Oh! The irony! (Indicating the melody, the source, and the application.)
A few years ago, stores began selling the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. You know, the one that was a scathing comment by Sparky against the commercialism of Christmas.
Pete – Thinking that Charlie Brown Christmas complained about commercialization half a century ago now, I had a professor in Grad School whose side-specialty was the evolution of popular culture. She thought it interesting that there was stories about commercialization of the holidays as early as 1914, until she found a few magazine stories as old as 1874. Then a Medievalist directed her to morality plays and ‘cautionary tales’ complaining that people were ruining Christmas dating back as far as 840 AD. The conclusion is that Christmas is never was what it used to be.
On that note, my three rescue foxes love to look at Christmas lights, but almost everyone around me is Jewish and we used to need to take them a couple of streets over each night to look at the lights. Then my neighbors – my Jewish neighbors! – began putting up lights each year just for delight of three disabled grey foxes and two Pomeranians. An THAT is my really strange heartwarming Christmas story!
The thing people don’t seem to get is that Christmas’ whole existence is BECAUSE a holiday as major as that in the middle of winter is designed to get people out, make sure connections are being kept, and stimulate trade and commerce. If you grew cucumbers, by midwinter you’re sick of pickles but if you have no reason to go out in a blizzard you have no reason to swap pickles for potatoes. It also served to keep moving mail around in the worst times of year, and to keep craftsmen employed in the months when nobody had crops growing so they had no reason to employ a toymaker or the like. If they didn’t have a reason to spend money, they wouldn’t, and half the tax base had zero income to meet tax obligations. This is why nordic countries, at least, have jumped on Christmas so hard. There’s always been major winter holidays for that reason. If everyone becomes completely insular and divided all winter, you have basically no functioning commerce or society for a third to half a year. It also keeps people from being as surly when they have a major fun time to look forward to even in the middle of the most miserable and inhospitable time of year…… a major morale lifter.
Favorite time of year? Craft stores must be quite different from other stores.
A friend of mine worked as manager of a toy store for seven years. He has always maintained that when he dies, he will go straight to Heaven. Seven Christmas seasons managing a toy store; he’s served his time in Hell.
Michael Lonie, I have huge respect for your friend. But it’s a touch different if you work there (and get paid the same even if you should be getting combat pay) as opposed to if you OWN the store (where every sale is literal money in your pocket). Mouse is type two, so clearly he’s singing high praise for high sales numbers! It tends to help smooth over much of the insanity.
Oh! The irony! (Indicating the melody, the source, and the application.)
A few years ago, stores began selling the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. You know, the one that was a scathing comment by Sparky against the commercialism of Christmas.
THAT was painful irony. 🙁
Wow. A line at the cash register.
I wonder what a Black Friday brawl in that store would look like…?
Black Friday Matters
Pete – Thinking that Charlie Brown Christmas complained about commercialization half a century ago now, I had a professor in Grad School whose side-specialty was the evolution of popular culture. She thought it interesting that there was stories about commercialization of the holidays as early as 1914, until she found a few magazine stories as old as 1874. Then a Medievalist directed her to morality plays and ‘cautionary tales’ complaining that people were ruining Christmas dating back as far as 840 AD. The conclusion is that Christmas is never was what it used to be.
On that note, my three rescue foxes love to look at Christmas lights, but almost everyone around me is Jewish and we used to need to take them a couple of streets over each night to look at the lights. Then my neighbors – my Jewish neighbors! – began putting up lights each year just for delight of three disabled grey foxes and two Pomeranians. An THAT is my really strange heartwarming Christmas story!
Re: Uncle Bilbo: Christmas was probably commercialized and ruined when the Three Wise Men brought presents.
The thing people don’t seem to get is that Christmas’ whole existence is BECAUSE a holiday as major as that in the middle of winter is designed to get people out, make sure connections are being kept, and stimulate trade and commerce. If you grew cucumbers, by midwinter you’re sick of pickles but if you have no reason to go out in a blizzard you have no reason to swap pickles for potatoes. It also served to keep moving mail around in the worst times of year, and to keep craftsmen employed in the months when nobody had crops growing so they had no reason to employ a toymaker or the like. If they didn’t have a reason to spend money, they wouldn’t, and half the tax base had zero income to meet tax obligations. This is why nordic countries, at least, have jumped on Christmas so hard. There’s always been major winter holidays for that reason. If everyone becomes completely insular and divided all winter, you have basically no functioning commerce or society for a third to half a year. It also keeps people from being as surly when they have a major fun time to look forward to even in the middle of the most miserable and inhospitable time of year…… a major morale lifter.
Favorite time of year? Craft stores must be quite different from other stores.
A friend of mine worked as manager of a toy store for seven years. He has always maintained that when he dies, he will go straight to Heaven. Seven Christmas seasons managing a toy store; he’s served his time in Hell.
Michael Lonie, I have huge respect for your friend. But it’s a touch different if you work there (and get paid the same even if you should be getting combat pay) as opposed to if you OWN the store (where every sale is literal money in your pocket). Mouse is type two, so clearly he’s singing high praise for high sales numbers! It tends to help smooth over much of the insanity.