I read this article this morning: Can We Bring the Holidays Down a Notch? It highlights one of my very favourite things about being away... American culture seems to dictate that we hurtle from holiday to holiday, and celebrate! celebrate! celebrate! each one. Of course as homeschoolers we avoid much of this but those who engage with the school system (either as teachers, parents or students) must see this as a relentless parade of classroom decorations, loot bags and themed outfits you need to put together for your kids to wear to school.
It is refreshing for me to see that the rest of the world does not operate like this. I was in Venice for Valentine's Day and I saw no pink hearts, no Valentine's Day sales in the stores, nothing, in one of the most romantic cities in the world.
Are we addicted to the rush of being constantly in a "holiday mode"? Are we desperate for meaning and tradition, and are searching to find it in Hallmark holidays? Or is it simply that consumer culture offers big companies the opportunity to colour something green or pink and get you to buy it. I know that Target took its green decor down before St Patrick's Day was even over, and the place is covered in Easter bunnies now (pretty much banking on the fact that you will buy your Easter chocolate now and eat it in the middle of the night and have to buy more in April). The same thing happened with Halloween and Christmas. There's no down time.
Anyway, whatever the reasons, I'm enjoying the peace and quiet over here. Day to day, business is as usual.
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