I have to watch It's A Wonderful Life before I feel like I have the holiday spirit. One of these large media conglomerates owns the rights to the film and only shows it once a year during the holiday season without commercials, and I missed it. So now I'm stuck in holiday limbo.
I really only focus on Christmas and Hanukkah because I've been told by several African-American friends that Kwanza is basically something that was made up in the last 25 years and isn't rooted in any African tradition. So that's why I celebrate those two. I'm sure I've offended someone but I'm just describing how I think.
Growing up in an Italian family, Christmas was more of a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It's a time of joy and celebration. Somehow it turned out to be too commercial and everything is about cars, toys, jewelry and all that other stuff. My favorite tradition is a tie between putting up the Christmas tree with all the trimmings and Christmas dinner.
If my kids are around, putting up the tree wins but if they're not, hello ham, stuffed peppers and manicotti. I mean, let's be realistic.
Have you noticed all these unknown businesses selling things like liquid rubber, indestructible car polish etc. just popping up on TV during recently? That's the last thing I'm giving as a gift this year but someone probably has been wanting to fix a problematic rubber issue for quite a while and this would do the trick.
Anyway, officially kicking off on Black Friday, shopping mania has shifted into high gear; we rush around getting those last-minute gifts which includes shopping online and doing it fast enough to avoid paying more for quicker shipping. It's all too much!
Well, I think what I'll do is buy It's A Wonderful Life so that I can watch it uninterrupted when I want to without commercials and hopefully rekindle my holiday spirit so that I see the forest through the trees and find the spirit of the holidays.
Who knew? Turns out it's been in there all along. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah.
Peace on earth!