I Agree with Andy Rooney???

Yeah, I guess I do. Normally I find him a grouchy old man who hates everybody and is extremely liberal. Well, I guess all that is still true. However, I happened to watch him yesterday and I actually ditto what he said to the core.

"One of the ways we divide our year is with holidays. The Fourth of July is the beginning of summer. Labor Day is the beginning of a new year. New Year's Day isn't really the beginning of anything except a new calendar. Thanksgiving is our most American holiday and it's good because we don't have to DO anything on Thanksgiving except maybe eat turkey and watch football. That's why I object to the way it's being squeezed out by Christmas. The trouble is, there's no money in Thanksgiving for businesses. People trying to sell things want to skip right over it and get to Christmas. Christmas is far and away the most commercial holiday we have.

Some stores do 30 percent of their whole year's business in the period before Christmas. That's why they try to make it last a long time by starting it earlier every year. Here it is four days before Thanksgiving and the stores are already all about Christmas. The big department stores have their Christmas windows fixed up. They're good to look at, but they're too soon, that's all. It ought to be against the law to start Christmas before December. In the malls, some stores have had their Christmas decorations up since October. Kids are sitting on Santa Claus' lap telling him what they want before their parents know where they're going to get the money to pay for it. In New York City, they put up the tree in Rockefeller Center ten days ago - 41 days before Christmas. The Salvation Army already has its bell ringers on the streets, looking for Christmas donations.

Everyone is trying to make whatever they have to sell seem like a Christmas present. Shoes are not a Christmas present at any time of year. On television, there are unlikely Christmas gifts. How would you like a bottle of Pepto Bismol for Christmas? For the past six weeks, we've been getting magazines with special Christmas or "holiday" subscription offers. When you open a magazine, these holiday flyers fall out like confetti. In advertising, "holiday" is the new, religiously correct name for Christmas. I like Christmas presents, Christmas music, Christmas trees, Christmas cards. I like the Christmas spirit. What I don't like is the way people whose only interest in Christmas is money have moved in on a nice, non-commercial holiday as Thanksgiving. " - Andy Rooney 11/23/08

I was planning on writing my own "Don't Forget about Thanksgiving" blog but now I don't have to. Now all that there's left to do is wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Ramblings about October

I have always liked the month of October. The leaves change, the weather begins to get chilly, and everyone is anticipating the second best holiday of the year--HALLOWEEN! Not only is Halloween a freakin' great holiday in and of itself, but my birthday is the day after. I am one of the few people I know that has two days worth of partying like that. (It's pretty sweet--but I am actually going to talk more about it later on.) October is a good month, unlike stupid September.

Anyway, despite all that goodness, there are a couple of things about this month that I despise. I don't like it when the weather yo-yo's like it's been doing. Yo-yo-ing is a September thing, NOT October. Seriously, it SNOWED today and it'll (apparently) be in the 70s later this week. What's that about? NOT COOL (ha ha, literally). My point is that when October rolls around we are all supposed to be ready with our jackets and sweaters with all our summer gear stored away for the winter. That's just the way it is supposed to be!

The second thing I hate about October is BASEBALL!!! I don't watch baseball and I think it is a boring sport unless you are playing it. However, I wouldn't mind it being on TV except for the fact that IT IS ALWAYS ON FOX WHEN THE SIMPSONS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ON!!! There are certain days when I really need a "Simpsons Fix" but in October I am always denied BECAUSE OF STUPID BASEBALL!!! Ohhhh, that just annoys me so much!!!

Now, this doesn't always happen, but the overall October experience gets assaulted by the dirty games of the Presidential Election. I'm sure it would be unnecessary to tell you that this year has been ESPECIALLY dirty! Frankly, I am so sick of hearing about it I could very well hurl myself off of a bridge--in a sense. (And the sad thing is I haven't really been THAT involved in it at all.) I wish we could just have it next week just to get it over with. I kind of hate the fact my birthday will be spent still being annoyed and stuff.

The thing that bugs me the most about this month are the people who think they need to start thinking about Christmas! Now, this may be a topic for a future blog, but you should NOT PUT UP CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS OR START "CELEBRATING" CHRISTMAS UNTIL AT LEAST THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING!!! I know people who put up their stuff on my birthday. THAT IS WRONG!!! Thanksgiving is a very, very important holiday that is frequently overlooked (again, another blog topic for sure). But it is incredibly ridiculous when people and especially stores start putting out the Christmas stuff NOW!!! Last year at JC Penney the company made us have Christmas decorations up ON Halloween. I mean, the store was decorated for Christmas ON HALLOWEEN!!! You know how SICK that is? UGH!

CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN PEOPLE! HALLOWEEN IS AWESOME!!! AND DRESS IN A COSTUME FOR PETE'S SAKE!!!

But now, as a final thought, I just want to reiterate the fact that I like October very much. It's a good transition month. We just got over the craziness of the summer and we still have a little time before the madness of the end of November and December. It may be hard with all the ugly stuff going on, but let's all try to take a breather this month. I think it may help us all!