It's Official: I'm Over Christmas.

[bjarvis]

I can't recall any time I've actually been a big fan of Christmas. I'm sure before I was about 10 years of age, I looked forward to opening presents on the morning of December 25 but since most of those years were best forgotten anyway, I have no mental record of such an event. I recall being very blase about the holiday from age 12 onwards, indifferent but tolerant. From about 20 onwards, my tolerance seemed to decrease every year as my annoyance at the whole enterprise gradually increased. I'm about to hit 40 and I can now safely declare that, as of today, December 19, 2006, I have had enough of Christmas.

As much as folks like to talk about the religious aspects of the holiday season, I have seen no evidence of it whatsoever. It is purely and 100% commercial. Any religious content is an accidental leftover, a scrap of a distant past which Hallmark hasn't swept away just yet. The official symbol of Christmas is not a wreath or a tree, it's a dollar sign.

Jesus, if you're still considering a second coming, don't bother: there's nothing here for you to work with, and you couldn't afford it anyway.

I'm OK with Christmas being little more than an excuse for commercial profit, but the sudden surge is impinging on our ability to do regular day-to-day domestic commerce. I tried to get lunch today, a simple function any other time of the year. While walking past the local McDonald's, I noticed that instead of having only a handful of customers, there were no fewer than 20 mothers, each with a stroller with at least one child, sometimes two or more: no one else could get into the place for the traffic jam of moms & strollers. Families with strollers likewise jammed the local Subway, Dairy Queen and a handful of other small food spots. All before 11 AM. Abandoning any hope of eating today, I cut through JC Penny to get to the parking lot but found the place choked with so many senior citizens --and still more moms with strollers-- one would think the local senior center had been evacuated. This store is nearly empty any other time of the year... where were these people only two weeks ago?

I nearly ran out of gas getting out of the parking lot: the feeder roads are gridlocked with holiday shoppers, fighting their way into & out of Michael's, Home Depot, Chik-Fil-A and TGI Friday. I wanted to go further into downtown Frederick to fill the tank at the cheaper station on Route 85, but cars were backed up 3/4 of a mile from the intersection. Instead, I turned south and headed back to Urbana early: I'll pay extra to fill up at the local 7-11.

Except that the 7-11 was fully packed. All parking spots were full so many people were filling their tanks and leaving their cars at the pumps to go shopping at the convenience store instead of moving their vehicles out of the way for the rest of us. Cars were backed up onto Route 80 waiting to get into 7-11. Waiting impatiently, I eventually got to a pump to fill my car, but it was almost as brutal a battle to get out of the place as it was to get in.

These are minor annoyances but are part of the bigger issue: Christmas as a holiday is entirely out of control. It distorts normal commerce, impairs normal day-to-day life and promotes greed and selfishness cloaked in giving-for-giving's-sake and encourages emotional blackmail by instilling & leveraging guilt. Christmas has outlived its usefulness and, IMHO, is damaged beyond redemption. It's time to kill the damn thing and leave the corpse in the town square as a warning to the other holidays.

I'm in favour of replacing it with some other holiday, but only in the following format: there is no celebration on that day. The new holiday is simply to use to go home and do no shopping. Read a book, write a letter, go for a walk or vacuum the carpet. Anything you want, but no shopping.

I am done with Christmas. Christmas, you are dead to me. I can't wait for December 26 when you'll be dead to everyone else too, at least for another 365 days.

Comments

[manley1.livejournal.com]

Amen. I hate this holiday too on so many levels.

[unzeugmatic.livejournal.com]

My mother always said that there should be express lines for Jews in December.

"Excuse Me. Just picking up a few things I need. No Christmas here."

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Oooh! Oooh! Pardon me, but I'm stealing that line, effective immediately. Thank you for putting a smile on my face!

[kent4str.livejournal.com]

Tough - you're still getting presents!

[madknits.livejournal.com]

He should get a lump of coal in his stocking.

Give all his presents to me, since I won't be getting any.

;-)

[gingy.livejournal.com]

That's something I have noticed since moving here as well. I know it's become a commercial circle-jerk at home too, but it's SO MUCH WORSE here because of the sheer number of people in our area. And since I live down the road from a big-ass Catholic church and near to a shopping area, the traffic around here has SUCKED.

I want to go home and hang out on the cousin's farm and bake and feed people. Instead, I'm stuck in the Baltimore-Washington Metro Sprawl surrounded by commercialism and 20c temperatures and in-laws who are Fundies but are otherwise VERY NICE PEOPLE.

Gah.

[jkusters]

As if December 26th, "National Return the Unwanted Gifts" day will be any better.... :-)

JOhn.

[brunorepublic.livejournal.com]

I'm totally with you on this. Enough is enough.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

I love the holidays but even yours trully can run out of patience and more to the point, I think a lot of people simply don't plan ahead and simply wait until the final week of the season to really shop.

I'm thinking of doing a 30 minutes, perhaps an hour show, teaching people about how to enjoy the holidays and not get so wrapped up in the guilt and commercialism of the holidays but to PLAN AHEAD with shopping, decorating etc so they don't have to deal with the rush so much.

I've got Saturday set aside for ME to go downtown and enjoy the holiday lights, the crowds etc and get that last final gist at the downtown Macy's, formerly our Bon Marche with it's star of Bethlahem on the southeast corner of the store on the corner of Pine and 4th Ave, a leftover from the Bon that's been a fixture around these parts for years and years.

[moofedct.livejournal.com]

I think some people wait on their shopping to get better prices on what they'd ordinarily buy anyway.

[apparentparadox]

I love Christmas. It isn't the giving/getting presents that makes it fun, though. I love the decorations (lights on houses, especially). I like lots of Christmas music (but I wouldn't want to hear it more than for about one month a year, I'm not completely crazy). Maybe it's just because I've got all these great memories from when I was a kid, but I think that I'd like it anyway. Besides, I like snow! I get teary-eyed every time I watch various classic Christmas movies (like "A Christmas Story" or "White Christmas"). I sing along (badly, and off key) with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch stole Christmas. I'm terminally late with my Christmas cards, but I love sending them & really love getting them. It doesn't matter that I may only hear from some of those people once a year -- at least I do hear from them once a year.

I do, however, think that there should be special parking spots & express lanes for anyone who is trying to conduct normal business and not shopping for presents. I do avoid going to stores this time of year because it's just too much of a pain.

[cuyahogarvr.livejournal.com]

I somewhat agree with your rant here. Way too much commercialism. Whatever happened to sitting around the fire watching "White Chrismas" and sipping hot chocolate? Anyway, having discovered internet shopping, my stress level has been alleviated, but you're right, the insane people are out there now making everyone's life miserable.
Kent's right though - you're still getting your presents both the material ones and the non-material ones too.

[deege.livejournal.com]

I am quite annoyed with Christmas for your reasons and a few others. In a country riddled with consumer debt, the religious sheen over what has really become a materialistic exercise implies a blessing or a moral imperative to overspend now and suffer later. It's a sick trap laid out for a culture already in the throes of encouraging people to live beyond their means.

Even in light of the commercial boost Christmas gives to the retail economy, the amount of lost productivity in the economy in general is out of control. People have been leaving work early for weeks to get a jump on shopping and this is tolerated, but I get the fish-eye when I leave early for a Passover seder in April. The office partying, hours spent kibbitzing over cookies/candy and coffee while no work gets done, and the general "I'm on vacation" mindset that sets in during the second half of December even when people are in the office amount to a huge loss of productivity but are tolerated anyway. If this is happening at every company around the country, the impact is staggering. But it's all okay, because it's Christmas.

Well excuse me, I'm not a Christian and I frankly just don't get why the Christians get a free pass on all this stuff because "'tis the season" or whatever. The supposed encouragement of diversity is a crock. Only Christmas-folk get away with this stuff, and American businesses are all dolled up with wreaths and trees wherever you go. I'm not asking for menorahs everywhere, because I don't think they belong plastered all over business offices either. And I don't expect tacit approval to shorten my hours so that I can go shop for Hanukkah or bake cookies or whatever. None of it makes any sense to me.

Christmas is pervasive, to the point where literally hundreds of people thoughtlessly wish me a "Merry Christmas" every year. When I complain about this, people tell me I should recognize that well-wishers' hearts are in the right place, but the truth is they're not. If their hearts were in the right place, they would ask me if I am celebrating Christmas before wishing me a happy one. When people find out I'm Jewish, they say silly things like, "but you have a tree, right?" or "but you still celebrate Christmas, don't you" or, worst of all, "Jesus was Jewish, so Christmas is for you, too!" (no lie, I have heard this more than once). It isn't cute, it's thoughtless. But the overall cultural message is, "you're the weird one, because you don't celebrate Christmas." Hundreds of subtle barbs every year, which frankly, I don't see why I should have to tolerate. But I'm accused of being a scrooge if I say anything.

It's a no-win. I'm totally over it.

[madknits.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that Chanukkah is a very minor holiday just about every where else in the world, but here in the US, it has attained the status of "Jewish Christmas" and gets a lot of attention.

Some friends of mine, who are religious Jews, put all their Chanukkah presents (many of them from their parents to their kids) under the ficus tree, mostly because it's behind a baby fence (they have a 16 month old who would probably love to play in the soil), and it was funny hearing them say, "Put the presents under the tree."

And if Jesus was Jewish, do they follow the rules of kashrut?

[deege.livejournal.com]

Amen to that. Hanukkah is an enjoyable but minor holiday in the Jewish calendar. The Christmas-izing of it is quite sad, because it's truly beautiful in its own way. To me, turning it into present-mania is basically celebrating Christmas.

[madknits.livejournal.com]

My own sense about Christmas is that it is about being with people who are important to you. Which is why I won't be seeing my family, but spending the day with friends. I have not bought or made a lot of gifts, just a few books for the kids in my life (though one is getting a sweater I'm knitting, rather than a book, but it won't be done in time). Also, being Italian, the other reason for Christmas was food. Lots of food. Hours of eating. I would give just about anything to have my mothers stuffed mushrooms again.

Italian Christmas

[cuyahogarvr.livejournal.com]

You know, even though we've never met, I think I'm in love with this man. Italian and Christmas was always and orgasm of the senses and being around grandparents that always made something for all of their 14 grandchildren was always exciting. Maybe if more of us got back to this, Christmas would be a more pleasant experience.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Mmmm. Chick-Fil-A. Despite the chain's overly religious owners, I love their chicken sandwiches.

I'm in favor of abolishing Xmas and having a Halloween Tree and giving Halloween Gifts, myself.

I think Xmas has become yet another excuse for most people I know to beat themselves up because they don't feel as happy and wonderful as the advertising and media outlets tell them everybody ELSE is feeling. I don't recall the movie, but I distinctly recall Paul Lynde once snarling at somebody, "NObody's THAT happy...!"

I'm with you, Paul.

[dancer44.livejournal.com]

Amen to everything that has been said. I've been over this holiday for many years. Unfortuantely R really likes it. However, this year, since we're so busy painting and all, there isn't a single decoration to be found in the house or around it. It's so much better.

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

Yah...I kinda got what you were feeling from your...err...holiday letter.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

That was kent4str's creation. I can't say I disagree but he gets the credit.

[umuhk.livejournal.com]

I'm no fan of religious anything, so the lack of religious feeling to this holiday doesn't bother me.

What bothers me is the sheer volume of people one has to deal with.

As we just had a serious storm blow through (and take down a large chunk of the infrastructure in the process), it's even worse. People from areas without power migrate to areas with power, naturally enough. And anyone driving from one place to another has to do so on whichever roads are open, adding to the traffic burden. All of this is reasonable, given the magnitude of the disaster.

But everyone *also* seems to be in full-holiday-mode, so that where one might have to deal with a little extra traffic, or a few more people at the store than usual, one now has to confront surging seas of cars, mostly disregarding traffic lights (when they actually function), gridlocking roads, and clogging parking lots, parked randomly across handicap spaces. Getting *to* a freeway is an iffy proposition, and one's odds of survival decrease once there.

Eating at a restaurant becomes an exercise in endurance, as virtually all restaurants have a minimum 45-minute wait for a table...and don't even think of stepping out of the tightly-packed crowd in front of the hostess station, since you'll lose your place in the queue.

It's as if the population of this area (already far too high for my tastes) suddenly tripled. And I can't use the "just doing my usual thing, no christmas here" trick to jump the line, since there are a several others just trying to replace the milk that spoiled since the power's been out, but they're scattered amongst the crowds pushing towering carts filled with useless holiday gifts, and always, for some reason, writing checks (slowly!) to pay for them.

I'm in a bad mood most of the time, and usually worse this time of year. This year, it's turning savage.

[ted-badger.livejournal.com]

I think I scared off the new guy at work. When he asked what I'm doing for Christmas, I responded without pausing to think about it,

"Hiding under the bed."

Christmas

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

As much as folks like to talk about the religious aspects of the holiday season, I have seen no evidence of it whatsoever. It is purely and 100% commercial. Any religious content is an accidental leftover, a scrap of a distant past which Hallmark hasn't swept away just yet.

I'll be in church on December 24 and December 25. The "religious stuff" is actually what's important to me about Christmas. And the place will be packed. Not 100% commercial. And not accidental.

I'm sorry that you're feeling like a salmon swimming upstream amidst all the increased commercial activity. I too try to avoid that as much as I can..

Jesus, if you're still considering a second coming, don't bother: there's nothing here for you to work with, and you couldn't afford it anyway.

well, it's your blog, so I won't make any comment other than to say that I disagree.

[ohwolfman.livejournal.com]

I was discussing this with the boys up the street. If Christmas could be just the parts that we like (exchanging meaningful gifts with friends, sharing time and food with the folks we love, etc.) Christmas would be OK.

It's when we have the expectations of these Norman Rockwell holidays and the guilty responsibility we feel around it to have: The huge Christmas Dinner, The Ginormous Gifts, Seeing everyone whom you didn't care enough to see the rest of the year, sending a card to everyone in your address book, etc.

THAT'S the stuff that makes me wish I could hiberate through all of this.

[beartalon.livejournal.com]

My immediate family all decided long ago not to exchange gifts as it was too expensive. We're seeing a resurgence in our giving now, but only because gift cards are convenient to mail. There was no point in sending huge packages back and forth before. Now an small easily-sent gift card can be send for a few cents more than normal postage.

Before this, we all sent our parents gifts or money for them to buy stuff they wanted. We still do this by choice. My nieces and nephews were given gifts only by their parents and some money by Grandparents (my parents). Children gave only to their parents. There never was a sense of having to buy for absolutely everyone and there was always a sense of economy and fairness.

Before this, when we were all children together, it was simple too. Everyone had one main gift, whether purchased by multiple people pooling money or some other means, everything else was simply stocking stuffers and no-one complained. Besides economy there was also graciousness: your list might have been 3 or 4 items long, and you didn't expect everything, and you appreciated that you were thought of, not upset that you didn't get a lot.

There also wasn't this strange adult "preferred gift list" that I've seen in some families, with the expectation that most of it would be fulfilled, as a short list doesn't mean the price tags are affordable. I find it even stranger when a similar list is given to friends, even close ones. It's really nice that someone wants a plasma TV, but it's not coming from me. If a friend was getting a similar list from me, it would show how little I need tanglible items and how much more I valued that freindship.

Guilt is usually self-imposed, and incredibly stupid when it requires you to put yourself in debt to keep up with the rest of the family's expectations.

Over the years my card list is cut down to those who actually send cards AND engage in some sort of correspondence between each successive Christmas. My budget is set across the board, with few exceptions, those being my partner, my parents and anyone who helped me out tremendously that year. This last doesn't need to be celebrated at Christmastime but it usually works out that way. Also, the budget is more relaxed but not extravagant even in those cases, as it's the thought and feeling that count most and that is best expressed in special, not necessarily expensive, gift selection.

I still endure the stupidity of the shopping masses, but I tend to go into it better prepared than most, and can usually be finished before the rush really hits. That gives me several quiet evenings just to anticipate the event and not worry about all the self-punishing behavious others seem to endure for their fleeting "happiness."