As another trip winds down, and the holidays are ramping up, I can’t help but compare what his happening today with my memories as a child in the 50s…

It seems to me there is no longer any real ‘feeling’ for the holidays, be it Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or Easter or any ‘other’ holiday (country dependent)…

Had a rather interesting conversation at the hotel bar last night with an older couple from Brisbane and two young ladies from Melbourne (both of them work in retail as managers), and a couple from England.

We were chatting initially about how the Christmas shopping period seemed to have expanded since we were kids, as they remembered it not starting until early Dec even down here.  The Brit couple chimed in that their parents were complaining about it too.

The young ladies said they were here for a corporate meeting because their company was not happy with the Christmas sales so far, and dire projections were impacting their stores.  They said they’d started “Christmas” music/advertising/sales in Oct this year.

The older couple asked what Black Friday was in the states, and I told them that was the ‘official’ for lack of a better word, start of the Christmas shopping. I also told them about the ‘new’ thing of sales and stores being open on Thanksgiving Day this year.  The young Brits both said it was sad that shopping had overcome a day of thanks, and everyone else agreed.

That led us down the path of Christmas now being about presents and consumables rather than a celebration of Christ’s birth…

And Easter was now about bunnies and eggs rather than Church and redemption…

The older couple said they were glad they wouldn’t be around to see the ‘final’ changes and mentioned they’d be staying home and celebrating quietly this year, as their kids didn’t want to come home, but would rather spend time/money on their own kids presents which meant they couldn’t afford to come see the parents (and the hubby said, “I’ll be bloody damned if I’ll spend our savings to pay for them to fly home.”

The young ladies said their company was ‘expecting’ over 50% of the entire year’s revenue to come in between 1 Oct and 31 Dec, and there were weekly sales planned and contingencies for moving merchandise that wasn’t selling well.  And they were expected to work the 24th and keep the stores open late (until midnight I believe). Both of them said they were having trouble getting workers that were willing to work Christmas Eve, and they both said they would not be able to go see their families either.

They Brits said they were going to be home for Christmas and since both their families lived in the same town, they alternated Christmas Eve/morning and church each year with his family and hers.

And they brought up the political correctness issues in England now with all the muslims in their enclaves throughout not only England, but now Scotland, Wales and some in Northern Ireland and they impacts…  Neither were pleased about how “inclusiveness” seemed to only be a one way street, with Christians/Jewish and Christian/Jewish holidays being minimized while other holidays seemed to be ‘promoted’…

All in all quite an interesting evening.  Now off to the airport for the slog home…