Lois Lenski Book & TV Nonsense

Today I'm trying to rearrange and organize my Christmas decoration closet. Its one of those cubbyholes under a stairway, and awkward to get things into and out of. One of the boxes is full of children's Christmas books, from when my kids were small. I was adding a book I got at Goodwill last week, Lois Lenski's Christmas Stories. In the beginning of the book, the author explains how Christmas celebrations were banned by the Puritans in New England in the 1600's. They considered the holiday revelry sinful. Lenski then contrasts this with the German Lutherans' view of Christmas......on page 35 begins a story called "The Pink China Bonbon Dish". Here is the first paragraph (it reminds me that I shouldn't be so hard on Lutheranism and evidently Lois Lenski grew up Lutheran):

"Christmas has always been a period of deep joy and gladness to all Lutherans. It was Martin Luther who first used the evergreen tree as its symbol, and O Tannenbaum has always been a favorite German Christmas song. Many other German customs, including the baking of sprengerli and pfeffernuesse, were common.......in the early 1900's. This was before the days of the automobile, when life was simpler, centered around a smaller area governed largely by the family horse-and-buggy. Perhaps one reason why Christmas assumed such vast importance in family life at that time, was the lack of other competition in the way of celebration or diversion. Children moved in small circles, met fewer people, traveled little, and made most of their own amusements out of their own creativity and ingenuity. Premanufactured entertainment was never handed out to them."

The last sentence is an eye-opener. Can we even imagine a world devoid of "premanufactured entertainment"? A couple posts ago, I was lamenting some of the changes that have occurred concerning church activities over the last few decades, and it seems that maybe TV-watching has something to do with it.......certainly TV is "premanufactured entertainment". Lazy minds are probably the result, but who would even be cognizant of that anymore? Our world is so media-saturated.......we're drowning in it.

Last evening, I watched a TV show while Husband went to our son's basketball game. I don't often simply sit there and stare at the TV. The show was OK, but it was the commercials that were so very intrusive. Close-up pictures in your face, quickly changing from scene to scene. It almost made my eyes hurt, so I shut them during the commercials. Why should anyone watch them anyway? Unless you are truly interested in buying that car, or that cell phone, or whatever. What a pile of garbage we allow to be funneled into our eyes, ears, and absorbed into our minds.

And another thing that was ridiculous........flitting by on the TV screen during the entire show were little reminders, telling us viewers what network we were watching and reminding us to watch other shows. Plus, a message about another show stayed in the corner of the screen THE WHOLE TIME. What is up with this nonsense?