Support Open On X-Mas Businesses

I thought this was a pretty good idea: A list of businesses that are open on Christmas Day. The Times- Standard should try and improve on it next year.

Sure, I hate Christmas, but I'm sure I'm not the only one that hates having everything close down on holidays. It's nice to know you can still buy groceries, beer or whatever on days like today. In fact, I think I'll make a special effort to stop by at least a couple of businesses I notice that are open today and buy something. Those places deserve our support.

I think the Times- Standard should devote possibly a full page to the Open On Christmas business listings next year. Maybe towards the end of November they could announce the project and invite local businesses that will be open to send a notice to the T-S and the paper could list them all free of charge on Christmas Eve. Free advertising for businesses that deserve it.

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On the other hand, I'm not sure how far I want to go in punishing businesses that support Christmas and close on Christmas Day. Some, like Pierson's Building Center, really piss me off. Come Christmas time, they turn what is arguably the best garden center (in Eureka, anyway) into a disgusting display of Christmas. They gut the store of nearly all the garden stuff and replace it with all those ugly Christmas trees. Yuck!

I wish there was some sort of action I could take against Pierson's for that. Problem is, I hardly ever go to Pierson's, anyway, so they'd never notice it even if I did do something.

Then there's those stupid theme stores that change their inventory depending on what the closest holiday is: Long's Drugs and Rite- Aid are the first that come to mind. As Halloween approaches, they fill the aisles with Halloween stuff. Christmas and Easter, same thing. I hate that. I wish I could boycott them just for that.

Kinda tough, though, especially with Rite- Aid. They're close by and have decent prices on beer. It would be hard to avoid them as often as holidays occur. There always seems to be one holiday or another coming up.

But I'm thinking of boycotting Rite- Aid next year if only because they allow those pesky Salvation Army bell ringers to hang out in front of their store. I hate those bell ringers.

I usually develop a mental block to all the Christmas, Easter and Halloween stuff in their aisles. After the first day or two of the new holiday theme I hardly notice that stuff. Not so those damned bell ringers. You can't ignore them.

Don't get me wrong. I support the Salvation Army's work and appreciate their need to raise funds. I just hate the bell ringers because I hate Christmas and those bell ringers kind of rub your nose in the fact that Christmas is on its way. They're also kinda like approaching a store and seeing a panhandler out front. Nobody likes that, do they?

That's not to say I didn't give any money to the bell ringers this year, but I'll admit it was only because the first one that showed up in front of the Henderson Center Rite- Aid store was someone I knew.

She used to be my next door neighbor not long ago. I was surprised to see her doing that and stopped to speak with her briefly. She said the Salvation Army had helped her out before so she was volunteering as a bell ringer. I can't say for sure but I had the feeling that, truth be told, she was probably doing it as court ordered community service.

Still, she is cute and I threw all my spare change in her red bucket. That was the last time I did that this year and it's good to know those pesky folks will be gone until next year.

So, I don't know if I have the fortitude and energy to do it, but I'm thinking of boycotting Rite- Aid next year from the day after Thanksgiving- when the bell ringers first show up- until the day after Christmas, when they'll be gone.

I don't expect anyone to join my boycott. In fact, I hope you don't. The Salvation Army does good work and needs to raise money. Still, I'm sure my fellow Christmas haters, few of us that there are, might consider joining in.

The most important thing, though, is to support businesses that stay open on Christmas Day. We need more of them, if for no other reason than, the more businesses that are open on Christmas, the easier it will be for some of us to ignore Christmas altogether.