X-Mas

It's almost over. 8 days left. What's that -Lords-A-Leapin'? Blah...

December. A month of frantic shopping. Middle-aged woman elbowing eachother to get first grabs at the "Tickle-Me-Elmo" gift of the year while "Silent Night" plays softly in the background. What a shitty holiday. Everything about it pisses me off...

"CRIST-mas": It's supposed to be a Christian holiday, and the religious get all upset when someone calls it "X-Mas". "Don't take the CHRIST out of Christmas" they say. Well, what about Christmas is Christian? Okay, I'll give you the plastic manger scenes, but what else? Santa? Christmas trees? Animated reindeer displays in people's front yards? I think not.

But that's not my biggest complaint. In fact, if it went back to being a religious holiday I'd be happy to be off the hook. No, my biggest issue about X-Mas -it's all about greed.

Growing up my brother and I were always asked to make lists of what we wanted for X-Mas. I'm sure others did that as well (ala Santa asking you what you want for X-Mas). But it never stopped. Every year my parents, brother, and Grandma ask me what I want for X-Mas. I oblige and make a list -usually on Amazon these days. My boyfriend thinks this is really weird. He says that a list shouldn't be needed. You buy gifts for those close to you, and you should therefore know what they want. But, I see the list thing a little differently. ..

See, I don't get lists from my Parents, my Grandma, or my boyfriend (usually). -I'm left to figure it out for myself. That means countless hours thinking about what to get them, browsing stores online, or as a last act of despiration -walking the malls. All the while I feel stressed. Will they like this? What if they want to return it? The end result is a month's worth of frantic shopping and me totally hating "Christmas".

So, I make my loved ones a list. I consider it one of the bests gifts I can give them. The ability to quickly cross me off of their lists. Ed doesn't seem to understand that.

But, Ed has 2 people to shop for. His Mom, and me. I don't know what he got me, but I drove him to the mall, picked out his Mom's gift, AND PAID FOR IT. -He loves Christmas and can't see why I hate it so much...

Of course, every year I try to convince my Mom to try to celebrate X-Mas without gifts. It never works. "Grandma gets such joy out of seeing you open your presents." She says. Funny. For the last (what?) 10 years or so my Mom's been doing all of my Grandma's shopping as well as her own. So, my Grandma does nothing but actually pay for the gifts.

And that's another thing. I have enough money to buy whatever I want. My Grandma doesn't have enough money to cover the prescription medications that she needs each month. Why is she spending $200 or more on my brother and I at Christmast time? I'd rather she spent the money on her meds so she'd feel better and continue to be as active as possible for as long as possible, etc.

It's all just so stupid. I can see presents for kids, but we really need to cut out the presents for adults. Or maybe turn gift-giving into an annonomous thing -send gifts to whoever you want to without need for recognition -and no one would feel obligated to give a gift. It'd be more "Christian"! -I know, it'll never work. It all just sickens me.