Columnists
We won’t forget
A person I know, who lives way out on the Canadian Prairies, always puts one of her family’s Christmas Trees up on October 30th. Personally, I think it’s a long haul from the 30th of October to the twenty-fifth of December, but she’s a Christmas-loving kinda gal. And she’s the only person she has to answer to about when Christmas starts in her life. I seriously doubt her love of the festive holiday shows any disrespect for the military or veterans or, for that matter, for Remembrance Day. As a matter of fact, she has a partner in a military family and like she says to the horrified hordes, “It’s a decoration. It makes me happy. See you at the Remembrance Day Service.” Good on you Cat. Good on you.
Meanwhile, in Picton, I am still mildly amused to see Advent Calendars in local shops, next to the Hallowe’en treats. Literally, the end of the aisle displays are all about the tricking and treating of Hallowe’en, and just two aisles over the chocolate doorways to the most confusing holiday of the year are calling to carb-crazy people —EAT ME. Last week, those tins of chocolates (disguised as cookies) began duking it out with boxes of red and green crispy cereal (on one side) and frozen hors d’oeuvres (on the other). While I was surprised (but not really because this isn’t a new thing) by the advent of Advent Calendars, I wasn’t angry. Chocolate is chocolate whether it’s disguised as Festive Holiday Chocolate Counter-downers or Spooky Chocolate giver-outers. And the Festive display actually made me snicker at myself because I know for a fact I couldn’t possibly have an Advent Calendar in my house until the first of December, or even later. If you know me, and some of you really don’t, if I purchased an Advent Calendar in November I couldn’t even hazard a guess as to how many I would have to buy to replace the ones I’d consume. I’m supposing I’d be on Advent Calendar 5.0 by December first. LOML shows more restraint than I. He’d likely only need one, or maybe three, replacements.
My point is, and I do have one, is there really any disrespect to our Veterans if the retailer moves from one marketing opportunity to the next before November 11th? Think about it. Is it really so discourteous to our military personnel to hum a festive tune, enjoy a candy cane or wrap a present before Remembrance Day? Gone on, rack your brain. How stupid are we being if we think a bag of festive jelly beans, a tin of the cookies (you know the ones) or seasonal piped-in music or a fragrant Tannenbaum will distract folks from showing their respect for the Veterans? Some of us, most obviously, are that freaking stupid, or easily misled by folks who just love to cause unnecessary angst and disturbances. Good ole “disturbers of the poo” with their memes, and GIFs and witless sayings abound!
According to more than a few old Veterans I know, the fighting was all about the freedom. Yep, Veterans fought for our freedom. Freedom to do what we want, when we want. If that means decorating for Christmas the day after Hallowe’en, or keeping your holiday lights up year round, then so be it. My ead and my uncles were WWII veterans. When it came to the “festive season” my dad was all over it like a cheap suit. My parents were immigrants who were raised during The Depression. In their time, as children, they had very little when they first came to Canada. My dad lied about his age, signed up to defend our freedom and flew the friendly skies over Europe as a Flight Sergeant and a Bomber. He rarely spoke of his time in the Air Force and his service. As far as we could tell, he seemed to enjoy Christmas more than he enjoyed Remembrance Day. Dad was no fool, and he didn’t suffer fools. I’m pretty sure he didn’t think of Christmas as competition to Remembrance Day. His philosophy was to be happy, be kind, be respectful and enjoy your freedom because it came at a great price, and decorate the H E Double Candy Canes out of the house whenever the heck you want. And my parents did just that.
On November 11th, we will remember them. We will take a moment to remember even if we’ve already got a jump start on the Festive Season. Remember you have someone to thank for the privilege of celebrating whenever, and however, you want.
Comments (0)