A new season is upon us, called '€˜Massgiving'€™

It’s that time of year again. The time of year when neighbors strive valiantly against one another in the Battle of the Christmas Lights.

The time of year when the teenager manning the door at the local “get everything here” store is bowled over by a 70-year-old woman maniacally wielding a shopping cart on Black Friday. It’s that time of year when store employees spend hours putting up decorations and banners wishing “Happy Thanksgiving,” only to tear them down again as they are quickly replaced with “Happy Holidays,” and the only two months out of the year when cranberry sauce sells “like hotcakes.”

This is the time of year known as “Massgiving.” Once upon a time, Thanksgiving and Christmas were separate holidays, but thanks to the magic of advertising and mass media, they have become intertwined, forming two solid months of a commercialized melee, copious amounts of food, gratuitous gift giving, and an onslaught of merchandise mark-downs. Although the residents of Glacier View are geographically displaced from the epicenter of Massgiving madness, you can still find those who rise at 3 a.m. on Black Friday to score the good deals in the Valley.

The season of Massgiving is a source of endless entertainment anywhere, but in Glacier View we have a few area-specific traditions.

The first phase of Massgiving, Thanksgiving, is a little different in the community of Glacier View. Many residents upon moving to Glacier View leave behind all but their immediate family. This leads to a system whereby those without extended family present join together for a variety of potlucks staged in different venues across the community. This tradition provides an extensive food selection, as well as an opportunity to socialize.

This year this was brought to a head when segmented families sporting nearly 20 last names met under the same roof at Spruce Lodge on Victory Road. To the consternation of the adults (but not the teens) so many turkeys were in attendance that many never left their crock pots, casserole dishes, or tin-foil armor, returning home untouched. One of the greatest sights of the season is that of three 10-foot tables bowing under the weight of hundreds of pounds of food.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Massgiving season is Black Friday on which thousands of people swarm stores like a plague of so many locusts, instinctively assaulting any display marked with “Buy One, Get One Free” or “—% Off” signs. Within hours, stores have been pillaged to bare shelves by the mass of hockey-checking customers.

Following Thanksgiving and Black Friday is the second phase of Massgiving, the Christmas rush. “Happy Thanksgiving” is replaced by “Happy Holidays, “and discount items are adjusted.

Families spend hours erecting lights, Christmas trees (artificial, bought, or, occasionally self-cut), as well as the collections of gnomes, elves, Santas and Nativity scenes. Also evident are the assortment of sleighs, pink plastic flamingoes, illuminated palm trees, any number of inflatable 10-foot characters, and other affectations of the season.

Despite all the commercialization and “keeping up with the Joneses” going on during this season, all is not lost. One must take these Massgiving traditions with a sense of humor and remember to revel in the beauty of the season; carolers sing, snow accumulates, lights twinkle, the scents of holiday feasts fill homes, families reconnect for the holidays, sons and daughters come home from college.

There is a sense of goodwill in the air and the anticipation of good things to come is evident in children and adults alike. This is a time to give thanks for our blessings. It is a time to remember to smile even after being held hostage in the mile-long check out line, and a time to put a halt to our busy lives and reflect on the past year and all it brought, good and bad. Lest we forget, we must honor the most jubilant part of the Massgiving season: Winter Break! Happy Holidays, everyone!

Christopher Martin is a student at Glacier View School.