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News from Bird Bottom Farm
Happy Holidays to All!
By Ursula B.G. Kilner, Salisbury
Having been on both sides of the aisle, so to speak, at Christmas—which seems to start about Labor Day—I know the pressures experienced by the seller of "Christmas items" and the buyer, who wants to get the best before all the goodies are gone or picked over, leaving the dross. I worked for a wholesale music company, and the pressures there were from retailers who wanted their stock to be ready for the Christmas onslaught of anxious present buyers. I once had a music store, and guessing what was going to be BIG for Christmas was always a scary but fascinating game. The year "The Little Drummer Boy" hit the market saw black marketers of the record cleaning up. A retailer would spend way over the wholesale price to have that record on hand. Christmas is, indeed, a pressure time for seller and buyer.
This year we have seen, despite the September 11 terrorist attack and a slowing economy, Christmas showing up earlier than ever. The night after Thanksgiving outside lights blazed from almost every other house with the message, "Christmas, Christmas!" Give us a break! A week to recover from the excesses of Thanksgiving would have been pleasant and healthful. The throw-away advertising had begun even earlier, so that when Christmas comes we will think we are seeing a rerun.
The one thing that I think we can be really thankful for is the recent snow. When we hear "White Christmas" over and over on the radio, in the stores and on TV, we can feel comfortable even if the early snow doesn't last until Christmas.
Those who feel happy with the holidays and those on whom the gloom descends will be content to see the era of "celebration" marching by as usual. Those with the large family gatherings will sigh, in time, with relief that "the season" is over. Those who find the holidays depressing will see light at the end of the tunnel, and life will return to some sanity before long.
Happy Holidays to all, and to all a Good Night!
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