My, my...things have changed!

Rather than back-dating this post, I'm merely dedicating it to December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day, by the way), since I have, once again, missed a day. (I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm glad there are no such thing as "blogger police.")

I read a passing reference to "haul out the holly," a line from the musical Mame, and since I've always liked the song that line comes from--"We Need a Little Christmas"--I searched out the song I always liked, by Angela Lansbury. (Of course, I had a little help with that part.)

I was listening, humming along, singing the lines I remembered, when one line in the song nearly bowled me over. Mame's nephew sings, "But Auntie Mame, it's one week past Thanksgiving Day now..."

And then, the song goes on to talk about rushing and hurrying Christmas.

Since when is one week past Thanksgiving "rushing" Christmas? The stores are full of Christmas stuff from November 1st onward. Probably half the population turns on their outdoor Christmas lights and has the tree up the very first weekend after Thanksgiving. The very countdown (of shopping days) begins that weekend, too. But apparently, it was not always so, although it's all I can remember. Mame came out in 1966! That's not exactly the Dark Ages.

I looked up the lyrics on the internet, and guess what? They've been changed!! The new words now say:
"But Auntie Mame, it's one week from Thanksgiving Day now..."

I can imagine that Christmas was probably more special and less stressful when it didn't consume six weeks. But that's all I can do--imagine it. Because in our world, one week past Thanksgiving isn't rushing Christmas--it means time is running out and you'd better hurry if you want to squeeze in all the shopping, baking, gift-making, gift-wrapping, carol-singing, holiday-movie-watching, pageant-planning, and general holiday hoopla that you planned.

If I feel inspired, I'm going to re-write the words to this song to match the current environment, but no promises!