ROGERS — The discussion centered around Christmas parades.
“Big” Ronnie Smith was telling me I needed to go to the Avoca parade and I was telling him I didn’t go to the Rogers parade because it was too darned cold.
“If I didn’t go to the Rogers parade I am not going to the Avoca parade,” I replied. Not even Big Ronnie’s assurance that there would be a bonfire to keep me warm could get me out for a parade these days.
That’s how much I hate the cold.
And I love a parade. I could hear the Rogers parade from my house and I really would have liked to have seen it but it was too cold.
It took me back to a moment in time when I was a kid and they threw bags of candy from Santa’s float in the Harrison parade — safety was less an issue back then.
Some teenager tried to take my candy and I stepped on his hand while another older kid grabbed it and handed it to me. I don’t remember much else about Christmas parades — except the occasional ride on the back of a fire truck — but I remember stomping that hand. It was a good thing.
Back to the present, I was contemplating the parade issue when I had an epiphany: let’s celebrate Christmas in July (beg ital)and(end ital) December.
Hear me out.
There has always been a disagreement among theologians and scholars as to Jesus’ exact birth date. Google the question and you get a wide variety of answers: April 6, Oct. 2, Sept. 29, Dec. 31, maybe sometime in June. The only thing most agree on is that Jesus was not born on Dec. 25 — apparently someone made a command decision and chose that date for the celebration.
If we celebrated twice a year we could accomplish several things:
w We could spread out Christmas spending. Granted, there is the potential for human stupidity to enter the picture. I mean, people might decide to spend twice a year what they would normally spend once a year and really dig themselves a financial hole. However, employing common sense, they could not increase their Christmas spending, just spend the same total in two smaller amounts.
w Retailers would no longer have to depend on Black Friday to make or break them — their sales would be spread out through the year. Again the human factor could interject itself here because it would be just like retailers to have (beg ital)two(end ital) Black Fridays each year where normally sane people stand in line to be first when the doors open at 3 or 4 a.m.
You know kids lose interest in all those high-dollar toys and games they get for Christmas well before Santa’s next visit. With July and December Christmas celebrations, gifts could more accurately reflect a kid’s current interests. I mean my niece went from dolls to boys in less than three months — so we wasted a lot of money last Christmas.
We could have parades in the warm weather and the cold weather. Thus, if you hated the warm weather you could go only to the cold weather parade, and vice versa. If you wanted, however, you could go to both and really stock up on candy.
We could watch Christmas movies and play Christmas music more of the year without suffering through our colleagues’ eye rolls.
Most importantly, the spirit of Christmas would be spread throughout the year.
Let’s be honest, many people do try to think about and help others throughout the year. But it takes Christmas — from the Salvation Army bell ringers to jail prisoners picking up food donation barrels — to bring it to the forefront.
We are only human and our lives get in the way of thinking about others. With two Christmases, we would double the opportunities to help, double the fun and, who knows, we might just double the chance to experience peace on earth and goodwill to men.
Leeanna Walker is local Editor of the Rogers Morning News.