Merry Christmas! ...Eve.

Right about now, with all of your presents bought months in advance and festively wrapped, sitting beneath your lavishly-decorated tree, you sit back and relax with a holiday beverage of your choice, listening to soft, soothing carols and watching the fire crackle in the fireplace as the snow gently drifts outside your window....

Oh, who are we kidding - you're worn to a frazzle, haven't got any of your presents bought, tree's still half-decorated and you can't even find your DVD of A Christmas Story. In fact, you don't even know anyone who's finished their Christmas shopping.

Do you?

Well, now you do. : )

Having finished all of my pertinent shopping weeks ago and have all my purchases wrapped tight, I spent today going from store to store in my hometown. Not to shop, mind you, but to bemusedly watch the harried crowds of people shoving old ladies out of the way for the last Old Spice gift set...fidgeting in checkout lines that stretch back as far as the barren store shelves...arguing with clerks about why they have no more Stephenie Meyer books in the back...

...and as I watch them, I have a good laugh at the expense of the poor idiot who waits until the very last hours before Christmas to do their shopping, the one who has the nerve to be shocked and angered at the fact that there isn't anything for him (or her) to choose from.

It's funny, and I mean in a humorous way, to watch the crowds of people shop at the last possible minute in the unfounded belief that they will prevail and come out alright in the end - gifts bought and all their headless-chicken-running-about having been worth it.

It isn't.

It hardly ever is.

And anyone who thinks that it is more likely than not are the same people who hate Christmas and having to celebrate it every year - they wish that it never came around the same time every year.

Well, guess what: July 4th comes around the same time every year, too. So does November 24th, and October 31st, and January 1st. Well, February 29th only comes around once every 4 years, but I don't know anyone born then to buy gifts for, so never mind....

The fact of the matter is: you know the day's coming, so plan ahead. Besides which, it's not the holiday you hate; it's the commercial aspect of it you hate - the fact that you have to buy gifts for people to celebrate a religious holiday. Am I right? Writing cards, buying gifts, hosting parties, materialism run amok. No careful meditation on the reason for the season and so forth.

Not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with a little conspicuous consumption (says the guy with hundreds of DVDs...), but how about taking at least some time to sit back and remember just what this Christmas thing is all about in the first place? Even Ebeneezer Scrooge didn't exactly hate Christmas itself, just all the depressing aspects in his life that went along with the holiday. So when he was reminded what the holiday was all about, he saw the light, so to speak.

Maybe that's what we all need.

Well, I gotta get going; It's a Wonderful Life is about to start and I think I need some down time.

Merry Christmas everybody.

Dope out.

- TGWD