xmas rant

I'm not attacking people! I'm attacking the ignorant ideas that keep Christmas alive.

Halloween is celebrated by ppl dressing up as things they wouldn't ordinarly dress up as, doing things they wouldn't ordinarily do, and doing all kinds of celebrating, JUST because it's Halloween.

April Fools' Day has people pulling pranks and practical jokes on others, and it's acceptable then. It's April Fools' Day! People expect that kind of stuff then!

Christmas is celebrated in the same way, with the same reasoning, the same "temporary mindset." JUST because it's Christmas. Or am I wrong? Then why do we do it only ONE time per year, why do we buy gifts for EVERYONE we know, as though they all simultaneously crossed our minds? I'm not attacking people, I'm attacking Christmas.





When you were little, and someone gave you something good, food, a present, whatever, and you forgot to say ''thank you,'' but your folks nagged you ''Ah! Did you say 'thank you?''' Then you say ''thank you.'' Those are the worst expressions of gratitude. You had to be TOLD to do it.

I've had some beef with Christmas for quite a while now, and it's finally becoming clear to me exactly what the reasoning is.


Here's what I'm taking about:

Q.: Why do you get people gifts for Christmas?

A.: ''Because it's Christmas! you're supposed to!'' =-O you see?




It's as though getting them a gift wasn't MY idea, Christmas nagged me into it. The ''planned-out-day'' of the year, where we all ''do the Christmas thing'' gave me the idea. I had no chance to think to do something like that on my own. Not that I'm seeking recognition for it, but it is IMPOSSIBLE for such an idea to have come from ''the goodness of my own heart!'' Christmas beat me to the punch-it whispered in my ear ''give gifts to everyone you know, be kind, be joyous, spread peace!'' And now I am just copying what Christmas dictates. Good person or not, it's impossible for any of that to be my OWN idea!

My beef with Christmas is not that it's ''commercialized.'' It is so much more than ''a fake holiday.'' It removes all chances of a person being truly giving; yet we do it, we give to everyone we know, in spite of the fact that we're just doing what we're told! How does that show anyone anything?


I mean, it's all been done before. I'm not trying to top Christmas, but what good is it to give a gift like that, if your genuineness is not even your own?

''Not my own?! How DARE he make a claim like that?!'' Okay, my mistake, you actually celebrate Christmas every day of the year. You are exempt from anything this blog post has to say.

The very idea that I'm getting a gift for EVERYONE i know, testifies to the fact that I'm doing it NOT because these people all simultaneously crossed my mind, but b/c something else convinced me to get a gift for everyone. And supposing for a moment that it was my own idea, from the goodness of my heart, why is it ONLY one, planned-out time a year? It's almost like it's PLANNED out....



no other time of the year gets people to act the way they do on halloween. like ''omg! it's halloween! what are you gonna be??'' or ''geez, what are you, crazy? this ain't halloween!'' people don't normally act that way. it's halloween that gets them to do it. it's acceptable then.

and no other time of the year gets people to act the way they do at christmas. like ''omg! what do you want for christmas?!'' or ''wow! this is just like christmas for me!'' ppl don't normally act that way--they're surprised when it happens out-of-season. it's christmas that gets them to do it. it's accepted then.


Now, Halloween, that's something different. the celebration of that usually entails costumes, trick or treating, and halloween parties. fine. it's a good idea to plan out ONE day a year for this stuff to happen, that way EVERYONE knows when it's supposed to happen, so we don't have ppl like, ''doing the halloween thing'' in the summer or whenever. This sort of thing SHOULD be confined to a planned out date, well in advance, just as it has been.