I think I may be Scrooge
I have a confession to make: Christmas is probably my least favorite holiday. No…it IS my least favorite holiday*.
I know that it sounds strange. There are things about the Christmas season that I like. I enjoy spending time with my family. The Husband and I have some Christmas season traditions that we’ve developed over the past ten years that I really value. But I don’t really like Christmas.
Baby Jesus in the manger is cool. I enjoy the religious Christmas songs more than anything. I love remembering how Jesus came into the world the first time and anticipating His return.
Last Christmas, I felt that I could really identify with Mary and Joseph as they traveled to Bethlehem when Mary was pregnant with Jesus. I was quite pregnant (though not ‘great with child’) when The Husband and I traveled cross country to be with our family for the Holidays. We made hotel reservations, so we didn’t have to worry about sleeping with a bunch of animals in a cave somewhere.
There is part of me, however, that has come to merely tolerate Christmas in my adulthood. Here’s why:
- I absolutely love Christmas music and I love to listen to the radio. It would seem only logical that I would love when they start playing Christmas music on the radio…except that I don’t. I can only hear ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ so many times before I want to choke someone with tinsel.
- I hate sappiness, and it seems that everything and everyone gets super sappy around Christmas time. Like why?
- A lot of Christmas media deals with death. Tiny Tim, the song ‘Christmas Shoes;’ why is death and dying something that we make a thing on what is supposed to be a joyous occasion? It goes hand in hand with the sappiness factor. I don’t understand it. I don’t want anyone to die on or around Christmas. Why is it even a thing?
- Materialism. People get so materialistic around Christmas. For all of the peace on earth, good will, and junk, people act so extra when it comes to gifts and giving. Christmas, especially for adults, shouldn’t be about what you receive and the whole ‘how good/bad/expensive/cheap’ was my gift game sucks. It makes people not want to give when people make it all about what they do or don’t get.
- There’s too much food. I like food. It’s hard to have self control when there’s so much food. Last year, my mother-in-law made so many awesome goodies. I ate all of them. I blame it on the fact that I was pregnant, but I’m not sure if I would’ve had much self-control under normal circumstances. And we stayed with my in-laws for two weeks through a few different holiday celebrations. I got fat…
- People go into debt because they do too much at Christmas. I completely understand wanting to give your loved ones good gifts, but people do too much at Christmas time. I think that materialism, family expectations, and wanting to put on airs has a lot to do with why this happens. I know people who don’t visit (or don’t want to visit) their families during the holidays because they feel pressure to buy gifts for everyone and they can barely afford to make the trip itself. Christmas makes people spend above their means, and the idea makes me very uncomfortable.
- Awkward moments. So many awkward moments take place during the holidays…and you just kind of have to bear with it because of the whole charity and good will thing.
- It’s cold. I hate the cold.
So yeah…I’m pretty much Scrooge. If you know me or see me around these Internets and I’m being a Scrooge, I’m sorry.
*My favorite holiday is Easter, or as some like to call it, Resurrection Day.
The Armchair Commentary 