Random Feelings About Seasonal Ridiculousness

I can't believe how great the weather has been over the last few Summer days. This is the kind of weather that I wait for all year long. I'm not a fan of Winter to begin with, so I relish every Summer day. I love to go to the beach, whether I swim or just walk on the boardwalk. I just love to take in the lush landscape of the season. All of the flowers and trees with their bright green stems, blossoms, and leaves paint a beautiful portrait to behold. I know that some people could say similar words about the Autumn or Winter, but I think it's much different and less enjoyable. I've never been a fan of Winter with the heralding of cold weather and for other reasons too. I really don't like the holidays that much. I can do without all of the hustle and bustle. I wish that we had one holiday that could fall on a warm day in June. This holiday would encapsulate all the meanings and traditions which are included in them as separate events. I really think that, in lieu of buying ridiculous amounts of gifts, we should just have one family meal. This meal should be a potluck where everyone's dish is the gift to the family. This doesn't only have to combine the holidays that fall in the Winter months, but for birthdays and other holidays during the year. In Vietnam, they celebrate everyone's birthday on one holiday, rather than separate days scattered all over the year. I think that's a great idea.

This idea of combining holidays would lessen the giver from overextending themselves during that time and would eliminate the need of sifting through the crowd at your local shopping mall. I truly believe it would cut down on holiday stress and make everyone enjoy themselves. I think that you should have the choice to make it a family event or to opt out of celebrating without feeling any guilt whatsoever. Maybe there would be less depression during that time. Winter sucks the life out everyone to begin with. Why would you want to dump stressful, advertisement ridden holidays on top of it all? You have crappy television commercials that just peddle the idea that we all have to spend large amounts of cash in order to prove diligent Christian worship. Of course the main instigators are Hallmark and Coca-Cola, which go out of their way to make you either heavy, depressed, or a combination of both. This depends on which product you blindly purchase. If we took away the pressure of gifts or the feeling of inadequacy that both of these holidays bring about, maybe the world would be easier to tolerate. It would make things easy, and less about materialism. I would rather it be a holiday of choice, than one of necessity. I think that the December holidays emphasize the fact that some people have no families or have gone through tragedy during some part of their lives. Honestly, I think that these holidays remain popular because it gives some notion that it fuels the economy. Maybe I'm a Scrooge, or the Grinch, but I think it would take away the need to live beyond your means for the sake of the cultural norm.