Day Five - The Inevitable

It comes from being smug, and I admit that I was distinctly smug yesterday. The universe does not like smugness, and accordingly, I found the following in my email box yesterday:

Hello Everyone,

There has been a slight change in plans...

We are going to have our Secret Santa Party on Wed the 12^th instead of Friday the 14^th.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Did those more familiar with the immutable laws of the universe see this one coming or what?

A reminder, we said November 12 through December 12. So, it's back to the drawing board.

The universe also does not like conspicuous non consumption. Daily we receive a stack of catalogs offering everything from Big Foot statues being passed off as Christmas decorations, English muffins and crumpets, caviar and foie gras (complete with pictures of enlarged fish eggs and fatted duck livers that just make one want to scream "VEGAN!"), "authentic" Harry Potter wands and Sorcerer's stones (presumably less authentic), decor options of every kind, pajamas, personalized wine bottles, cheeses, furniture, rugs, office supplies, gardening tools and equipment, movies, meat, kitchen items and appliances, faux fur everything, sporting equipment--the list is endless--all of them hoping to lure us into buying things we don't need and often didn't know existed. But we look through them, and sometimes have ordered things--things we weren't actively looking for, but would make a good gift or would be fun.

[Side note: Our settee is from the same company that offers the Big Foot statue as well as an entire gargoyle collection, and if we are willing to look through THAT catalog, we will look through almost anything. To be fair, we did actually need another piece of furniture for people to sit on or we needed to start inviting fewer people over at a time, but I think you get my point.]

Take away housing, groceries, some personal items, and transportation and the rest of our economy is based on things no one actually needs--televisions so large that the neighbors can watch movies from across the street, appliances that simplify things we never knew were difficult (was it really so difficult to heat up hot dogs or to shake a martini???), devices that make all our bad habits portable, boots and coats that can't get wet, clothing to humiliate our pets, vehicles that are larger than some HOMES used to be--and the products just keep coming. And leading the way for totally useless ways to spend money.....

http://www.hammacher.com/

And yet, I'm oddly tempted to sign up to receive their catalogs.......