Another New Year. Holidays get harder to enjoy as you get older. I still can’t figure out how to shop for my family. Man what do you get for your parents that 1) they don’t already have after some 40 years or so 2) they will actually USEÂ and 3) you won’t eventually wind up with someday. How about children? When I was a kid A/FX cars, Hot Wheels and Bicycles were pretty much it. Now most Regular Guys have to take loans on their credit cards just to pay for an IPOD or cell phone that texts. And if that isn’t bad enough, next year that IPOD just got updated and it isn’t good enough anymore. So it starts all over again.
I see friends of mine agonizing over buying for their kids and then they think they didn’t buy enough. I stopped by Walmart 6 times in hopes of securing a Wii for my daughter, who by the way, told me she wanted it on Black Friday. Did you ever try buying a video console for Christmas? It’s madness. Luckily, my wife happened to be there when a delivery truck arrived on her ONE visit. Go figure.
What happened to the Holidays? Everything is all about what you get and even worse, what you have to buy for others. I miss the times when our whole family would meet at my Grandma’s, squeeze some 15 people around a table for 6, ate until all the men fell asleep watching football while the women sang songs doing the dishes. My daughter will never experience that. I have to say, I never realized just how nice it was while it was happening, but I sure do miss it now.
Everyone is so spread out now. Families no longer live in the same state let alone the same town. Used to be that everyone grew up, lived and worked in the same place their whole life. The family has changed and so with it did the old Holiday traditions. It always seems to be such a big deal now trying to get everyone in the same place. With kids and traveling, and sometimes up to four families to visit due to divorces ( see Vince Vaughn/ Four Christmas’) its always a nightmare. Then you get the guilt factor from your Mom. Oh its so subtle but you know it when it rears its ugly head. “Oh I guess you’ll be spending Christmas with ( fill in ) this year. Its okay. Your father and I are getting used to being alone”. Wow, that doesn’t sting!!
I like the way some of my Regular Guy friends and their families handle Holidays. They have a plan to be in the same place for the same Holiday every year, with one family taking turns to host. It’s so simple yet so elusive to most. I been trying to get my family to do this for years but always another excuse why we can’t make it happen.
And so the agony continues…Overall this years Holiday seemed to work out pretty good. I can’t wait until next year. NOT!!!
Just one man’s opinion…
The Regular Guy