Voyeux Noel

If I had my druthers I'd completely ignore Christmas altogether.

Yes, it's that time of year where the old "X" slaps us in both our secular and non-secular faces alike for all too long of a period.

I've probably talked about this before but the commercialism of the season has far overwhelmed its religious connotations so I'm no longer offended by Christians and their symbolism slapping me in the face over and over again every year of my life. But the whole commercial aspect gives me the heebie jeebies. Halloween wasn't even over when Canadian Tire was already putting up Christmas displays... MID-FLIPPIN'-OCTOBER!

Seriously, not cool.

If I had my druthers, which I don't, my participation in X-Mas would be, well, nil, as would my family's. I think the glut of stuff (and in general about one or two-thirds of it is shit we either don't need or want or both) we receive is atrocious, and then there's kids who are these days doused with things they will never give each enough attention to really be worthwhile....

So in the spirit of this discussion, I thought I'd mention that I picked up the gifts for my stepson that I'm going to get him. He's a toy car nut, so I got him a die-cast helicoper, because he doesn't have a helicopter yet. He's also getting a big Tonka dump truck, because his little plastic one has been used to pieces and really isn't going to last the winter.

He keeps jawing about a table-top train set he's seen in the Toys-R-Us catalogue but we've no room for it to start, and he's already got enough tracks and trains and accessories that there's not much more he really needs anyway. The other thing he's been agawking at is some Lego-town stuff he's seen on TV. The problem is this delightful child is so incredibly finicky and he won't just build stuff with Lego, no, it has to be built EXACTLY like it is on the box, which he can't do himself. And he's a little too young still to understand Lego's fragility, so he's rough with them and they fall apart quickly, and Aden or I or Uncle B (the "B" stands for Basement Dweller) are left to put the pieces together. So yeah, none of that.

It sounds kind of cold hearted, but this well-loved child is surrounded, sometimes literally, with toys. Not only does he have a closet full (literally) of stuffed animals, a couple drawers full of small cars, shelves full of big cars, action figures galore (thanks to Aden and I), giant Star Wars vehicles, three baskets full of trains, three big baskets full of tracks and accessories, and still more stuff arriving all the time (recently the Richard Scarry Busy Town playsets my sister and I had as kids), which isn't to mention the plethora of kid-friendly cartoons and TV-on-DVD I have and books and comics which he's going to at some point soon be able to read himself (recently added the Sesame Street Library vol. 1-12 plus a half dozen issues of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew to the stacks, which he's loving). He's got plenty to keep him occupied and happy, so you'll forgive me if we don't spent hundreds of dollars on him just because advertisers tell us we should.