Yesterday I got two concrete examples of why I’m so very, very tired of the commercialism of this time of year.

First, there was a lady looking to buy a gift for her hard-to-buy-for sister-in-law. She wasn’t looking to spend very much, but in the end she spent over $100 on a table runner, napkins and napkin rings. She kept asking me if I thought they made a nice gift. It seemed to me that she didn’t once consider whether it was appropriate for her sister-in-law, rather she just wanted something generic and nice.

Later in the day, an older gentleman came into the store looking for our “expensive cards”. I showed him some beautiful cards that cost $4.50, and he took one with a scene of the three kings following the star. He asked if I thought it was nice, which I did and commented that it would be very nice for someone who is religious. He said to me “No, but he is someone very successful and important.” Now I had a pretty clear picture of what was going on. He asked again for a more expensive card, and in the end bought a slightly more expensive handmade card. He seemed to have little interest in what it looked like or said, it just had to cost a lot of money.

Although I am Wiccan, I still celebrate Christmas with my family. When I buy gifts, I try to buy something the person will use or keep as something special. It isn’t worth my time or money to buy something to show off or that isn’t right for the person. But I guess not everyone feels that way.

Regardless of how often I manage to mangle it, I love the English language. We have so many words (over half a million at last count) that we can use to express ourselves perfectly. I’m pretty sure, though, that few of us actually have that many words at their command. I know that my daily vocabulary is actually pretty limited, even though I’m a well-read university graduate. And my spell, well it’s just awful.

With that in mind, I picked up a bargain book from Chapters – The Art of Spelling: The Madness and the Method by Marilyn vos Savant. It was an interesting book giving a brief history of the development of standardized English spelling as well as some tools to help improve one’s spelling. (I can use all the help I can get.) Ms. vos Savant also provides some interesting links in the back of the book, and through them I found SPELL (Society for the Preservation of English Literature and Language) and Verbivore. The former site is a very fun read for anyone who loves our language.

What I have managed to take away from all this reading in the past couple of days is a renewed respect for the English language, as well as a desire to improve my spelling especially of words that are spelt different by Canadians. It has also harden my resolve to continue to write properly online, whether through email, instant messaging or in a game. Our language is beautiful and deserving of respect. Using “4” instead of “for” or “2” instead of “to” or “too” is a very sad thing to those of us who love words.

As for grammar… well, that’s a whole ‘nother kettle of fish.

There is something to be said for online shopping. After about 20 minutes of browsing, my Christmas shopping is nearly done. I’m sure there are some people who think that part of the fun of the Christmas holidays is to brave the crowds at the mall. For me, that just makes the season stressful. I don’t see anything fun about being shoved around by other shoppers and ingnored by store staff. And besides, I work in a store all day, I don’t want to spend my off time shopping! 😉

One of my favorite blogs to read is Post Secret, a site where people anonymously send in postcards containing a secret that they have never told anyone. A lot of the secrets are very sad, and I often finding myself hoping that the person gets help or talks to someone about the problem. Occasionally, the secrets are funny, like the person who thinks the new pope looks scary. (So do I!) I’m always surprises by what I see there, and I’m also a little encouraged because it is a nice reminder that I’m not the only one who feels certain things.

I think sometimes that the whole internet is a little like Post Secret, in that no one really knows who you are and you can pretty much safely say what you are afraid to tells those who are close to you. Blogs, obviously, work a little like this, but I think we often hold back if we know that it is read by our families and friends. I’d like to think, though, that I am as honest as possible in my blog even though quanta, my parents, and who knows who else reads my blog. And I’m also a little surprised that when I tried to think of something to send to Post Secret I couldn’t think of any deep, dark secrets that I held.