Giving -Thanks

This week's theme is giving thanks, or the less original, more conventional, Thanksgiving. None of these were taken the day of, but I feel they still bare(Correct spelling?) some resemblance to the given theme.
First off we start with The Tree, or should I say the building of "The Tree". Yes, the Rockefeller tree. Mainly because a part of my youth died with the taking of this picture. Similar to the Toothfairy and Santa Claus, "The Tree" is on the list of fabricated jolly men and money/tooth laundering fairies that incorporate a tangled mesh of lies given to our societies younger generation. The Tree you'd think, much like the name suggests, is A tree. Alas my dear friends, it pains me to bear the bad news, but nay. It is not one tree but many trees or parts-of-trees, crazy glued or in some such fashion put-together to appear as one, giant tree. There comes a point when we all enter adulthood. The point where we've lost too much innocence to allow ourselves the naivete of youth. For some its a level of formal education, for others its a kiss or even a car, and for a select few its touching some unidentified goo on the subway. For me however, it was the realization that the Rockefeller-"it's not our holiday, but Holy Toledo and a half, come this time of year we rake it in"-Tree Corporation (AKA the R."i.n.o.h.b.H.T.a.a.h.c.t.t.o.y.w.r.i.i."T.C.) has been taking us for a ride for quite some time.
How does this relate to thanks? Well it's quite direct. Firstly, there is the obvious marketing pairing of Thanksgiving and Christmas. You don't have one without the other. Not in this country. Secondly, though it has become a threshold-crossing in my life, the addition of the above mentioned knowledge, no matter how painful it was, is something I am thankful for. Lastly and thirdly, its the simple appreciation of a nice holiday season, thankful for all the blessings I have, which the ice skating rink and the lights symbolize and memorialize.

This next picture is also half symbolic. A part of the Ferris wheel in Toys-R-Us, which creates bigger than life sized replicas of pop culture (for kids) themes and uses them as seats for the wheel. This is the toy car that every kid had, which is now made even bigger than before and can be ridden, only in NYC, far into the air. O jolly joys of joy. Sign me up. Again it knocks home the thankfulness for America's affluence, at least for the people who would be in the store, even the non-wealthy ones. To not just sell or buy the cars, but to have the ability to build and ride a fake one, is something that is so obnoxiously affluent, that the pompousness of it is probably lost on most. Regardless, I am unaffected, I never had one of those cars as a kid. Didn't even want one. When all the other kids were in their little red cars Fred-Flintstoning right on by, I was in the class room rummaging through their knapsacks taking the treats out of their lunch boxes and searching for loose change.


This last picture is self explanatory. It's a store. Wrapped as a gift. I don't like the picture. It's off center and slanted, but it's the best I got of the whole store. I doubt they took down the ribbon after one day. Seems that'd be paying employees too much for too little. Maybe I'll go back and re-shoot. Yea, I'm gonna mental note that on my Daily Planner right now in fact.

The advertising idea is brilliant and it is a beautiful sight to see. The ribbon is made of red lights, so it glows nicely and the boxes are giant jewelry boxes. It gives off a nice effect and it's original. Well done.