Monday, December 13, 2004
Yuletide Detente
Bah, humbug.
I'm not partial to Christmas. I liked it when I was a kid, of course. My family wasn't particularly neurotic about it, though there were certainly annual rituals such as the annual heated discussion on how, exactly, we were going to implement the necessary process of driving around looking at Christmas lights. But on the whole, it was fine.
As I've gotten older, though, I've passed through feelings ranging from anger to frustration to hostility to condescension and back to anger. I'm sure anyone who's ever read an anti-Christmas essay has heard the long litany of reasons, so I won't stress them here: overwhelming commercialism, insensitivity to those who couldn't care less, the blaring of horribly arranged and recorded overdone carols from every available speaker in every conceivable place of customer interaction, and all the attendant marketing everywhere to remind one, in case one was utterly stupid and unobservant, that yes, in fact, it is Christmastime, and if you don't like it, then go hide in your apartment for a month (or, now, closer to two months) until it's over and done with.
Bah.
This year, I'm trying to do things a little differently. More to the point, I'm trying to take it a little less personally. It is abundantly clear that my continued unwillingness to take part in this ritual of American society doesn't matter one bit to anyone except my close friends. The battle for Thanksgiving has been lost, probably forever, and all the sitting around in November complaining about Christmas ads I could do won't affect that. I am being, in short, more of a fatalist (and I appreciate the irony in becoming a fatalist to deal with the so-called season of hope and good cheer).
So I've finished my shopping, bought my plane ticket, and started preparing for a week with my in-laws. My mother-in-law loves Christmas, in every respect, but this year, I won't mind. It takes all kinds to make a world. All I need to do is persuade her to give me a black Santa hat to match my attitude, and we'll be set.
Bah, humbug.
I'm not partial to Christmas. I liked it when I was a kid, of course. My family wasn't particularly neurotic about it, though there were certainly annual rituals such as the annual heated discussion on how, exactly, we were going to implement the necessary process of driving around looking at Christmas lights. But on the whole, it was fine.
As I've gotten older, though, I've passed through feelings ranging from anger to frustration to hostility to condescension and back to anger. I'm sure anyone who's ever read an anti-Christmas essay has heard the long litany of reasons, so I won't stress them here: overwhelming commercialism, insensitivity to those who couldn't care less, the blaring of horribly arranged and recorded overdone carols from every available speaker in every conceivable place of customer interaction, and all the attendant marketing everywhere to remind one, in case one was utterly stupid and unobservant, that yes, in fact, it is Christmastime, and if you don't like it, then go hide in your apartment for a month (or, now, closer to two months) until it's over and done with.
Bah.
This year, I'm trying to do things a little differently. More to the point, I'm trying to take it a little less personally. It is abundantly clear that my continued unwillingness to take part in this ritual of American society doesn't matter one bit to anyone except my close friends. The battle for Thanksgiving has been lost, probably forever, and all the sitting around in November complaining about Christmas ads I could do won't affect that. I am being, in short, more of a fatalist (and I appreciate the irony in becoming a fatalist to deal with the so-called season of hope and good cheer).
So I've finished my shopping, bought my plane ticket, and started preparing for a week with my in-laws. My mother-in-law loves Christmas, in every respect, but this year, I won't mind. It takes all kinds to make a world. All I need to do is persuade her to give me a black Santa hat to match my attitude, and we'll be set.
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I hear you. I've tried to opt out of Christmas, before, and found that it just doesn't work. I just ended up leaving people I care about feeling put out and recieved gifts, anyway, in spite of strict instructions that I didn't want any.
It's just not worth the effort. So, every year, just you like, I resign myself to the ritual.
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It's just not worth the effort. So, every year, just you like, I resign myself to the ritual.
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