Overstuffed

For most of my adult life, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with the holidays. I love the making, baking and taking part…..making Christmas cards, baking cookies from the 1941 and 1955 Electric Company cookbooks and taking time to visit all the people I love.

The not so desirable part can be exemplified by several events this past week. My husband and I were no more than six feet into a Home Depot (where we were picking up a kitchen sink) when my spouse said, “I might not survive a month of this blaring Christmas music”. I agreed, and found myself longing for a large dose of Gregorian chant.

A few more feet into the store, we found ourselves surrounded by massive, lighted, outdoor holiday displays. A group of giant cartoon pigs were caroling beside a crib scene and a huge inflatable airplane piloted by Snoopy was flying overhead. To the best of my knowledge, no Evangelicals are protesting these pop versions of Bethlehem. Apparently, they are too busy protesting the annual Starbucks’ holiday cup.

Making our way to the plumbing aisle, we ran into a humongous cardboard box filled with the largest teddy bears I have ever seen. These behemoths were at least five feet tall and five feet around. No child could give them a hug as a child’s arms couldn’t get around the bear’s girth. No child could sleep with these teddies as one bear would entirely fill a child’s bed. And no child could sit on the bear’s lap; the bears had no laps, their stomachs were bursting with stuffing.

I figure these poor, never-to-be-loved bears are the perfect symbol of the modern American Christmas…..completely overstuffed with stuff (mostly Chinese).

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2 thoughts on “Overstuffed”

  1. Mary–I agree with all your observations. Parking lots & shopping malls are to be avoided. Too bad re the teddy; maybe somebody can make a picture book out of that idea. (Not me, But then who knows?) xxxevie

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