Most wonderful time of the year?

The holiday season is upon us. Actually according to the stores, it began about 5 weeks ago.

Each year I become more and more disappointed. My grandmother passed away almost 23 years ago but the feeling of loss becomes more acute each Christmas. I miss the smell of the fishes and the anise. I miss the Torrone, which, by the way, I hate to this very day. I miss my Uncle Gerald, too. His simple view of what Christmas should be has spoiled me. I had the best childhood Christmases. Very few of my favorite memories have anything to do with presents.Co-workers, and some friends, think I am lying when I say that I really don't care if I "get" anything.I don't understand this mad rush to get "things" or the desire to receive them

Which brings me to the real source of my disappointment. Christmas has become shallow and, as we learned today, deadly. A Walmart employee was killed when the throngs literally broke down the door. Can you imagine getting the news that your loved one died because people were stampeding to fill their carts to the brim with cheap, made in China, impersonal crap? Do the stampeders know what happened? Or care? As little Dylan tears through one unappreciated gift after the next will there be any thought as to what they cost?

Is the good new that it can't possibly get any worse?