Shop-a-holics

Out in front of an electronics store, the TV cameras showed an orange and yellow tent.  Its occupant, a man with longish hair, who was first in line said that he had camped out before Black Friday for years.  He ate his Thanksgiving meal there, as did his family who came to spend time with him.  He had a heater inside and a little stove.  Nobody said anything about a bathroom.  That would have been my first concern.

For him, the holidays are all about STUFF.  All about being first to get more STUFF, cheaper STUFF, and plentiful STUFF.  For his family who seem to support his obsession, Christmas is all about STUFF too.

It's empty and sad, if you ask me.  All that time he sits in that tent waiting for the store to open, he could have been spending that time with his own family making memories.  I wonder if any of them could even list one thing they got five years ago after waiting in front of a store through a beautiful holiday.

Last night at our house, fake food was flying all around the room as Uncle Greg was pelleting Drew with one thing after the other and Drew was taking refuge behind a chair.  There were shrieks of delight.  And after a while, I even got into the act, chasing three munchkins across the basement floor to the steps, warning them that they had to stay on the landing, "or else."

Of course, I was baiting them, and they loved every single minute of it. 

From my own memories, I know that it isn't the things that made the holidays; it was always the people.  Can you pick a year when you were say, 10, and name even one thing you got that year?  I can tell you one thing I received at age 13 because it was a sewing machine and I still have it and use it.  And because it was one of my mother's last Christmases.

We could all do with less STUFF.  I realize that, but the measure of the problem is whether YOU own the stuff or the STUFF owns you.  This year for Christmas, an early present, I bought us some new coffee cups and we used them yesterday.  They are large and hold a good deal of coffee, plus hold the heat pretty well.  Since we got the Keurig, we were limping along with a hodgepodge of cups that were of different sizes, shapes and colors.  The new ones are just lovely and I think everyone enjoyed them.  It was a good decision.

Have a great Saturday, Sunday and Monday -- everyone -- and I'll be back Tuesday.  Go Bucks!  And I pray that they find the missing OSU player.