Send it Back...

This isn’t the Christmas I ordered. Is it the Christmas you ordered? If Christmas or what Christmas has become I should say was a meal in a restaurant I’d send it back. “Excuse me, waitress, this isn’t what I was expecting, it’s like it’s out of a can or something. The flavor is just all wrong.” Send it back and take me back to when Christmas was free from all the additives and “flavor enhancers” and felt more like a home cooked meal.
Take me back to when making Christmas cookies with Mom meant actually having to have a bag of flour in the house and you knew exactly what was going into them even though it was supposed to be a secret recipe of Grandma's. You actually made the dough yourself instead of rolling out some glob of stuff that was sealed in a plastic bag with an expiration date on it so far into the future it could be handed down like an heirloom. “I leave my unused bag of cookie dough in the fridge to my great nephew Billy”. Making the cookies was an event instead of something you had to hurry up with and get out of the way.

Take me back to a time when Christmas was not just about giving, but forgiving so you could keep from re-living what ever grudge you were hanging onto. And while I’m on the subject of giving, all of those gifts you bought on the credit cards are tainted by the negative vibe that comes with them as the recipients realize you are giving more than you can or need to or should. Just like 4 of a kind beats a full house, a simple Christmas card beats a credit card any day of the week. Anyone worthy of a gift from you would never expect you to go beyond your means.

Take me back to when a single strand of multi-colored lights across the front of the house would suffice. In my subdivision there is a contest giving away cash to the best decorated house. Too bad my single strand of 1970’s style multi-colored bulbs won’t stand a chance against the meter-spinning displays that belong to some of my neighbors. But don’t get me wrong, I will enjoy Christmas and will do it on my terms, not the ones that have been set forth by my HOA, the commercials on the radio telling me how every woman wants diamonds, the neighbors that want to cover every square inch of their house with a light, and the parents that are out trampling people and fighting over toys in the department stores. There is a commercial on the radio here for a salon that gives massages to relieve the stress of the holidays. If you need a massage to relieve holiday stress then you are seriously doing something wrong. My message is a little late for this year but I have been busy relaxing, reminiscing and then refusing to comply with the current Christmas standards.


"no artificial ingredients"



I will enjoy my “Charlie Brown Christmas” by watching a Charlie Brown Christmas and playing some classic arcade games. Games from the era of when Christmas was still a religious holiday and not a holiday where religion was on a holiday. Christmas should be like the arcade games we all love. Simple, nostalgic, and fun. Start a new trend using old trends and send this one back.

Merry Christmas !