We just got finished stuffing and shopping ourselves silly, and now we are all ready to begin the annual holiday wig-out. We've got to find time to buy/wrap/ship gifts, send cards, prepare food, attend holiday parties/events, and basically drive ourselves crazy for the next 25 days or so.
Even the fun stuff is too time-consuming these days. For example, remember when you were younger, and you looked forward to watching your holiday favorites on TV? Whether you liked Charlie Brown, Rudolph, or Jimmy Stewart, you would be able to relax and enjoy some televised Christmas spirit for a few happy prime time hours as the countdown to December 25 rolled on.
But now? Well, now there's simply too much to watch. Back in the day, you used to have maybe a dozen shows/movies that would air in the weeks before Christmas; they'd be spaced out so that there were only a few on each week (not counting "very special" holiday episodes of regular shows like Happy Days or whatever), and once they aired, that was it. You knew if you missed Frosty, you weren't gonna be seeing him again until next December.
Today, things are different. There are a bazillion channels, each with their own schedule of holiday offerings. The ABC Family channel has at least one holiday program on every night right up till Christmas Day. And of course there are DVDs and On Demand and Netflix, so you could literally watch different holiday shows nonstop from now until Christmas if you wanted to.
I still love holiday shows and movies. There are so many I like, but that's sort of the problem. After 42 years on this planet, I've accumulated too many favorites to fit 'em all into one month. I'd probably have to start watching them in (at least) mid-November to make it work. Some are the old-school classics (Miracle on 34th Street, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Charlie Brown of course), and some are more recent (Scrooged, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Jingle All the Way, A Christmas Story). But, add them all up, and you're talking a shitload of time parked in front of the TV, when there are other, more productive things I need to do. I feel guilty even thinking about watching them.
Hard to believe that something as mindless as watching TV could be so complicated, but that's life in today's America. The Grinch and Yukon Cornelius are competing against real life for my precious time, and I'll need to start mapping it out somehow. Hmmm, lemme look at my calendar...maybe I can pencil in The Polar Express for Thursday, right between drum lessons and taking the car in for an oil change...
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