I’m Not A Fan of Hallmark Holidays

Posted Jun 24 2011 by Margot Starbuck with 3 Comments

    I am not a fan of the Hallmark holidays, people.

    These are the ones invented by retailers to guilt me into buying stuff. I’m thinking about Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, though these retail celebrations can also coincide with actual liturgical holy days. They are why annually, against my better judgment, I buy jelly beans and Christmas stocking candy and on one particularly bad year, a Buzz Lightyear costume from the actual Disney store.

    Every year I intend to muster the courage not to bow to pressures to overspend. All my resolve really means is that instead of thinking ahead to spend four bucks on a card I can mail six or seven days before the actual holiday, I do nothing and then, panicked, spend $89 online–the day before–to send some pricey steaks or a Lemonhead gift basket.

    I tell you I’m a mess, people.

    While there are now not nearly enough days to go the route of the sensible overpriced card, I’ve begun pre-planning Father’s Day alternatives for next year…

    1. Write down one thing for which I’m grateful about my dad and send it to him.
    2. Tell my husband why I think he’s a great dad.
    3. Write a note to the dads who aren’t my own who have made an impact on me.
    4. Surprise-visit my grandfather who is, hands down, the greatest man who ever lived.
    5. Pray for the orphans in the world that God loves deeply.
    6. Tell a father-to-be, who’s expecting his first kiddo, how much his presence in the home will matter to his child.
    7. Send my husband out on a daddy-daughter date with my daughter. And son. And other son. Three consecutive dates.
    8. Coerce my children into gluing macaroni on construction paper so I have something to send to my dad and step-dads.
    9. Sponsor a child who’s been orphaned through Compassion International.
    10. Thank the father of Jesus for loving me even though I’m a total mess and may do none of these sensible things.

    Whatever Father’s day may drum up in your own life–and however you honor or dishonor the day–know that there is One whose love never fails.

    —-
    Margot Starbuck is a communicator who writes and speaks about kingdom living, God’s heart for the poor, body image, edgy love & other fresh ideas.  She’s convinced that because God is with us and for us in Jesus Christ, Christians are set free to live love that is forothers, especially those who live on the world’s margins. This is kind of Margot’s big thing.  Margot lives in the Walltown neighborhood of Durham, NC, with her husband, Peter, and their three kids by birth and adoption.  At Reality Ministries, she shares life among friends with and without disabilities.  A graduate of Westmont College and Princeton Seminary, Margot is ordained in the Presbyterian Church USA.

    Click here for more information on Margot Starbuck and the work she is doing for the Kingdom.


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      About the Author

      Margot Starbuck

      Margot StarbuckMargot Starbuck is a speaker, volunteer and author of The Girl in the Orange Dress: Searching for a Father Who Does Not Fail and Small Things With Great Love: Adventures in Loving Your Neighbor. Her next book, Permission Granted: And Other Thoughts on Living Graciously Among Sinners and Saints releases in March 2013.View all posts by Margot Starbuck →

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      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1388514701 Greg Dill

        Store-bought greeting cards are more or less a lazy man’s way of showing that you appreciate or love a person. If we truly took the time to share that appreciation in person or by doing the things suggested in this blog, Hallmark and other companies would be put out of business; and maybe a few thousand trees spared.

      • Sue

        Father’s Day and Mother’s Day are tough days in our house.  My beloved lost his dad very young and some years that wound is more tender on father’s day.  I lost my mom even younger and can certainly feel somewhat orphaned on the day that none of our friends are available to come for lunch after church.
        We each have one surviving parent, both of them will turn 90 this year. Daily phone calls, twice weekly visits, outings when they are up to it, little chores to make their days easier (removing all small buttons from clothing, replacing with larger size and resizing buttonholes for instance) fill our non-working hours.  So blessed that we have them to love and nurture. We are also childless and not by choice.  Amazingly, no matter how much time goes by, nor how much healing fills our lives, there is nothing like a “Mother’s day” or “Father’s day” service in an evangelical congregation to rip old wounds wide open.   In younger years we would skip church, or find a volunteer opportunity that kept us legitimately out of the worship service, but as we enter our 50s we figure that time of life is over for us anyway and we should be able to just get over ourselves, suck it up and smile through the service.  Sometimes “victorious living” is just keeping on going on. 

      • http://twitter.com/JMS1951 MARK SAPPENFIELD

        I don’t hate HallMark holidsys because HallMark cards is a major employer in my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri.

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