[Pangloss62]

I'm not a total humbug; really, I'm not. But on a stroll through a mall today I could not help getting pretty grouchy with all the secular Christmas crap I saw. Fake trees, fake snow, and NO references to JC, because that would upset some people. I'm probably one of the few atheists who WANT to see a manger, three wise men, Frank incense (who the hell is Frank, anyway, or is that incense more up front and sincere than other incenses?) and fuckin murr, whatever the fuck that is. And the fuckin baby Jesus for Christ's sake. Pun intended.

Regarding the fake snow. I saw a dad and some little 4-year-old kid standing near the Santa (don't get me started) photo locale and the little kid pointed to the white, fiberglass stuff on the ground and asked "What is that daddy?" Daddy said "That's snow. Winter. Winter." It made me so mad. I thought to myself that if I were that dad, I would say "That's fake snow, son, it's a representation of snow, but if it were real snow, it would be melting. Some day I will show you real snow." Whatever.

The REASON for the Season? Shopping I guess. Here in the South I feel sorry for all the people that have to use fake snow; not that they don't do that up in Northern malls, but real, honest-to-goodness snow is something no kid should miss out on. Imagine, some dad pointing to white fiberglass and telling his kid that it's snow. That's just wrong.

And the stupid little "train." OK, in the most rudimentary notion of a train it was that, but it simply mocked a steam train. Now don't start saying "What about model trains? They mock steam trains too!" They are totally different; they are usually so detailed that one can envision a real train. The one at the mall looks so fake. Sure, let the kids have fun. I have no problem with
that.

But I remember in a mall I went to when I was a kid, the covered up the central fountain with plywood and let some local model train club go nuts with their HO-scale trains and modeling skilz. Holy Fuck!!! I could spend hours watching all these model trains going around, through tunnels, over bridges, through little towns. Everything was to scale and looked so real you felt you were on a plane looking down at the real world.

I also remember when my dad took me and my siblings to Edaville Railroad in Carver, MA where we rode a real steam train through a landscape covered with real snow. But they've gone and fucked that up too, adding fireworks and deciding to heat the fucking passenger cars. Part of the fun was feeling that cold air, and looking over the cranberry bogs under the moonlight. Sure, they had some lighted displays, but now that's not enough. Nothing like fireworks to invoke the baby Jesus.