bits and peices and children who by this time are long past on over load, and you.

There is one more holiday that comes new year's day, and the party the night before...almost an after thought after all of this.

There is so much that is lost in the process of all of this.
So much that isn't considered. These days set aside to celebrate something important in our history, and culture, and many others as well from many other countries should be more than the trappings.
They should be....they are, but it's so easy to get caught up in all the stuff so much that we forget, there are thoughts given to thoes things as we go on our merry way.

And then there are the thousands who have so very little as they watch the holidays come and go, and the people who are alone. Depression desends on them.
And sometimes it gets the best of some of them, and sucides is the result.

Every year we have a choice as to how we spend the time before us. Thoes days comming up and all the stuff that goes with them are comming up too.
How we choose to celebrate them is up to us.

I love each of the holidays, but the madness that comes with them...no, I don't love that.
It makes people forget what's really important. People go into debt for things that will get broken and lost and exchanged for a bigger better toy.
And for what? For why?
It shouldn't be the only time of the year that we remember to love and care about people...that should be all year long.
There is far too much emphasis on gifts and parties and food.
And this year, it seems that many of thoes we love will be overseas in a war torn country, doing what they've been told is an important thing.

Many won't be home for any of the up comming holidays. Many will die.

The hearts and souls of many will bare the scars of loss for the rest of their lives.

Yes it's that time of year again, only this year it won't be the same. And after the upcomming election it won't be the same. It could end up being worse.

It doesn't really matter who gets elected after all. They will face the mess that this administration has created, and if the country chooses the same administration my fear is that it will only get worse, a reflection of viet nam just in time for the holidays.
Just in time for the rest of our lives...

It only looks that way because your standing on your head.