The Popcorn Stand: Happy Festivus

As the Hallowthanksmas season winds down, I would be remiss if I didn’t cover my favorite psuedo holiday of all-time, Festivus For the Rest of

Us.

Festivus is now actually a sort of real holiday in which life imitates art as people now actually celebrate the holiday on December 23 in honor of the classic Seinfeld episode that introduced the world to Festivus. For the Cliff’s Notes version of what Festivus is all about you can watch this clip: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=hx55azgku5y

Festivus of course is the concoction of George Costanza’s father, who became disillusioned with the commercialism of Christmas and came up with an alternative for those who had also become disillusioned or as he put it “the rest of us.” Instead of a Christmas tree, there’s an undecorated aluminum pole.

And of course what would a Festivus dinner be without the “airing of grievances.” In the Seinfeld episode, George’s father particularly enjoys this portion of the holiday he invented, telling everyone at the dinner, “I got a lot of problems with you people.”

And actually there has been no more appropriate time for Festivus than the past couple years considering everything we’ve gone through and the COVID pandemic that’s been with us for nearly two years now.

What’s so great about Festivus is we all know the schtick of the holiday, that it obviously shouldn’t be taken seriously as Kramer points out in the episode when he says the holiday is “out there.”

Let’s admit it. We all have grievances. And we all LOVE to express those grievances. There’s no denying it.

But I think at least most people — not all — realize there’s a limit when it comes to airing grievances and in the end it’s more important to be kind.

And I have to admit I’m an old fuddy, duddy like George’s father. In a way, my Hallowthanksmas rant is like my Festivus.

But I’ve softened over the years. I used to think the Christmas season shouldn’t begin until at least after the first of December.

I know the weekend after Thanksgiving is still kind of considered the unofficial start of the Christmas season but there was a time when I was a kid when Thanksgiving weekend was still considered, well, still considered a part of Thanksgiving.

Now, though, I’m OK with the Christmas season starting around November 18 or so. I really do start getting into the Christmas spirit around mid-november.

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to Halloween candy displays in mid-august. And as I’ve written before all of the seasons sort of merge into each other.

We head into Valentine’s Day right after the first of the year. We start on St. Patrick’s Day even before Valentine’s Day. And it goes like that for the rest of the year. Back to school sales start right after the Fourth of July.

And then the Hallowthanksmas season begins in mid-august when it’s a 110 degrees outside. And on and on it goes.

We’re one week away from Christmas. I’ve already done my Christmas shopping which is a record for me. I normally don’t do my Christmas shopping until the week of Christmas.

I’ve also written before as a Christian I’m not much for the War on Christmas. What’s more important is demonstrating the true spirit of Christmas. And I’ve seen more of that in the Porterville area this year than ever before.

And as I’ve written before I don’t care if you wish me Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays (what you’re actually saying is Happy Holy Days, so there really shouldn’t be any problem with that) or Season’s Greetings. If you really want to make my day wish me a Happy Hallowthanksmas.

So Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season’s Greetings, Feliz Navidad, Happy Hallowthanksmas and of course, Happy Festivus.

And I truly mean it not just for the rest of us but for all of us.