Bah Humbug!

Actually, I like Christmas. I love the songs and the festivities and the good cheers (I do know friends who absolutely HATE HATE HATE all of that - bah humbug indeed).

I dislike the commercialism. I dislike the materialism. I dislike the indulgence of children to the point of screaming "gimme gimme gimme." I dislike the whole bad-santa-sitting-at-the-mall-with-lines-of-screaming-children-asking-for-XBoxes-and-new-cell-phones thing. I dislike how stores start to pimp the holidays as early as October. I dislike the fact that for many people, Christmas only means presents and getting drunk on eggnog.

I have had many good Christmases at which none of these mattered. We only exchanged ONE gift each year, and it couldn't be extravagant. We went and sang carols at hospitals and nursing homes. We had parties to just hang out and catch up (without the alcohol). And every year we had an after Christmas party to extend the friendships with a White Elephant gift exchange. Those are the great memories I have. And now I just stay away from malls and shopping centers. It's getting ridiculous. Jesus would have been pissed.