I haven’t been shopping much this year until today. I had several things on my list, so off I went store shopping on dark cloudy grey Cyber Monday. I figured shopping the stores would be safer than buying online and subjecting myself to hacking.
My first stop was at Alsip Nursery. I haven’t been there since June. Usually, they are filled to capacity with Christmas stuff. Don’t get me wrong, they still have quite a selection of decorations and trees, but I estimate they have about a third of past years. I wanted some funky globes to hang on my tree. Last year they had really wild colors that appealed to me, this year nothing. They did feature a short section of giant balls of traditional colors. If I hung one of those on my tree it would fall over. The usual aisles of Christmas tree ornaments were not there. I failed to buy anything but bird seed.
My next stop was Home Depot. There, the selection of ornaments was either all sold out or very small. I did, however find some globes in the colors I wanted. I bought them.
I parked at the local super market and it began raining as I walked to the store. I flew through the aisles picking up fruit, dairy, meat, vitamins, and then to the Christmas card section. I needed to buy one card for our care-taker. She wanted a non-religious card to send to friends in Europe. “Something with flowers,” she told me; I visioned Poinsettia. Both Hallmark and American Greetings were on display. They had cards for mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, grandsons, grandparents, etc, but a very limited selection of general greetings. What struck me funny was the lack of anything portraying Christ, Santa, Rudolph, Angels, Shepherds, civilized Arab kings on camels, poinsettias, stars, or decorated trees. They were replaced by highly stylized versions of junk. The wishes inside were very generic and blasé.
What happened to “When you care enough to send the very best?” I say they no longer care for Christmas. They forgot that Jesus is the reason for the season just like all the rest of the World. I guess little kids no longer believe in Santa Claus or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer either. I wonder if next year I’ll find ISIS warriors with dynamite vests and holding RPG’s on my cards, or worse yet the same warrior holding a severed head by the hair.
I stood outside under the canopy for a moment waiting for the rain to subside. Visions of the debate to take the umbrella, or not, streamed through my mind. Regrettably, the pansy me lost the argument to the macho me, and the umbrella stayed in the car. The rain seemed to slow a bit so I made a run for it pushing my cart to the car(picture a 78 year old guy running). By the time I unloaded and reloaded, my Levis were soaking to the knees with icy cold dampness.
Next stop was Walgreen’s for a look at their card selection. I found the same result, but I picked a simple white and baby-blue card with a snow-scene to satisfy the request.
From this point on, when I care to send the very best I will make it myself. I sure as hell will not spend five bucks to buy an atheist designed greeting card to send to my friends who still celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Here are examples of real Christmas cards:
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Filed under: family, religion, Society, Uncategorized | Tagged: American Greetings, Christmas Cards, Hallmark |
Sorry you had a hard time finding just what you were looking for. I’ve had similar shopping experiences – often times there is a huge selection of various iterations, but not exactly what I’m seeking. It can be frustrating for sure.