Worst part about Christmas
I have a HUGE pet peeve this time of year. It's the tv commercials. They drive me CRAZY!
This years' new commercial that drives me nuts is those two kids ripping paper off a present, freaking out (yes - Yes - YEEEEEEESSSSSSSS THANK YOU THANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!!!!!!!). It represents the worst of the holiday, making it all about the presents. Those kids look like a coupla greedy brats. Ugh. That ad is bad, but it's not the worst.
It's the grown-up version of that ad that earns my personal award, "The Worst Ad Campaign Ever."
It goes something like this.
Couple comes downstairs on Christmas Morning. Husband gives Wife a small box. Wife opens box. She looks confused - it's a key chain. A key chain? She's confused, disoriented, lost - did Husband get mixed up while wrapping presents and give her his keys for Christmas?
No, sweetheart.
Husband smiles knowingly. He takes Wife by the hand, leads her to the huge picture window and pulls back the beige curtain. Perfect white snow blankets the front lawn and the trees on this idyllic suburban street. In the driveway is a car - a NEW car - with a big stupid red freakin' bow on the top!
Tears come to Wife's eyes, as she smiles and looks at Husband. Ahhhh - you got me a new car! Mystery solved, The End.
Nothing says, "Honey, I emptied our retirement account so I could surprise you with a new car this Christmas," like a car in a driveway Christmas morning with a big stupid red bow on it.
My problem with this ad is that I simply don't believe it happens. Who has their act together to the point where they can SURPRISE their SO with a NEW CAR? Can it be done? How? How do you figure out what kind of car to get? What color? How do you buy a new car - A CAR - without your SO finding out?
And then, how in the world do you get the car in the driveway Christmas morning, with that big stupid red bow on it? Do you sneak out of the house in the middle of the night and...what? Walk to the dealer's lot? Where do you get a big stupid red bow, anyway?
The company that makes those stupid bows claims to have sold 3,000 of them this year - and had to turn down another 2500 requests. So people really do this!!
Do you know anyone who's been surprised by a car on Christmas? Please, share your story. I'm beginning to feel like the Grinch!
Cheers, Lara
Comments
My husband keeps saying he can't wait for the holidays to be over so that commercial with the greedy kids stops airing. And no, I've never known anyone to receive a car on Christmas. But I do remember an SNL sketch that was a commercial for a company that makes giant bows, "for your gift cars" that was pretty funny.
no i dont know anyone who ever gave a car or recived a car for x-mas. but i do love your sence of humor, and how do they get the huge stupid bow on the car to begine with??? mabe if you happen to be married to some rich guy, to whom isnt tight with his cash.
I don't know any adults who have gotten cars for xmas but my husband got his first car on xmas day when he was 16. No it wasn't spectacular it was a 1990 Ford Ranger with crank windows and a manual trans. I think his 'rents paid $3000 for it. It didn't have a bow.
I know a lot of teenagers who turn sixteen or eighteen and get a car. But that is a decision made by BOTH the parents, not just one.
Apparently there are companies that will deliver cars to a house... and put the bow on it. There was an arrogent gent in my home town who had LOTS of money... he had one of these companies deliver a car, a Lamborgini (sp?). But they delivered it to the wrong house. They delivered it to his home & the wife got it. The note had someone else's name and was signed by her husband. The car was for his mistress. She divored the @#$%^&*!!! :)
Something popped inside of me and I just don't even want to do Christmas gift-giving anymore. I did get gifts for my son and my nephews. Everybody else that used to be on my gift exchange list...it's all extinct now: a thing of the past. Christmas is not about materialism but the media and the stores sure are doing a good job making it seem so.
