Tag: Christmas decorations

unHappy unHolidays

I walked into my building’s lobby yesterday morning, returning from more than a week of vacation in Texas, completely oblivious to the unHoliday decorations sprouting around me.  That is until I stood idly waiting for an elevator to arrive to whisk me vertically to my floor and found this assaulting my eyes:

unHoliday Decorations 2012

I must admit, compared to last year’s lobby largesse, this year’s decorations are a slight improvement, but seem to be a return to the first year (being 2010) metal montage. Then the building launched it’s crusade to snuff out any resemblance to traditional Christmas heraldry.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the last three years worth of unholiday spirit on display in the building lobby:

unHoliday Decorations 2010
unHoliday Decorations 2010
unHoliday Decorations 2012
unHoliday Decorations 2012
unHoliday Decorations 2011
unHoliday Decorations 2011

All I can say is at least this year’s metallic monstrosity matches the color scheme near the garage access elevators:

unHoliday Decorations 2012

Thank goodness for my two daily stops at Hallmark, where I can bask in the warmth of a more traditional Christmas spirit on display, spreading Peace, Love and Joy indiscriminately.

To Occupy Christmas or Not?

Hallmark Lobby Christmas Tree (with the Mayor's Christmas Tree in the background)

I drive a vanpool from Lansing to downtown, midtown and the Plaza areas of Kansas City, Missouri every weekday.  My final stop, before heading to my own work place, is Crown Center, the ‘home’ of Hallmark Cards.  As you can see from the slightly blurry cellphone photo I took this morning, the decorations at the world headquarters for Hallmark simply exude the Spirit of Christmas.  I need this extra immersion for Christmas cheer to confront the gauntlet of bland and vaguely wintery decorations my building lobby sports.  I left the house without my red and green ball Christmas tree ornaments, so I can’t ‘occupy’ the decorations today.   And I have my uncle to thank for that ‘Occupy Christmas’ idea, thanks to a comment he posted to my post yesterday about the prevalence of unholiday decorations littering the lobby.

For the entire drive in this morning, I kept thinking of picket sign slogans I could hand paint for such an occupation, such as:  “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” or “Put Christ Back in Christmas” or “The Cross (X) Marks the Spot” and so on.  Rather than being the 99% we could be (and are) 100% loved by Him.  I know I’ll be saying “Merry Christmas” rather than “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” for the next thirty or so days (until Epiphany anyways).

I’m also curious about the decorations in the lobby of your workplace buildings.  Snap a photo with your cell phone and comment with the link to participate in this unofficial and informal survey of corporate expressions of Christmas (or unHoliday) cheer.

Return of the unHolidays

 
unHoliday Decorations II
I returned to work today after a long Thanksgiving break.  As I approached the elevators, I became concerned that a new form of fungus had usurped our sedate lobby ferns.   Then I remembered.  The building must have hired the same interior designer from last year’s decorations.  I am tempted to scrounge through my Christmas decorations at home and bring in the largest brightest red and green balls to hang clandestinely among the bleak colorless concoction displayed above.
I’m getting depressed just looking at this picture.  Ugh.

unHoliday Decorations

I returned to work this morning to this lovely creation in the elevator lobby.  Is it just me, or does this creations seem to celebrate autumn, rather than a traditional holiday occurring within a few days of the winter solstice?

Happy unHolidays?!?!

November 30, 2010