The Pulp - Commercialization of Holidays

Holidays - what's happened to them? Does anyone even remember the reason for the holidays? Read this very interesting article for a break down of our favorite 25 Holidays and what they are actually about.

The Holidays have been taken over by businesses just to try to sell you stuff you don't need. I vowed not to decorate for any Holidays except for Christmas a long time ago because I knew that I would not be able to resist all the adorable Easter bunnies and the pumpkins! This stuff is made to be enticing, they are trying to get your money. Do you really need complete dish sets for every Holiday? Yes, I know the little dessert plates with the bunnies and flowers on them are very hard to pass up but just say no! Enough is enough! You probably store it away 364 days out of the year anyways.

These days, companies put their Holiday decor out ridiculously early so that they can milk the holiday for all it's worth. This gets you thinking about all the Christmas stuff you need to buy before it goes out of stock, and wait, oh yea it's only October! Can you even remember what you already have because it's still put away? Why do stores do this? It's a really easy answer: MONEY! They want to make money off of the Holidays.

It's time to put our foot down and say enough is enough. The Holidays are meant to be shared with family and friends and to celebrate whatever the Holiday is commencing. I went to Target last week and instantly had that feeling come over me where I want all the cute matching Springy Easter stuff. I thought, "Oh, I don't have any cute Easter napkins, wait I want the matching dishes and if I get the dishes I have to get the cute bunnies for the center of the table." I stopped myself before it got out of control. As I was looking through it all, I didn't see anything that had to do with the resurrection of Christ. I found one chocolate cross and thought about getting it for my nephews but then thought that eating the cross might send them mixed signals.

Businesses have created this completely different point to Holidays so that they can make money. I mean, wouldn't people rather buy cute little bunnies and chicks then a blood stained cross and chocolate Jesus'. Of course! It is all made up to get your money.

I'm not saying that having an Easter egg hunt is wrong but I am saying that you need to be very cautious about what you are investing your time, money and effort into. If you are stressed out and spending money you don't have to have the best and biggest Easter basket for your kid, then you are missing the point.

The point is that the Holiday is that Holiday. Whatever you want to pretend Easter is about, bunnies, plastic eggs, candy, etc. it will not change the actual meaning. It is to remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ and nothing else. You cannot change something just because you don't like it. It would be like me changing my birthday because I really just want to be born in January instead of August. That's just crazy! I can't change the day I was born, it happened, it's over.

And even worse is when those of us who do honor the Holiday for it's true meaning still get caught up in all the commercialization. I had lunch with my dad today and I was already getting stressed over our Easter dinner and what I needed to buy, to cook and oh wait I really want the tables to be cute and have a fun Easter egg hunt, stop, breathe, Christ is risen. That is enough for me!

~Jessica