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Love by the Calendar: Grift in the Holidays Scam

Janna and I aren’t big on formal gift giving.  We have a saying that is frequently expressed in our marriage: “Every day is your birthday.”  That doesn’t mean we’re wild spenders — or that giving a “gift” to each other requires spending money — but it does change our perspective on the “Mandatory Holidays” that drive greeting card sales and generate increased prices for dining out while lowering prices on consumer goods like clothing.

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The Present of Presence

I have a friend that works for an internet retailer as the manager of the customer service department. Let us call him Lando: I am quite fond of that name thanks to the character from the Star Wars movies — we can put aside the issue of Lando Calrissian’s being snubbed on most posters for the movies on another day — Lando told me that, as the days numbering down to the winter holidays have quickly dwindled, the number of angry callers has grown exponentially.

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On Finding Joy

Now is the time of the year when we must inventory our incendiaries and countenance our joy.

Enjoy your friends.

Welcome your enemies.

Live to fight another joyous day.

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Of the Spirit?

Has the spirit of the holidays been irrevocably corrupted?

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Debunking the Better Vacation

There is a series of advertisements running on television right now claiming you can get a better vacation by going to a certain theme park instead of going to one of the Disney® theme parks. I’m not even going to mention the name of the park pushing forward these advertisements because I think in a way that would be a bit of advertisement as well and the last thing I want to do is to help this revolting organization. The advertisements consist of a series of children making statements which, on the whole, most children would not readily agree to.

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