I was downtown this morning and it struck me how few people were dressed up. Actually, in my drive this morning, I saw a grand total of 2 people dressed - and I was looking for them too. It seems kind of sad to me, but something that I have noticed over the last 10 years is the decline of holiday participation.
It isn’t just Halloween costumes, but home decorations are lacking too. Same goes for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The stores are eager to start advertising for Christmas, but so much of the spirit is lost. For a while I thought it was just because I have grown up and am not seeing it from a child’s perspective. Nope! There is a definite decline…and I think it is sad.
I wonder if people in other countries that celebrate their own holidays have seen this decline too?
As sad it might sound, as a parent I found myself this year forced to cut off my daughters piano lessons because I had to reduce our discretionary spending to compensate for the gas and food inflation and the fact that I did not get a raise in the last 4 years. Any way, I didn’t want to complain about my life, I wanted to make a point, we will have a not so happy, happy holiday season. Sad but true.
A truly scary Halloween