Skip to main content

Rick's Rants: Festivus Is On!

Christmas is past. The New Year has begun. If you're into celebrating everything, then Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are also in your rear view mirror. But one holiday I'd like to celebrate all year long here on the blog is Festivus.

Any self-respecting Seinfeld fan will remember this made up holiday, in which the Costanzas gave up the trappings of Christmas and put up a Festivus Pole instead of a tree. They also had the airing of grievances, a special time when people told each other what they really thought.

It is in that spirit that I introduce a new series to my blog. I will rant, I will rave, I will tell you exactly what I think. Some topics will be serious, the others perhaps not so much. Hopefully you will be able to tell the difference before you post a comment that could leave me weeping bitterly.

To get us started, and since we're just now leaving the holidays, let's meet the first topic I'd like to go all rage against the machine on.

It's Christmas. Say what? Yes, Christmas!

Before you assume I'm a Grinch or really want to celebrate Festivus, allow me to clarify. Some people say they want to have the Christmas spirit all year long. That's just stupid. How will stores know when to put stuff on sale if we celebrate Christmas all year long?

You might think we can just have stuff on sale all year long, but apparently you slept the day they taught retail in Economics. We can't have people shopping all year long based on actual need instead of being swept up in a whirlwind of toys they never knew they needed. And don't go talking to me about boosting profits and all that. Millionaire moguls have to feed their golden spoon-fed children too.

Contentment you say? Bah, antiquated notion, says I.

Some might argue the spirit of Christmas is not about what we buy with credit but about the love we share with family and friends. I scoff. The receipts say otherwise and the spirit of Christmas is simply unaffordable the entire year long.

So keep wanting the Christmas spirit all year long, but I say let's pack it up with the decorations and put them all back in the attic until after next Thanksgiving.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Facebook Maybe

Granted, I'm a pastor. I have Type-A tendencies. Ok, my tendencies border on freakish OCD behavior patterns, but... Few things bother me more than the Facebook 'maybe'. I suppose I could go on and on about the grey areas of our society and the refusal of people to accept absolute standards. I could discuss the great need of people to accept that what is wrong for one person is likely wrong for everyone. I should certainly be concerned about mentioning that someone might have sin in their life. But I don't believe the Facebook 'maybe' is quite sin. Perhaps if I were coming up with new sins, I would add this to the list. But alas... Some might think the Facebook 'maybe' did not exist prior to the Internet, but they would be wrong. When I was in high school and asked a girl out on a date, I would normally be told that if they had no other plans, if nobody else called them, if there was nothing good on television and their hair did not need washing, then per...
5 comments
Read more

Jury Duty

I was recently summoned to jury duty. I know, groan. Except I didn't. I had never experienced it before and was curious to see what it was like.   When the day to report arrives, they separate you into groups, asking various questions to decide if you will be selected to serve. Do you know the accused? Do you have conflicts that would keep you from serving? Can you stay focused?  I wanted to answer well, if only because my kids kept wishing me luck the day before, telling me they hoped I made the team. After all, who wants to be rejected? It occurred to me that there are things you probably shouldn’t say right away if you’re wanting to serve on a jury. I know, I know, people don’t typically want to serve on a jury. But that list didn’t seem nearly as humorous to me. Here are the things you probably shouldn’t say if you want to be selected for jury. I hold myself in contempt. You can’t handle the truth. We find the defendant guilty. I believe the judge looks pretty in his ...
Post a Comment
Read more