Well, it’s December, so it must be time to wheel out the We Are Not Alone non-religious Advent Calendar, counting down the 24 Christing days until Shopmas, when we all celebrate consumerism in all its forms by throwing all our unnecessary gifts into charity shop bags to help the less well-off. Presumably the less well-off have need of cast-off Shopmas themed ornaments and knitwear. I digress.
Day 1 of our Advent Calendar was a disappointing affair, as box 1 contained the advent calendar itself. This was not altogether surprising, as the original advent calendar has only one box, and we were somewhat perplexed as to where the other 23 gifts were going to come from.
So here’s to day 2! The first proper box! It contains a mini version of this year’s advent calendar to use next year. I am angered and saddened by this, as it’s not at all in the Shopmas spirit. Here we are trying to exceed even the excesses of last year, turning up the heating to 11, adding even more decorative packaging to the outsides of already overpackaged goods, buying even more snacks for after the massive Shopmas dinner, and here is a perfectly legitimate corporation, reducing its own future sales. Humbug.
