'Tis the Season...

...for impatience, anger, frustration, and general grumpiness.

The holiday season is upon us. Have you noticed how it keeps on moving up in the year? It used to be we waited until after Thanksgiving to start thinking about Christmas. Now it's Halloween. Five years from now, we'll start decorating in August.

Our town used to be a cozy, nice little town with one little shopping mall and a few other stores. But now, we're a big fancy town, with big fancy shopping centers and big fancy highways. And with all this "big fancy" comes lots of angry, rushed, rude people. It used to feel like we still had a little bit of country here... now, it just feels like a city.

I went to Michael's today to pick up some paints for a craft for Chloe. The only parking place I could find was about fifteen miles from the store entrance. In the process of finding this parking place I was flipped off once and honked at three times (how dare I let the poor people cross in front of me, instead of just running 'em down?)Oy vey. It just made me sad.

Everyone gets so worked up at the holidays. "Hurry! MUST SHOP! Must buy fancy expensive things for spoiled children. Must be in and out of store in less than five minutes. MUST BEAT EVERYONE to it!" It's horrible. People forget that everyone around them has feelings to, that they are real people and not just pawns in the simulation of their life. I pity the poor people who work customer-service jobs this time of year - people treat them terribly! What must it be like to deal with all of these irritable, rushed, frustrated shoppers for 8 or 10 hours every day?

If there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that there really is no rush. Things will get done. It won't hurt anyone if you have to wait an extra five minutes in line - and your time is no more important than anyone else's, believe it or not. NOTHING is so important that it's worth getting worked up over, or hurting another person for. Life's WAY too short to get your panties in a bundle over silly, stupid little things.

I think we should all make a pact with ourselves to BE NICE this holiday season. Even if you're one of those crazies that's out at 3 am on Black Friday - or perhaps I should say *especially if you are. Every single person you come in contact with has their own agenda, their own family, their own feelings, and they should always be considered. Take a deep breath when someone steals the only parking space for miles, and let it go. Remind yourself that you can use the exercise anyway. Smile and offer reassurance to the overworked, poorly treated store clerk, even when she screws up your order and you have to wait ten minutes to have it fixed. SHE DIDN'T DO IT ON PURPOSE. Drive the speed limit, stop for people to cross, smile and wave. Strike up a conversation when you're waiting for half an hour to buy that stupid widget that your kid absolutely insisted Santa bring them. LAUGH IT OFF. Life goes on, Christmas happens, no matter what happened in the weeks leading up to it. If it's not something that actually causes you harm, don't sweat it, and for heaven's sake, don't take it out on poor, defenseless other people.

Is it a deal? Are we gonna be nice? :o)

Happy "Holiday Shopping Season" to all!