The 21st Century Christmas

The 21st Century Christmas promises to be just as lively, just as lavish and just as controversial as any previous century. We have better and more technology, more diversity of religion and heritage, and tend to over do the "political correctness" of our speech and actions. Many are working toward a more traditional Christmas holiday season, but the underlying tensions and interpretations remain.

During the past nine years, the mania over Christmas - and Christmas history - has continued to build. Everyone has something to sell, and apparently there are more than plenty enough buyers out there to snatch up the deals.

A hallmark of the 21st century Christmas - every retailer has something to offer that is geared specifically to Christmas - even my hair-stylist! And every year the introductions come earlier in the year.

The classic Christmas and holiday movies are played four times a week or more on cable, as well as at least once on network TV, beginning in early November.

The major stores announce the date their holiday windows will be unveiled in September. The radio stations play an occasional Christmas song in October.

Several cable stations devote entire blocks of time to shows airing the most elegant, or the most outrageous decorations. One of the trends of the early 21st Century Christmas seems to be gaudiness in the extreme.

Several more host dozens of hours of crafts and cooking specifically for the Christmas holidays. Still others host the ever popular "get-out-of-debt" shows, and still others, the info-mercials for Prozac (tr), etc.

And still, the outcry grows. Yet, also still, the bottom line grows proportionately. (Christmas) history remains the same, lol!

Alas, a sad part of 21st century Christmas history for me, as of May 2005, Marshall Field's is no more. They were purchased by Federated Department Stores, the parent company of - you guessed it! - MACY'S.

It now has the Macy's name, but we are assured that the tradition of holiday windows to delight both young and old will remain - as will the 40 foot Christmas tree in the Walnut Room. We shall see. I will miss Field's - not their prices, to be sure - but it just won't be the same now...

The shock to end all shocks occurred in 2006, when I was visiting the local Home-Depot store trying to find a part for an old sink.

It was the first week of October, and guess what.... Three lines of fully decorated, lit Christmas trees graced the center of the store!

Menard's got my money that day - at least their trees were still being built.....

I shouldn't have been surprised. In 2008, most big-box stores had their Christmas displays going up at the same time they were putting out Halloween decorations - at the end of September. Soon, there will be no reason to visit the "Christmas Year Round" stores for a taste of Christmas in July!

As we move forward through the 21st century, I'm sure there will be many many more pages to add into our Christmas history book. I look forward to watching them happen!