When I was a kid, the build-up to Christmas was long and slow. Nowadays it just seems to arrive, notwithstanding the hard marketing retailers do to stretch the start all the way back to summer.

This change in tempo has little to do with Christmas becoming “The Holidays”, nor has it anything to do with my age. At my age, everything has a long, slow buildup.

What has changed is the way gifts materialize. When I was young, we made many of the gifts we gave. A lot of thought had to go into the choice of gift. Could I make it? And on time?

With my first job came buying power and a different decision. “Can I afford it?”

Today my gifting is mouse powered. A click and it’s done. Just-in-time gifting. No planning, production, or store visit.

And no slow build-up. No bubbling anticipation.

There definitely is a hole in this holi-day.

Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.