Bah Humbug.

I finally get it, why some people have a problem with Christmas. And it has nothing to do with religion. I grew up hearing about how "commercialism" was ruining Christmas, and I never really got it. Well, I was a kid and I liked presents. Nor could I fathom why this time of year had the highest suicide rate of the year. It was nothing but holly and jolly to me then.
As an adult, I began to understand. Losing my religion had far less effect on my enjoyment of Christmas as merely progressing deeper and deeper into adulthood (and not having yet made the decision, as of this moment, to start a new generation and relive the whole thing through their eyes.)
I see that it's not the commercialism per se that is so objectionable (although to some, that would be enough.) It's the way the hypersentimentality (thanks, Victorians!) of the season is exploited by merchandisers to sell their trinkets. It's not so much the fact that Christmas has been co-opted that bothers me. It's the 21st century, and solstice celebrations have always reflected the times. The present epoch, for better or worse, is a very commercial epoch. What bothers me instead is the way that widowed people, single and divorced people, people who have lost a child or a sibling or a parent that year or are dealing with an illness or personal tragedy of their own, who depend on the humdrum workaday world just to cope until they can manage again, must endure 6 weeks of holiday music on the radio, holiday displays in the stores, holiday commercials on TV, Christmas lights on every corner, Christmas cookies in the office -- reminders everywhere they go to get with the Christmas program and feel how the Victorian Christmas meme tells us all we're supposed to feel, just so that we'll buy some crap at Target.
It's just a bit insidious, that's all.
I mean, it's nice to have something to distract us from and brighten the darkest time of year. I just think it should be compressed from six weeks down to maybe one, or two at most. That's not going to happen, of course, but I was feeling cranky and I had to share.
I'll be chipper again on New Year's Eve (and back to par by January 2nd.)