Bah Humbug!

I'm a little grumpy about Christmas.

Call me a scrooge if you want, but it really seems to me like the whole thing has gotten out of hand. Every year it seems like the holiday season starts earlier and earlier, merchants push us to shop, shop, shop, and buy more, more, more. Ugh. And our society just goes along with it, maxing out credit cards and buying more crap for other people that they don't want or need.

I like the simple things about Christmas. I love bad Elvis music and decorating the tree and making Christmas cards and holiday rituals like watching "The Grinch" on Christmas Eve, and going to parties, and baking cookies. Yes, I do enjoy some aspects of shopping, too - like finding the absolute perfect gift for someone. Like getting a gift for someone who completely doesn't expect it and surprising them with it. Those parts are fun.

What isn't fun is the pressure of buying for people who already have everything. Or who probably won't like whatever you give to them anyhow. Or sending out Christmas cards out of a twisted sense of obligation to people who don't really matter to you all that much. It's nothing but stress and pressure! Who needs more of THAT in their lives, anyhow?

Gifts I like best to give and receive are consumable gifts. Like a bottle of wine. You open it, enjoy it, appreciate the gift, and then it's gone. No useless crap cluttering up your house. We've all got enough of all that as it is. There are some genuinely nice gifts out there, too. I've received some very lovely and thoughtful gifts from friends and loved ones over the years. I'm not a complete cold-hearted jerk about this. But I can't begin to tell you how many times I opened up a crappy gift, plastered on a fake smile, and silently wondered how long I'd have to wait before I could cart it off to the Salvation Army.

I do enjoy the excitement on the girl's faces when we give them gifts that we know they really want. I do worry that they sometimes (especially Emma) think a little to much about the receiving part of Christmas, and not enough about the giving. I always look for opportunities to put the focus more on the giving, and the other fun aspects of Christmas whenever possible.

*sigh*

When I stop to really consider it, I'm not entirely sure that the positives of Christmas outweigh the negatives. Honestly, if I could skip right to January 2nd, I'd probably do it.

Ho. Ho. Ho.