Don’T Deck Halls Yet
With October’s arrival, the pressure to deny calendar reality increases.
As anyone who has set foot in a store knows, marketers want us to buy the idea that the amorphous “Holiday Season” has arrived.
It hasn’t. Halloween — the once modest special occasion for kids that has been warped into something unrecognizable — is more than four weeks away. Thanksgiving is still beyond the horizon. And despite all the evidence, Christmas has not become a 365-day secular festival.
So what, you ask, can one person do to resist the tidal-wave influences of a sales-minded society gone mad?
It’s simple. You can pledge to observe no holiday before its time.
Fight the power.
When confronted with dithering lemmings who clearly have become dupes of the ad blitz, you can politely but firmly refuse to join in any premature reindeer games.
“Are you ready for Halloween?”
“Well, no. It doesn’t usually take me a month.”
Sure, some things such as costumes and parties can require planning. But get into the holiday spirit too soon and you’re apt to wind up with a stale feeling before the big day arrives. And that’s nothing to celebrate.
Remember, good things come to those who wait.
* She wasn’t wearing her glasses: “I glanced up at the roof of an old hotel and saw a huge elf with a floppy elf hat,” wrote Margaret Koivula. “He was sitting cross-legged and typing on an old manual typewriter. When I put on my glasses, he turned into an old crumbling chimney.”
* A leaky roof doesn’t count: “When we purchased our home, the previous owners very affectionately left behind their children’s pencil sharpener,” wrote Susan Harper. “It’s the old-fashioned gray metal one with the little hand-crank that mounts on the wall. Now that our small children are embarking on their school adventures it will get many more years of use.”
She wonders how many others have similar treasures-left-behind stories.
* Thursday’s feline: “Since arriving as a homeless kitten some eight years ago, our 16-pound barn cat Attila has proved to be a cat beyond comparison,” wrote Donna Euler of Coeur d’Alene. “He takes over the dogs’ beds and food dishes at will, strolls fearlessly in front of vehicles entering the yard to greet drivers upon their arrival, is a no-nonsense hunter who helps keep the barn and haystacks free of mice and is the undisputed ruler of the other barn cats.”
* Today’s Slice question: What local merge point produces the most cursing and near-collisions?
Saturday. Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; fax (509) 459-5098. We’ve learned that KREM-TV’s Deborah Feldman has lots of fans.