Those are for those fancy government workers and bankers! Otherwise, it's an excuse for corporations like Hallmark to induce guilt that I'm not buying their products based on cultural expectations. Me don't play that.
-zridling
I always felt celebratory days were meant to remind us that we're capable of being a lot more than we usually give ourselves permission to be.
This Christmas was the second year in a row my girlfriend and I were both broke to the point of where we couldn't do
anything, much less give presents. 2008 was a very bad year for business, so money was tight to begin with. And helping our elderly parents with medical and other expenses chewed up a good chunk of what money we did (and didn't) have.
But. we still managed to celebrate the season, even if it didn't amount to much more than visiting a few friends and sharing some cookies and hot chocolate at home with each other. All in all, it was a very nice holiday season, which we enjoyed without guilt or regrets. And even though we began 2009 with about as little as we had when we were first starting out, it's still a been happy new year for both of us.
Holidays are a state of mind, not a state of grace.
------
"You ever seen Paris? You ever seen New Delhi? Well, the whole point is: you
see what you want to see,
and you
hear what you want to hear...you dig?"
-The Rock Man in The Point"It's all in the head, you know?"
- George Harrison in Yellow Submarine