Why Christmas Is Not My Favorite Holiday
I get a bad rap with Anna and my family for being moderately anti-Christmas. Truth be told, I’m kind of a Scrooge. Although my views are slowly moving back towards normalcy thanks to our non-corporate Christmas (thoughts coming soon) and Sufjan’s 5 disc Christmas set, in general I still have a lot of angst towards Christmas.
This hasn’t always been the case. I was a big Christmas guy until my high school years. I’m not sure what happened. It wasn’t overnight or anything. I just kind of got neutral towards it. Blah if you will. It’s not that I hate Christmas. It’s just that it’s hard for me to get up for it like others do.
I think I’ve built a pretty good case for why I don’t like it, so I’ll share it and you can feel free to tell me where I’m wrong.
- I hate the fact that Christmas has gone so commercial. I’m sure part of it this is due to the naivety of a child, but it seems like it’s gotten out of hand. Whether it’s the 100 foot decorated tree that is out at the mall on Halloween night or the TLC (the T-Boz, Left Eye, & Chili version) Christmas music that gets played at what I thought used to be a pretty good coffee shop. I’m also not sure when Christmas decorations became a good excuse for decorating your front yard like a gypsy carnival. Call me old fashioned but I don’t really see the need for a 12 foot blow up Santa Claus Mickey Mouse next to a herd of lit-up reindeer.
- This is probably my number one reason and I’m being dead serious. This is not a joke. I mega-loathe the colors red and green next to each other. It’s literally like fingernails on a chalk board every time I see it. Not only do the colors clash in a horrific way, but they actually burn the retinas of my eye.
- Inevitably I see more of these.
- Contrary to the propaganda that I push on this blog, I’m not a very social person. I don’t like big groups and I don’t really like awkward social situations. Even more so, it’s really, really hard for me to fake it when I think you’re an idiot. Some people interpret it as pouting. But if you’re not into me and I’m not into you . . . then no harm, no foul. You do your thing and I’ll do mine. But let’s just not fake it to each other’s face. Let’s just be the same person all of the time. There are a lot of things that I am. Rude, a jerk, a tad on the arrogant side. But I’m pretty much the same person on a consistent basis. All that being said, Christmas is obviously the most social holiday. And I don’t really have a problem so much with my family (outside of some of the folk’s on my mom’s side) as I do with the awkward work and neighborhood parties. Good news for us this year is that we’re both working from home so I get to opt out.
- I’m sort of cheap. I’m sure some people would disagree with that and would see some of my purchases as excessive while others would look at them as frugal. But bottom-line, I don’t like to spend money. I actually hate it. And I really don’t like spending money on people besides me. Especially when said spent money inevitably turns into some sort of weird trade/exchange. I buy you crappy present that you moderately like but are unsure of and you give me crappy present that I moderately like but am unsure of. My whole perspective on this has changed with our local/non-corporate Christmas which I’ll be sharing my updated reflections on soon. But I really hated the thought of having to fork over a couple hundred dollars for people I only casually see simply because that’s what you do on the 25th day of December.
- I hate Christmas carols. I mean deeply and fully hate. I can’t stand them. There is nothing good about them. The theology in them is jacked up. The music is usually worse than a regular hymn. And they almost always involve a candle with a thin piece of paper separating my hand from dripping, scalding hot wax. Again, Sufjan has changed that with his remake of some of these Christmas carols. But for the most part, I don’t want to hear any Harked Angels.
And that’s it. Feel free to jump in and tell me I’m wrong. Or join in the pile on.
“Find the true meaning of Christmas.
Win MONEY, MONEY, MONEY.
Enter the Neighborhood Christmas lights and display contest!”
“Lights and display contest? Oh, no. Even my dog has gone commercial.”
I think a lot of us could go for a little Linus right now.
I guess I don’t really feel like it’s the holidays. It’s rainy outside, mid-50s. No snow, but still very dark, no decorations to be seen, and no family around.
At least Sufjan’s keeping us company. Btw, I have an outstanding Christmas carol that I have to send you next time you’re online. It’s worth it.
All I have to say is:
lol gypsy carnival.
So I definitely plan to buy Sufjan’s “Songs for Christmas” today. I’d normally just buy the MP3 album, but that’s some nice box art. Thanks for mentioning that.
I also laughed at “gypsy carnival” because it’s so true.
You know, there are people you can talk to about this kind of thing… (wink)
I love Christmas but I agree on all your points. What’s even worse is when church-folk insist on reminding us the “reason for the season”. You mean the ancient solstice celebration of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun?
I think I just love the changing into winter. To me it’s somber and quiet (two moods I thrive in).
As for Christmas carols, just find your own music. Can I suggest Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre? It’s about the only “birth of Christ” song I enjoy. Probably because it’s in Latin.
Buy us absolutely nothing for Christmas. In fact if you do give us anything I would be somewhat upset. I’m still checking on that guy in Romania you gave me the Kiva certificate for last year. He seems to be doing well. We want to put some money away to buy some goats for a village way way way south of the border. Or some shoes for the Auburn football team. I’ll agree on the decorations. My neighbor has turned his place into a Tijuana strip mall. Did you know they make a 12 foot Charlie Brown and Snoopy?
- Commercialism/being cheap - I’ve noticed lately that it’s kind of weird to make “Christmas lists,” basically telling people exactly what you want. Then you get disappointed when you don’t get what was on your list. I mean, let’s just make it easier and give each other gift cards of the same value. But then what is the point?
One good thing we did with our family this year is draw names, so we’ll spend less time overall shopping and opening presents and more time just being together.
Kids made this harder, though. We want Christmas to be special, but not TOO special. We don’t generally buy them crap throughout the year, so birthdays and Christmas are pretty much it. It’s a struggle for us.
I like decorations. Maybe not the gypsy ones, but our kids love seeing them in others’ yards. Our yard is pretty much just lights, though not overdone. I like lights. And it makes sense in darkest day of the year kind of way, leading up to epiphany.
- Social - I’m a good bit of an introvert myself, but social gatherings are probably the best part of Christmas. Before Christmas got all about the bling-bling, it was primarily about getting people together.
- Music - I generally like Christmas songs, but leading worship at a church for five years where we did about five weeks each year of 90% Christmas music, I got really tired of it. If I was leading worship at a church now, I’d probably be a butthead and say I’m not doing any of it.
That said, Trans-Siberian Orchestra is awesome. And I’m still a sucker for Nat King Cole, Christmas music or not.
Seriously, though, kids change everything about how you view and approach Christmas. It’s hard for their excitement to not rub off onto you a little bit.
I actually love Christmas music… Harry Conick Jr, Manheim Steamroller, Over the Rhine, Vince Guarldi… Ok, so not completely traditional, but I feel I now need to check out Sufjan!
Josh, this had me laughing so hard! Just wait until you have kids… It gets WORSE!! I homeschool and we had our CHRISTMAS party yesterday. I had to take ORNAMENTS for each of my children so that they could exchange ornaments! GAG! I hate, hate, hate christmas parties! Too much candy, too much junk food, too much soda. I would have skipped the party this year, but my kids threatened mutiny.
Hang in there! January is coming!
To your post Josh, Amen and Amen. That’s all I’ve got to say about that.
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I know lots of Scrooges - in fact I married one. I have always been into Christmas and even as a teeanger wore a light-up sweatshirt (painful memories) but it has gotten a little classier for me - a little more subdued and simpler and I like it so much more. I go to my sister-in-law’s house and the door mat starts singing, some sort of Santa spins around as you enter and you feel like you just stepped into the twilight zone. My kids have found it funny whenever we hear the song “Noel” because I have taken to saying, “When are they gonna find that #*@ - L!?” Because honestly it all gets on your nerves after a while.