20 March 2008

Hey kids, it's time for Easter Shopping!

Ah yes, it's that time of year again. Easter. Second only to Christmas now in its blatant commercialism. Well no, actually Mother's Day probably tops it, but not by much.

I seem to remember (though it's been many, many eons ago) that in my youth, Easter wasn't much. We weren't a religious family, so unless my Grandma or aunt drug me to church, there wasn't any of that crap. My grandma always made me an astonishing easter basket full of goodies, and there may have been a family dinner at her house. In fact, I'm sure of it, there was dinner.

But there were no out and out gifts. Easter was supposed to be a religious holiday, THE religious holiday for Christians, so the basket and candy was about the extent of it for this kid.

But NOW? Holy crap, if you'll pardon the expression. The ads have been clogging up the Sunday paper for weeks. Pages and pages of clothing: well, that's standard. But also pages and pages of toys and gifts. With perky titles like "Just in Time For Your Easter Gift Giving!" and rot such as that. What the hell? When did this most "sacred" of holidays become an occasion for gift giving?

Don't look at me, I'm certainly not buying you anything.

Eddie says it best:

2 comments:

The Lady in Red said...

I heart Eddie! Easter now makes my tummy churn. It was never about gifts when I was a kid either. It was all about church, family time, and small treats. Now it's Christmas-fucking-JR. I refuse. Sucks for my kids, but they're not getting a new wardrobe, new toys or anything all that exciting. I'm sure they'll be scarred and require much therapy in the future because of my abusive neglect of their Easter experiences. Or not.

Anonymous said...

You have taught me something. Since I don't look at the adverts in the newspaper, and I do not have television, I did not realize that Easter was a gift giving occasion. Fortunately, neither do my kids. I make them a beautiful(even they think so) basket, every year. That IS the present. Aside from that, we go to church, have an egg hunt, and have a nice dinner. The kids are happy with that. It's too bad that some people have decided to make it into another sordid commercial occasion.