Tag: National Holidays

  • I’m Sick of Christmas

    It feels like every year, Christmas season is being pushed earlier and earlier by businesses. Over the radio, through shop windows, and television screens.  The relentless corporations are taking Christmas “spirit” and shoving it deep down our throats, attempting to take our money on the way out. It’s disgusting and so very exhausting.

    Thanksgiving hadn’t even passed yet when I first started hearing Christmas music on the radio. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas music, but there are a few problematic things with it being played so early. First of all, during the week of Thanksgiving, I’m in Thanksgiving mode, not Christmas mode. I don’t want to be thinking about gift-giving and Jesus’ birth; that stuff is a month away. Let me focus on stuffing my face and being thankful. Having all the Christmas stuff  pushed so early kills my Thanksgiving vibes. On top of this, having a whole straight month of Christmas music is tiring. I like Christmas music, but there isn’t a whole lot of variety, which would be fine if radio stations didn’t start playing it as early as before Thanksgiving. Hearing the same stupid songs for over four weeks makes them incredibly unenjoyable, and by the time Christmas rolls around, I’m already sick of it.

    What makes all this worse is the sinister intentions behind all of it. The corporate pigs have Christmas season start early so that people buy all their Christmas gifts earlier, and when Christmas comes around, these people are more likely to go ahead and buy some more Christmas stuff anyways. It’s an evil, greedy practice that we ought to protest and hopefully put an end to.

  • Spirit Spendings

    Holidays are meant to be spent with family and loved ones, but in reality, there is actually more spending on family rather than with family. From November to December, there’s an average of more than one thousand dollars spent on gifts.

    During November from Thanksgiving dinner, to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, over $900 alone are spent. Moving onto December, there is both Christmas and New Years. The spendings here are also sky high, with buying Christmas and New Years decorations and meals, and holiday gifts.

    The real question is: Is spending all of this money for these holidays really worth it?

    I would say it is. In the end, you spend time with family, sharing new memories, laughing and growing a stronger bond with one another.

    As for gifts, it’s always nice to see a smile on someone’s face. It’s even nicer when you’re the reason for it. It doesn’t even have to be family. Seeing your friends happy for receiving something they like is also a good feeling when you’re the one who gave it to them. Teachers too, can leave a wonderful feeling when they give you a warm smile or a kind ‘thank you’ for a simple gift.

    Christmas time is also known for charity and donations, it is one of the best ways anyone can spend their money. We’re lucky to still have generous people who love to give back.

  • The National Holidays Epidemic

    The National Holidays Epidemic

    Leave Zucchini on Your Neighbor’s Porch Day is celebrated August 8. Take Your Plants for a Walk Day is on July 27. Answer Cats’s Questions Day falls on January 22. We are currently in an epidemic of random and unnecessary holidays. The good news is that civilization will most likely survive. However, society is a different matter.
    Surprisingly, these holidays have been around for longer than we may think. Most of them were started by a corporation as a marketing scheme or an excuse to celebrate their hard work. The National Watermelon Association started National Watermelon Day so long ago that none of the employees know the exact year of its conception.
    While the tactic behind some holidays is very obvious, such as Hostess Twinkie Day, others are not as straightforward, like Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day. Along with marketing, there are also some inspirational days such as Use Your Common Sense Day, Read a Book Day, and Good Neighbor Day, which I deem more useful and needed than Brandied Fruit Day.
    The most common place to see these holidays is, of course, on social media. Many people use these random days and pop-up hashtags as an excuse to post pictures of them and their cat, them eating a taco, or them wearing lipstick. These people could not possibly post a picture of them and an octopus on the day they went to the aquarium- that would be weird and uncalled for. Instead, they keep the picture and wait until an occasion calls for the post and eventually Octopus Day comes around and gives them the excuse.
    These people fail to realize that once Octopus Day comes around, everyone is tired of seeing octopi. Last week was National Cat Day and my feed was infected with pictures of the little devils. Posting about what you want when you want is far better than waiting until everyone and their grandmas post the same thing.
    I admit some of these holidays are a brilliant marketing strategy and I commend the person who originally thought of the idea. However,  these “holidays” subtract from the real holidays that have actual purpose and history such as Rosh Hashanah, Ramadan, and Easter. The main thing that pop-up holidays celebrate is American consumerism.
    One part of me loves our ability to celebrate the random things and congratulates everyone’s passion for these unnecessary celebrations, and I realize that the worst these holidays do is endorse the takeover of social media. However, the other part of me shudders that some person in our society actually celebrates Underwear Day.