How many of you remember a time when you didn't hear Christmas music until the tenth of December? I think it started before Halloween, this year. Every year, I hear about Christmas sooner and sooner, and more and more of the news concerning it is commercially-related. 'Consumers going to spend less this Christmas'. So what? I refuse to shop for Christmas presents before at least the first of December, and I sure don't feel like being bombarded with advertisements in the middle of summer.

All of that, though, I could deal with, if it weren't for this. Everyone says 'christmas is about the giving, not the receiving'. And 'it's the thought that counts'. So why aren't you objecting that those ideals are being forced out of existence by mass media bombardment of the 'buy buy buy!' ideal? I see people who can't afford food feeling like the worst parents in the world if they can't buy extravagant presents for their children. That's not right, and it's not Christmas to me.

I don't know, maybe I'm bitter in my old age, but give me halloween any day. It may not be the pagan ritual it was originally intended for, but nobody's under any misconception that it's all about the getting and the fun. Just seems more honest to me, that's all.