Closing In On Christmas

Today is just six days until Christmas...it's been a long time since I was caught up in the Holiday spirit to the degree that so many of my fellow humans are.  It's a consumer/marketing onslaught as the malls and stores...along with the streets connecting them...are clogged with frantic shoppers.  I'll probably end up as one of them before it's over: "yikes" is all I can say. I can't pinpoint the exact year when I became disenchanted with all this materialistic push, but I do know that I was still a child at the time the big swing happened. It doesn't make sense...we're celebrating the birth of the one individual standing strong as the antithesis of materialism while using the concept of mutual generosity to cover up our mutual covetousness and greed.  Oops...is that the Goth part of me seeping out, getting negative on humanity?  On the other hand, I positively dig the coming together of my family, both close and extended, as we shop with and for one another...going to the Oaks Mall the other day with Melissa was precious, something I value deeply.  So, I guess it's all a mixed bag...if I were just some cranky, crochety old hermit, I might say "Bah humbug" and be done with it. Instead, I still say that old Scrooge line but realize there's also some love to accompany the "stuff" ...