What has 'the season' become for all of us?

It is the day after Christmas and I am basking in the glow of Christmas. Friday this week we go to Cincy to celebrate with our family and granddaughters. More eating. More gifting. More eating. More driving. More fun with the family. "Joy To The World."

I resist the siren call of Christmas to enter the rush until after Thanksgiving but then it is a sprint to the finish followed by some let down and I don't do half as much as BW.

There are situations about the Christmas season that sap my energy and cause me to lose interest. Why do people go to stores on Black Friday and other days and riot over products they must have or die? They often knock each other down and trample others then fight at the counter to get that special Whimmy Diddle or Wizzy Wig for Egbert or Negbert. I do not understand such utter disregard to the proper, polite, genteel way of treating others. Comes now the sale of Air Jordan Retro athletic shoes. People lined up, broke doors, cursed each other, fought to pay $185 for a pair of sneakers. Reprehensible. These people will loudly proclaim that they are celebrating the birth of the Savior of the world. Maybe not. Santa maybe.

Then there are the stupid songs that make my ears bleed during the holiday season: "Grandma got run over by a reindeer!" Slop. "Grandpa got run over by a John Deere!" Mole scat. Remember the singing Billy Bass? Absolute idiocy. "I yust go nuts at Christmas" by Yogi Yorgisson is yust awful! "Jingle Bells" with dogs barking the melody make me barf.

And then there are songs written with the best motives in mind that make me tired. I cringe when they are played. The song "Twelve Days of Christmas" tries my patience. Even though it is meant to celebrate the Savior it makes me do otherwise. How about the "Little Drummer Boy?" Many times I wish I could smash that drum. Don't forget "The Carol of The Bells" that would make Dancer quit pulling his eighth of the load of the Sleigh. Those songs are so tedious and repetitive they would make Gandhi sucker punch Martin Luther King, Jr. They would make St. Francis of Assisi cry out "Lord, how long, how long?" Jose Feliciano's version of "Feliz Navidad" also drives me up the wall to where spiders weave webs.

The manic shopping, maxed out credit cards and in-family struggles about who is not coming to the family gathering if "they" come and the custody battle over who has the children on Christmas morning suck all the joy and air out of a time meant to be most sacred. The prelude of Christmas is only exceeded by the presidential campaigns. Dreadful.

That is why we have a peaceful Christmas focused on the birth of the Christ child. We push all of those extraneous events to the edge of meaninglessness and try to ignore the hubbub that robs the season of its meaning. Tis the season but it's over for another year.

Larry grew up north of Calvertville on a farm and graduated from Worthington High School and Indiana State University. He can be reached at Goosecrick@aol.com or (317) 839-7656.