This is usually the time of year I ask inanimate holiday store displays to at least wait until Black Friday to assault me with their raised red and green elven fists. Don’t get me wrong–Christmas is my favorite holiday. I’ve just always felt that when stores crank up the Jingle-Bell Muzak while vampire costumes and Jack-O-Lanterns are still in stock, it undermines the experience of Halloween and Thanksgiving–both excellent holidays in their own right–all to make a few extra bucks. Plus, decking the halls that early and intensely has often left me tired of open-fire chestnut-roasting, intentionally-kitsch reindeer sweaters, and that impressively obnoxious Mariah Carey song long before the actual December 25.
At least that’s what I used to think.
As a parent, you rediscover to the wonder the world inspires. You see things “again for the first time” through your children’s eyes. And that’s why this year is different. This year, my wife and I will be giving the Twins their First Christmas Ever, and we are so psyched for it that we’ve been discussing its grandiose possibilities since June.
This fervor was recently amplified by the arrival of the Target Holiday Toy Sale catalog.
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Posted in Twins, Parenting, Humor, Hyperreality, Quotes, Stay At Home Dad, SAHD, Family
Tags: new parent, stay at home dad, father of twins, Ph. D., wife, twins, SAHD, my mom, Twincidents, smile, family, coupon, toy, vampire, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, I don't wanna grow up. I'm a Toys "R" Us kid., Technicolor, homework, Halloween, Halloween costume, holiday, academic journal, Christmas, Black Friday, inanimate objects, store, elves, Jingle Bells, Muzak, Jack-O-Lantern, Thanksgiving, capitalism, Deck the Halls, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, The Christmas Song, holiday sweater, sweater, impressively obnoxious, Mariah Carey, "All I Want for Christmas is You", December 25, wonder, first Christmas, Target, catalog, Target Holiday Toy Sale catalog, JC Penney, JC Penney Christmas catalog, opening ceremonies, Christmanticipation, my sisters, Santa Claus, tooth and nail, sibling rivalry, my dad, tug-of-war, roundtable discussion, knock-down drag-out, commercial, live-action commercial, Red Rider Air Rifle, A Christmas Story, Nintendo, Nintendo Gameboy, child model, history, cowboy, ranch hand, rocking horse, dryly-written academic journals, dump truck, World's Sweetest Dump Truck, dump truck enthusiast, Holiday Season, commercialization, over-commericialization, true meaning of Christmas, "Be excellent to each other.", single-income, single-income household
