I have to admit that I'm glad it's over. Christmas, although great for family's, is filled with stress and commercialism.

I'm not religious at all, but didn't this start off as a Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ? When did commercialism and the Jolly Fat Man start taking over???

Years ago, before the department stores had their death grip on society, you used to see Nativity Scenes on every second lawn...now, the world bows down to a very nice man who drives a sleigh drawn by eight (sometimes nine) flying reindeer, and the lawns are instead covered in light-up Santas, reindeers on the rooftops, and garish lightbulbs screaming from every window.

The same thing happened to Easter (the ressurection of Christ) with the bunny. Who decided that a bunny would make an acceptable replacement for the son of God? And why don't we celebrate Channukah with the same relish? It would make more sense in a way, you have eight days to draw out the celebrations...and then the jewish people wouldn't be left out! But, that is the nature of Christianity, to make outcasts. Not fair!

I have wanted for years to boycott Christmas, but I now have a neice who is five years old, and believes that Santa is not only real, but that the milk and cookies were eaten by said Fat Man. And as a result, she behaves exactly one day a year. If the coal myth were true, 99.343% of children would end up with fire starters in their stocking and wooden logs under the tree. But, commercialisn must be adhered to in these days, so we shrug, pat them on the head, chuckle, and spend our hard earned dollars on gifts that the children don't deserve. And then, when the child misbehaves on Christmas Day in front of the entire family, we shrug, say "They are just overexcited" and ignore the fact that they may in fact be suffering from a form of ADD.

I must admit, I have done the commercialism more than once, usually in the form of my giant inflatable snowman that I put on my balcony to lear down at the street. I also buy gifts, but this year I spent far less, because I compared my niece's actual behavior to what she should get for Christmas...what a money saver!!

Anyways, if you celebrate, then Happy Christmas, if not, good for you...STAY AWAY!