Holidays or just days with a commercial label?

I think Christmas is whatever you make of it. When I was a kid it was a magical time of year, family getting together, the lights, the songs, the cartoons, the tree and decorations, the baking and turkey dinner, the snow. I didn't think of it as hype it was just a family tradition and I looked forward to it. I do agree that these days the commercialization of Christmas has gone to far and people are more mindless and caught up in the materialism rather than the true meaning of Christmas but this does not affect my opinion of the holiday. Corporations are greedy and will capitalize on any holiday or occasion, Christmas is only one of many.

While I do not line up at the Walmart like cattle and claw at other people to get a few extra bucks off a DVD player or iPhone on black friday, I will also not have an empty undecorated house and no presents under the tree for my children either. I believe as with everything else Christmas should be celebrated in moderation, it does not take a million dollars to decorate a tree, get a couple of reasonably priced gifts for the kids and have a turkey dinner. The "things" do not make the holiday special the family and passing family traditions on is what is important. People are buying into the hype and going overboard because that is what they choose to do, it is not a requirement to celebrate the holiday. I wish people would spend less time attacking holidays and traditions and spend more time attacking the corporations that are twisting and exploiting them.

Imagine a day in the future when your kids or grandkids don't even know about Christmas, Halloween, Valentines day, thanksgiving, easter, new years etc, that would be a sad day indeed.