I have been torn for the last 3 weeks. At Model Citizens we try very hard to work with our customer and provide the gear they want. So after Halloween was over, and the bulk of our cliental was nursing a severe hangover for at least 10 days, everywhere i turned, Christmas was in full swing. Garland, lights, plastic balls were invading my subconscious. I couldn't go to the grocery store without feeling entirely panicked that I hadn't thought ahead to get my mothers shortbread recipe before then and that I have no gift-wrapping paper or scotch tape and that I was an unfit girlfriend/storeowner/daughter/sister/daughter-in-law/human, being so not being prepared. Now, we are not talking the 24 of december gift buying, it is the beginning on November for mercy's sake.
So I made a conscious decision to resist! Isn't it amazing the amount of marketing dollars that are spent on making me, as a woman/girlfriend/sister/human being, feel inadequate? Think about it- there whole magazines created (and bought by us) to provide solutions in our daily lives. Now, the last time I checked, solutions are given because there is a problem.
So down at Model Citizens, we are getting ready for christmas, carefully picking our spots. I am no scrooge or cynic- but I thing this year, we are focusing more and more on everyday individually and caring for those who come into the store, regardless of the Holidays-like we do everyday of the year. Isn't that the lesson in every Christmas story? Treat everyday and everyone the with same love and respect you would at Christmas?
Today I braved the Christmas music, and do you know what? it is worth the wait as I am truly feeling the holiday season, not because I went into Dominion and bought 100 pounds of shortening, but because it I am ready for it. I am doing my little festive dance to John Denver and the Muppets christmas while decorating the store, on my own time.
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