Why I Hate Christmas

I am a big fan of Thanksgiving. I love getting together with family, watching football, and eating myself into oblivion. There's no major preparation, usually no fighting, and the afternoon is spent by sleeping off 3+ pounds of food. What's not to like? And the icing on the cake is my birthday is around Turkey Day, so everyone is nice to me!

But..
I absolutely hate Christmas or the holiday season or whatever you want to call it. It is an over-sized production put on by corporate America that sucks happiness via the vacuum created by the empty space in the wallets of the middle class. But that's not the only reason...


Music
Radio stations in Northeast Mississippi must have a deal with Santa because these nerds start playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving! Hey, big man--can I at least enjoy my holiday before you start shoving joy and cheer down my throat? I don't want to hear cheesy Christmas songs performed by Justin Bieber or a slew of country artists. I will let Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" slide, though. She's got some pipes. I realize that I am of the minority being a "Holiday Hater", but can we either mix up Christmas songs with a few non-holiday jams or start playing this crap in December rather than mid November?

Shopping 
My sister is not a big fan of Christmas either. We had a discussion about it over the Thanksgiving table, and she said, "No part of the Christmas spirit means running over an old lady in the Target parking lot to get your kid's toy at half-price." And I can't agree more. This holiday is supposed to be about giving and loving our neighbors and all that jazz, and it has turned into a newspaper full of articles about shoppers being pepper-sprayed or tazered or getting weaves ripped out.

Decorations
Christmas decorations are the worst. No, I take that back. All decorations are the worst. What's the point of putting all that garb up to only take it down one month later? I see none. And don't try to feed me that garbage about "Oh! They put you into the spirit of the holidays. They make everyone happy." They don't make me happy. They clutter my home and run up the electric bill. And until you have to put up decorations for Christmas at Midway, you'll never fully know my hatred. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED working at the marina, but decorating the grounds was not my favorite part.


The holiday season does have a positive. This is the most charitable time of the year in America. Charities receive millions of dollars of donations during the months of November and December that help provide food, clothing, and gifts for families all over the world. However, all too often this generosity is overshadowed by greed and marketing.

Until we can  give up the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping and decorating our houses and lawns like the runways of JFK and be content with food, family, friends, and free-giving, I will continue to be a Scrooge.

Bah humbug.


Check these out:
Operation Christmas Child
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/

Salvation Army
https://donate.salvationarmyusa.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=206

Feed the Children
http://www.feedthechildren.org/ 

Twilight Wish
http://www.twilightwish.org/