Christmas is Canceled

If I were in charge of America, today's headline would inform everyone that Christmas was canceled. I don't mean "in charge" like Barack Obama, I mean it like if I was America's father and America was my 9-year-old child. (On a totally unrelated note, when are the spell-checkers going to start recognizing the words "Barack" and "Obama?")

Why would I do such a heartless thing? Because of how disgusted I am with this story, which I'm sure you've already heard, where a 34-year-old New Jersey Wal-mart employee was trampled to death by eager customers. The article says "the exact cause of death has not been determined." Here's my guess - greed.

I read about this story just before heading out to do a little shopping at the Costco and it put a real damper on my day. The store was jam packed and people weren't really being considerate of each other. All I wanted was a hot dog.

Melissa and I agreed that if our children ever get too caught up in the selfish, materialistic aspects of Christmas, we'd have no problem doing a reality check and significantly limiting the gifts for the year, or "canceling" Christmas, if you will. This led me to reflect on my childhood Christmases and trying to remember the "stuff" I got. After trying for 5 minutes, I can remember:

1. A motorcycle track me and my brother got to share. I loved it because it had a loop-de-loop.

2. A trophy. Yup, as a child I asked for a trophy for Christmas. I remember walking around with my mom at the local D.I. (a second-hand shop) and looking at trophies. She convinced me that Santa's helpers were watching and that if I acted like I really liked one of them, they'd know which one I wanted. (She then convinced me the small silver baseball trophy was much cooler than the giant golden one).

3. A bicycle. I actually remember getting two. A BMX when I was little and a huffy mountain bike a few years later.

4. A radio.

5. Roller blades.

I'm sure if I really tried I could think of more things, but it would take some effort. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I think Homer Simpson said it best when he said:

"...every time I learn something new, something old gets pushed out. Remember that time I took that home wine-making class, and I forgot how to drive?"

I think learning how to do root canals is what pushed out my Christmas memories. Stupid root canals.

My point is that after all these years I don't really remember much of the "stuff" I got. On the other hand, I will always cherish the traditions my family had. My parents were really good at helping us focus on those around us. I don't want to reveal too much about what we would do, but suffice it to say as a teenager I learned that the rush from sneaking around like a ninja doing secret nice things was just as fun as sneaking around doing mischief.

I feel bad writing such a negative post when many of my blogger friends are listing things they are grateful for. I am looking forward to Christmas and don't think all of American needs to have it canceled. Also, I can't lie, I'm really excited for the day when my children are older and I can enjoy the looks on their faces Christmas morning. Who knows, maybe all those people involved in the Wal-mart stampede were just so selflessly caught up in getting something nice for their children that they didn't realize they were trampling someone.

Probably not.

My next post will be about puppies.