I live with the Grinch. Not the cartoon character, the real guy. This time of year, it’s difficult to be me, a Cindy Lou Who by comparison!
It’s not so much that he hates Christmas, he hates the way it’s marketed, relentlessly and everywhere you go. As you well know, it starts the moment Halloween trick-or-treating is over and we’re force-fed it until after Boxing Day. There’s no escaping it and that’s his main complaint.
We were early for an out-of-town appointment a week or so ago and I suggested we pop into a HomeSense store. Ooops! Every kind of shiny, sparkly, elfin, Santa Claus and reindeer thing imaginable greeted us in the foyer.. He looked at me with suspicion, as if I was deliberately trying to torture him. I swear I was not! I quickly ushered him to the back of the store. “See? There are furnishings and things on clearance!” But it didn’t fool him. He knew he’d have to make his way back through glitter alley to get out. He said it was as if “something barfed up everything to do with Christmas!”
I get it. It’s overload. It’s too intense for him.
But I also completely understand that many people absolutely love Christmas and can’t wait to get into the spirit. It gives them – and me – a little lift. I don’t get tired of seeing gnomes and ornaments and holiday-themed doodads and whatnots. So, even though I don’t decorate our home for the holidays until December, I’m excited by proxy for those who do it earlier. What’s wrong with bringing more joy into your life? Absolutely nothing.
He simply wishes it was still, well, simple. Like when his family piled in the station wagon a week or two before the day and picked out a live tree to drag home. There was magic in the air. The excitement, anticipation. Everything was possible.
Now, it feels to him like pressure, no matter how I try to ease it or lighten his load. It’s his burden. But the complaining! 😀 I mean, come on, it’s not as if it’s a surprise that retailers and tchotchke makers are going to crank up the sales pitches at this time of year. You’d think he’d be used to it by now.
The Best Part
He loves sampling my baking and funny and/or ugly Christmas sweaters. He enjoys having a nice dinner with family members. Everyone contributes and we have time to visit. The 24th is his birthday! He has a lifelong running joke that everyone decorates in his honour. And just to make things easy and memorable, our anniversary is on the 23rd. There is a lot to look forward to in this long buildup to the big day.
Those warm memories we all have are as much about Christmas as they are about just being a kid. I suspect that part of what annoys him so much is that those days of counting down to Christmas with child-like excitement are long in the past. There’s no way to return to them. But unlike the Grinch, his heart is already big. He’s a kind and helpful soul. He’d just like it if you’d please simmer down on the pa-rum-pa-pum-pum in his presence until closer to the big day. (I wish him luck with that!)
*This post has been approved by my in-house Grinch!
Please note!
The Grinch – er, Derek and I will be on a little getaway this Thursday and Friday. Where we are going, they have a Christmas village and other holiday festivities. Lucky for me, I can just turn off my hearing aids! So, there will be no Friday blog post. I will tell you all about it next week!
I am so old that I still watch TV commercials. The first holiday commercial I saw aired about two weeks before Halloween! So you can call me a Grinch, too!!
The first one I was hired to record this year was in July!!
There is one hard and fast rule in my home: No Christmas decor until after November 11th. A couple of my grandkids start the day after Halloween asking me when the decorations are going. I think they do it to annoy me as they are very aware of the aforementioned rule. It does bother me no end that retailers jump in so early for absolutely any holiday. Makes it very hard to live in the here and now!
Your house, your rules! I respect that. And I agree – it feels like they’re rushing our lives.
Here here, I too, feel Derek’s anguish.
I saw an Old Navy commercial 2 weeks prior to hallows eve.
I snapped, I told Patrizia no Christmas for this cat. I’ll celebrate in the traditional sense, visiting friends and family, big meal and then call it a day. Possibly purchase items locally produced. Support the little folks and adios to the big box stores.
This has become so commercialized that I’d say it’s made me a bitter old grinch…..but I’m not alone!
You might be Grinchy but you’re getting back to the real meaning of the holiday, I’d say.
I feel like Charlie Brown – Christmas has become one big commercial. Costco had stuff on the shelves in August! I also feel things should wait until after Nov. 11, as it seems disrespectful to the brave people who served in the wars. But, as your pal Erin once wrote – isn’t freedom of choice part of what all those brave people fought for in the first place? Her statement made me think hard & change my mind. I still can’t decorate close to Nov. 11, but I love the fact that we are blessed to be able to choose – all thanks to those who made it possible for us to be able to choose.
What a coincidence that your blog today mentioned the Grinch. I had just saved a recipe for Grinch cookies, two minutes earlier.
I understand both sides of the coin when it comes to Christmas.
I’m a very emotional person, so when it comes to the holidays, I sometimes have a love/hate feeling going on. I love colourful lights on houses that brighten up a wintery night. I love the memories of certain ornaments that hold a special place in my heart.
But, like Derek, I don’t like the feeling of it all being so strongly commercialized.
Also, I tend to dwell on the people who are no longer sitting around the dinner table with us, the very people who created all my favourite Christmas memories as a kid. Once I get my rollercoaster emotions in check, I grab the flour and eggs and go to town in the kitchen, trying to recreate my Mom’s holiday recipes. I love baking special treats for family and friends. Seeing them enjoy the simple baked goods is my greatest joy…my greatest gift to myself.
Thank you, Claire. I definitely feel the absences strongly, too. Bake on!