A Child Of Atom

You want to now the quickest way to KILL what little burgeoning Christmas spirit I already had built up? Have me decorate two Christmas trees.

Really, it wasn't the decorating, it was the atmosphere. From where I stood all day I could hear the following things: A sound loop of ice skating sounds punctuated every 6 minutes by a child's laugh. Sleigh bells (constant). A sound effects loop of a train. A children's choir that sang just 7 songs in a continual loop. The score of the Nutcracker. A loop of vaguely Christams-y "classical" music, (I never got an accurate account of how many because they were fairly generic.)

All those sounds and songs? Playing at once, at a volume I couldn't control. Over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over... for the 9 hours I spent there yesterday and the 5 hours I spent there today. It was like a hellish Christmas torture chamber.

I get to do this all again in two days in another city... hopefully that won't stomp my last remaining spark of Christmas spirit.