What Gets You Into the Christmas Spirit?

[Jo McDonald]

Ohhhhhhhhh isn't she just "Christmas-E precious" ?

  Thanks for sharing with all of us.

[Teresa]

Hopefully I will get into the Christmas spirit the day after Thanksgiving when Kjell and I go to the casino,   
Then I have informed him that on Saturday we are going to decorate for Christmas all day long .. inside and out.. and get it done and out of our hair.. or I mean.. ahhhh ~~~get it done so we can enjoy it for the remaining of the month.. Yeah.. thats what I really meant.. 
Hope it is half way warm so my fingers don't freeze as I'm testing the reindeer's lights and dragging extension cords..

[larryJ]

It seems like a good place to put this--------

From my local paper--------by Frank Girardot, senior editor of the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group.

GPS CAN'T FIND REAL MEANING OF HOLIDAY

A new sport has been added to the Thanksgiving lineup this year -- shopping.

Loads of big box retailers like Wal-Mart, Kmart and Toys "R" Us will open their doors today to bargain hunters hoping to get an even earlier jump on Christmas shopping.

What's the rush?

Do folks really need to stand in line outside Wal-Mart on Thursday to by a cheap GPS unit that tells them they are standing in a line outside Best Buy on Friday?

Low prices do more than make cheap Blu-Ray boxes available to the masses who haven't worn out their DVD players yet.  They cheapen the holiday.

I don't know about you, but it sickens me to think that the greed-heads of corporate America have already turned Christmas into a secular celebration of nothing.  What is it that drives us to buy things that will be broken, forgotten or obsolete by next year?

Certainly, there's nothing that matches the joy on the face of a child opening gifts on Christmas morning.

But, on the other hand, there's something poisonous about the pressure most folks feel this time of year.  It's that unconscious urge that screams out, "Buy something -- anything -- to get into the spirit of the season."

And for what?

Is there anything worse than waiting in line while the person ahead of you fumbles with his credit card before deciding to write a check?

Or, even worse, standing behind the fat guy who suddenly starts spewing out a spray of swine flu germs, because for some reason, it is more important to get that George Foreman grill for a $1 less in November than to wait until the virus has passed?

And what's to say those swine flu germs  --  and a host of others -- aren't all over the shopping carts and half-priced merchandise that's been handled by hundreds of other mystery shoppers?

In my opinion what makes the holidays special has nothing to do with fighting over parking spaces, or worrying about the gangbanger you just cut off in the parking lot, or whether or not some jerk is going to break into your car and steal that new 32-inch, high-def TV to feed his dope habit.

The special part, the part that makes Thanksgiving and Christmas magical, are those things that can't be bought at a midnight price blowout, or on Black Friday and Cyber Monday for that matter.

It's what I believe we are all really seeking -- and that $170 Garmin GPS from Kmart won't be any help in finding it.

It's family.  It's food cooked at home and not bought over a crackly speaker at a drive-through window.  It's about loving each other and caring about the plight of those less fortunate than us.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

_________________________

Larryj

[Wilma]

You said it all, Larry.  My Christmas spirit does not depend on how much I spend or give or receive.  I do enjoy the Christmas decorations, but not on store shelves with price tags.  I  love driving around and seeing all the pretties, but I don't put up any of my own anymore.  To look at my home a person would think that Scrooge lives here, but the outside appearance isn't what counts.  I sure do want to see Teresa's, though.  I think that probably her spirit could carry this whole town through the season. 

[Warph]

Home made Eggnog and Jack Daniel's Black usually gets me in the Christmas Spirit!

[larryJ]

yeah, Warph, adding the eggnog brings on the Christmas spirit.  Any other time the Jack Daniels just brings on the spirit/s

Larryj