Tuesday, October 5, 2010

tuesday's true confession: i'm a gal of contradictions

Let me just say right up front that I totally get the irony and hypocrisy that overshadows what I am about to confess. 

But I'm going to confess it anyway . . . at risk of revealing that I'm a gal of contradictions. 

So last night we went to the grocery store . . . such a "fun" family outing.  As I was walking through the chip/cracker aisle picking out pretzels for my girls, I found this:

Yep, that's right . . . holiday pretzels.  Imagine my surprise when I returned home to check the calendar and find out that is is still the first week of October.  We haven't even celebrated Halloween (or All Saints or Fall Harvest Festival or whatever you celebrate) or Thanksgiving, and the grocery stores are already carrying Christmas-themed items. 

I confess that I find this annoying.  Yep, the gal that's been creating Christmas gifts for nine months finds Christmas-themed items in the grocery store in October annoying. 

Hey . . . I told you this was going to seem hypocritical.

Let me at least try to defend myself.  

You see . . . I've been creating and crafting gifts because I'm trying to reduce my family's focus on the commercial aspects of the holidays.  I'm hoping that by giving gifts that have been labored over and loved on that my girls won't be so focused on the latest and greatest must-have gifts that are being sold on every store shelf only to be forgotten about a few months later in the bottom of the toy chest. 

At the same time, I don't want my girls focusing on Christmas so soon when there are other things to be enjoyed and holidays to be celebrated.  One of the things that I love so much about Christmas is Advent . . . the season of waiting and preparing that starts four weeks before Christmas Day.  At our house we do a lot of things to prepare ourselves . . . to learn to wait patiently for the celebration of what Christmas means in our particular faith tradition. 

So while I may have been focusing on Christmas by making homemade/handmade gifts, I don't want to actually start celebrating yet . . . I want to wait patiently, and I want my girls to learn to wait patiently.  It's hard to get them to learn that patient waiting when they see this bag of Rold Gold pretzels sitting on the grocery store shelf.  All of the sudden I'm fielding questions like:
   "Mommy, is it Christmas?"  
   "Are we getting our tree soon?" 
   "When are we going to open presents?"

(I also confess I actually bought the bag of pretzels that I'm so annoyed by .  . . and yes, I get the hypocrisy of that too.  I'm full of hypocrisy I guess.  However, I did think of an un-Christmas related food craft that I'm going to use them for in the near future.)

So . . . I guess now I'm just waiting for the Christmas decorations and ornaments to show up in stores near me, so that I can start avoiding them until the last week of November.  Ugh! 

So are you rolling your eyes at me yet?

Confess on!    

13 comments:

Tracy said...

I totally feel your pain. I went in Hobby Lobby about two months ago, and they already had aisles upon aisles of Christmas decorations and ornaments. I can understand things that need to be crafted, but premade ornaments and other decorations should not be out in August!

Hallie said...

I think it's crazy too! I was heart broken to find Hobby lobby putting out their decor etc in June!!!

Jocelyn Christensen said...

Oh I LOVE it when they put out Christmas-themed...ANYTHING in stores! Love it I say! :) (Please pass the pretzels this way, if you aren't going to appreciate them!!)

Tara @ Tara Being Tara said...

Oh my gosh, we make the most delicious yummy Christmas snack with round pretzels - and they are so hard to find!

Beverly {Flamingo Toes} said...

I was in Target yesterday and I saw the Christmas things being put out. I'm with you. I love getting ready (making gifts) but I don't want to miss out on the fun before. I love Thanksgiving and I'm having a blast decorating for Halloween. Plus would Christmas seem as special if we but up the decorations for 2 or 3 months? I don't think so.

Kenzie said...

Hobby Lobby has all of their Christmas stuff out already, it drives me insane! It seems like it gets earlier and earlier every year. :( It's kind of like buying your kids summer clothes, by the time May rolls around and you go to buy shorts, they already have the fall stuff out. Boo!

Bree said...

I agree that it's WAY too early for Christmas stuff to be out in the stores, but at the same time it's never too early to start making/buying Christmas gifts.

You know you should stock up on those pretzels now while you can, they'll be so hard to find when it comes time to start making holiday goodies & I know people who would pay an arm & a leg to get their hands on some!

Unknown said...

yes, i must agree that your contradictions are a bit funny.

the best of them: YOU BOUGHT THE PRETZELS! haha.

you are funny.

hope your week has been lovely!
Sylvia

Unknown said...

I am also bugged by the early start of Christmas merchandising -- and it seems like it gets earlier and earlier every year! I wouldn't mind so much the Christmas spirit (peace on earth! goodwill to men!) starting earlier or continuing all year, but the commercial side of it really bugs me.

And I love the holiday pretzels are really just circles smartly marketed as "holiday rings". I figured that holiday pretzels would at least be shaped like bells or trees or something. I don't begrudge you buying circle pretzels anytime of the year, no matter what the packaging says they are. :)

janimal said...

I totally get it. Doesn't it seem to happen earlier every year?

But see, we're Jewish. So I have to admit we live vicariously through the pretty Christmas displays in the stores! Christmas decorations are SO pretty. We like to admire them. We're pretty pleased to see decorations already out in stores.

(And because we don't get the fun of Christmas lights at our house - we light up our yard with orange twinkles and decorations for Halloween. Yeeeeeah!)

Molly said...

I couldn't agree with you more! I love the thought of creating and thinking of the people I love but do not like that Christmas comes out without the ability to enjoy all the great things that Fall has to offer!
I can't wait to see what you will come up with these rings!

I also love janimal's reply and I will try to not be annoyed next time but enjoy the fact that someone is really appreciating the beauty of the early appearance of Christmas!

Molly said...

I couldn't agree with you more! I love the thought of creating and thinking of the people I love but do not like that Christmas comes out without the ability to enjoy all the great things that Fall has to offer!
I can't wait to see what you will come up with these rings!

I also love janimal's reply and I will try to not be annoyed next time but enjoy the fact that someone is really appreciating the beauty of the early appearance of Christmas!

Papgena Made It said...

oh I get it! I don't think it's a contradition at all! I do love the waiting. We don't have thanksgiving, obviously, and Halloween but we have some small festivities. When I was a child the street and shops decorations were out in december, in the second half of the month, then they start every year earlier. Lately, they show at the end of October! It's a pressure! Time seems to run so fast it doesn't need help to run faster!

Related Posts with Thumbnails