Christmas? No more for me, thanks!

No more Christmas for me, thanks!  This year I am on strike.  I am on strike from Christmas.  
It is not that I don't enjoy giving gifts to people.  I do.  It is not that I don't enjoy good company or good food.  I do.  It's not that I don't like the lights, although I do think that we don't need either the higher electricity bills or the drain on the environment.  It's not that I am against Santa Claus or anti-Christian.
But I am on strike for a good reason:

1. Christmas has become all about spending money.

Gone are the days when you made Christmas presents throughout the year and then gave them to select friends and family.  This still might exist in select households but on the whole it has become about emptying your wallet and running up debt.  I am not into that.


2.  I don't believe anyone should be telling me when to buy things for people I care about or when to celebrate or how. That is my job.  I am perfectly willing to decide that for myself.  So I will, thanks.  We live in a society where so much has become pre-determined - we now have a day to celebrate our secretaries, our grandparents, and so on.  Really?  Why does someone else decide that for you?  Are you incapable of doing that for yourself?  I am not going along with this anymore.


3.  If Christmas were really a time where happy, uncomplicated  families get together and celebrate their blessings - I would be all for it.  How many people actually have happy families?  Or is it a case of putting a brave face on it and surviving going home.  There are way too many expectations around Christmas.  You have to do this, eat this, buy that, go here, stay there and on and on.  I'm sure these expectations came about little by little and accumulated but like the straw that finally was too much and broke the proverbial camel's back.  I don't want to conform to anyone's expectations.  Period.  
5.  Christmas adds stress.
Life has enough pressure but Christmas picks up the pace - parties, presents to buy for people at work, at home - it goes on.  I don't know about you but I don't need the extra stress.  No.  Not at all.


So why is everyone seemingly so gung ho about Christmas? 


 Is it the religion thing?
If Christmas actually were the day that the founder of a religion were born, that might be one thing  but it is not   The Romans decided to roll the Christian holiday right in with their pagan beliefs, so that they could neutralize the threat that Christianity (which was nothing like the current practice btw) posed to their dying empire.  They therefore set the date as December 25th, which is the ancient pagan festival of Saturnalia.  Hence we have all the customs and trappings of the tree and decorations, feasts and so on.  It has nothing to do with Christ.  And even if it did we are no longer a nation of Christians (if we ever were), so why are we all cowed into celebrating this pseudo holiday?  

Now don't get me wrong, I like the break but I would really like it with a bigger does of honesty.  Honesty takes courage.  Especially in Western Society.  So how about we start with that at the end of this year? 

•  Let's admit to ourselves that we do need the holiday at this point in the year.  Call it "Fred"  holiday if you want - who cares, really?  After all, we are humans, we are not machines and if it weren't for the sugar donuts and coffee we wouldn't be wanting to go to work early in the morning in the freezing cold (for those who live in the Northern hemisphere). 
• Let's admit to ourselves that we are being played by the corporations and it is time to cry foul.  Get off the wheel and just say "No!".  No!  I don't have to buy the latest thneed produced by XYZ corporation.  It won't make me happier - not in the long run.  The Kabbalists say that receiving never brings more than momentary happiness.  It is a huge form of insecurity and emotional instability to need to buy things to prove your self worth.
• Let's admit to ourselves the truth about Christmas having nothing whatever to do with Christ.  The hype is all that.  Really look into what Christ stood for and you will find out I am right on this.  And Christians - wake up and really look into the history of what happened to change the spiritual practices that Jesus taught into the religion 

So this holiday, I am opting out of "Christmas".  No tree, no decorations, no turkey,no shortbread or any of the other trappings for me, thanks!  Just simple, relaxing time to write, paint, hang with friends, or be in nature, that is what I'll be doing.

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