2002-12-03 - 10:04 p.m.
One of the administrative assistants in my office has taken it upon herself to be the one-woman Christmas decorating committee. She threw out the "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree, and all the old mashed honeycomb tissue bells, and limp bows and battered cardboard santas that had been part of the office holiday decor every year since time began. She even got rid of the "Happy Holidays" signs on typing paper, colored in with magic marker, made by an art student who worked there eight years ago and resurrected every year since. This year she took up a collection from all of the staff and went on a shopping spree.
Missy is the sort of gal who likes to make a difference. But.... Martha Stewart she's not. I think I would have tried to come up with a theme or a unifying principle, or even god-forbid a color scheme, if I were responsible for decorating a large public space (not involving the sale of merchandise). (But of course, you notice I am NOT the one willing to spend my valuable time and taste on the office decor, so I am politely confining all my commentary to the journal.) What she did was just to buy lots more different cardboard and tissue paper and garlands and tinsel. Every doorway is draped with a swag of artificial greenery, plastic snowflakes hang from the ceiling tiles, and some kind of holiday tsochke is sitting on every surface. Christmas brings out people's inner tackiness.
And that's not all. On my first day back to work after the holiday, I was greeted by an unusual sound coming from the office. Music. Christmas music. Not just any Christmas music, but major religious Christmas carols sung by a choir with a dramatic soprano:
"Faaaall on your kneeeeeees.....Hear the angel voiiiiiiices."
Someone has decided to add to the ambiance by playing this one particular tape on a boom-box continuously throughout the day. And to make it all the more dramatic, we have the singing work-study student who is apt to burst into song at any moment, and she is making sure nobody misses any of those high notes. I don't think I have ever used the phrase "put a sock in it" in my life, but there is always a first time.
I am really not a Scrooge. I kind of like Christmas music... selectively.....on Christmas. But it is going to be a long month if this trend continues. I don't know who the tape belongs to, but I may have to resort to petty larceny.
I have a bit of a problem with the idea of this public institution swathing itself in the Christian religious aspect of the holiday season. I know for a fact that at least three people who work in that office are not Christians, and I think it is kind of insensitive to ignore their beliefs. I suppose they are used to it. Nobody is protesting. And Missy is one of those people who means well, and never looks at anything beyond face value. And, like it or not, those are the kind of people who run the world.
So, ready or not, here come the holidays. It is just beginning to hit me that it is going to happen again this year. I usually keep my head in the sand as long as possible, and then get excited about it at the last minute. And every year, I feel good and think I have had a wonderful Christmas.
What I hate is the build-up: the decorations in the stores in September, the annual retail feeding frenzy, buying so many obligation gifts, having to sit in a traffic jam just to run to the hardware store on Saturday.
But things could be just fine this year. We have decided to try and minimize or simplify our holidays. We are even thinking of making cards this year. Yes, every few years we manage to forget how much trouble it is, and get a yen to haul out the printing press and carve linoleum blocks. It is kind of special to make your own cards.... it is one of the few ways to slow down and do something non-commercial and personal amid the whole big mass-produced and pre-packaged season.
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