I hate tomorrow. I hate it so much.

[Teebone]

Buckle down, folks. This is a long one. Dismiss it as a holiday blues rant if you want.

It was so simple when you were a kid. Be good. Santa gives you stuff.

Then you get older, Santa is a thing of the past... more like a way to cop out on being the person that bought a gift. Still, it was about what you get and making sure you got a token gift in return.

Then adulthood sets in, and you start getting things because that someone you care for so deeply gets happy and you just love the feeling that you made it happen. Good times. But the pressure is still there. It's gotta be the PERFECT gift, and while it may or may not be expensive the search alone is enough to drive one mad.

And then there's this one day it hits you. I was either very fortunate or very unfortunate that day hit me at age 11.

It was 1985. It was December. We lived on the Canadian Border in a small town in Maine. This Toys 'r Us across the border had it, a Cabbage Patch Kid, for my niece. My mother was dangerously obsessed with acquiring one. We drove four hours. We got there. It was what I imagined war was like: people were literally exchanging punches over the display. Tackles, headbutts, I had never seen such madness. Then again, they were Canadians... then she said it. "Try to sneak in and grab one."

I loved my niece. She was this awesome little girl I'd play with once a year from far off Hawaii with tales of far-off places I could only imagine. My sister traveled with her a lot; France, Germany, England. My niece had tales of all these places she got to see before she was even in the 2nd grade. For her, I would stop at nothing. I crawled under a toy display. I saw my target, on the bottom of the display. If I grabbed it, I would be a hero to the whole family.

I made my move. It was in my hands. I... foolishly looked up at the commotion of fisticuffs still going on. I saw this guy in a knitted hat. I saw in his eyes rage, hate, fury. Actually today I know it was greed. He raised his boot, he pressed it down on my face. He reached for the box.. I screamed. Someone else, not my mother pushed him off me. Asked if I was okay then told me to high-tail it. Pretty sure it was an employee. We got to the checkout, my mother asked if I had any trouble. Not if I was okay. Leaving the building tons of cops drove up to the store... one noticed if my nose was bleeding and offered my mother a trip to the hospital. Nope, he'll be fine! It bled every minute of the four hour trip back. The boot print on my face healed a month later. I got mercilessly teased about it.

Christmas was no longer magic. It was awful. And it still is.

I see it everywhere, in everyone. I see people to this day fighting over needless things:


In person too. I read of stores keeping employees from family gatherings because of record profits.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-e...170735876.html

I do my shopping online now. I do not venture toward any retailer other than my own employer (Lowe's, whom does not open on Thanksgiving... yet) during the season. I deal with customers that want that perfect gift OH! and if you fuck it up you've ruined their Holiday FOREVER.. but Merry Christmas!

I see stories of the world still killing each other. They make the news if it may cause some... financial concern.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/24/world/...html?hpt=hp_t1

I see this guy and wonder why:


I see this guy and wonder where it went wrong:


Then I realize several things.

First: Those two are one in the same. Even when this was a pagan holiday and banned from celebration for centuries, Christ's name was used to justify wars, torture, slavery and.. of course, greed. Santa's name was used to keep children behaving for.. yep! Greed.

Second: That greed is in all of us. I recognize it as human nature. Fine. But this time of year we become animals. We instinctively attack one another just to please others in our lives. And then when it all hits on the 25th it's all supposed to be okay? No. I reject that.

Finally: There's this misleading and stupifying belief I used to have as a kid that nothing bad happens on Christmas. No crime. No hate. No war. Only peace. Bullshit. I bought into that crap. Bullshit.

In 2001 on December 25th I saw a Dodge Neon get sawed in half from door to door by a speeding SUV.. with a fucking Christmas bow on it. The driver and passenger of the Neon were instantly killed. If my wife and I had left 20 seconds earlier that would have been our Plymouth Neon. The SUV driver was a teenager who didn't have the experience to handle a large vehicle like that. Merry Fucking Christmas.

In 2003 I caught her cheating on me and she came clean on... yep, Christmas Day. Merry Fucking Christmas.

In 2005 my mother died on Thanksgiving. I got that day, Black Friday and Saturday off for berievement. I couldn't attend a service s couple weeks later and see my siblings or niece that year because I was 'allowed' to have Black Friday off and would be terminated if I took any time off before Jan. 1st. Legal? No. But considering at the time I had maybe $30 a week for food I didn't have a choice. Merry Fucking Christmas.

Oh, and that manager took a vacation the entire week of the 25th. I wanted to eat a bowl of cereal out of the back of her skull. To make matters worse all employees Holiday pay was denied that year due to the economy reasons. She then went on about what she got her husband with her management bonus. Merry Fucking Christmas.

I only celebrate out of respect for my fiancee, who I love more than anything in this world... but I hate tomorrow. I hate every greedy, selfish thing it stands for. And everytime someone asks me what I want for Christmas?


I WANT IT TO END.

[Deleted]

A lot of what you're saying takes place in your country. It's not a global issue.

[Solidito]

As for the whole shopping thing, i have never seen anything even remotely close to that in all my 22 years, like even close. I've seen it busy as shit, someone might bump into you, but besides that it's fine.

As for everything else, tough luck, i love christmas personally.

[AnteroXX]

land of the free!

[Tierbook]

Wait a minute.... Canadians can be violent?

[Spectral]

My girlfriend arrives back to town tomorrow. I'm expecting basically the merriest of Christmases.

[Nutri]

I avoid days like that. People are stupid.

Internet shopping ftw.

[grimsanta]

People sure do get mad and upset at things they can't control.

Glad I am able to relax, no matter the day, and just enjoy my life through the good and the bad.

[Pickynerd]

I did all my xmas shopping without leaving the comforts of my home.

Besides, that is a Wal-Mart, what do you expect? Anyone who has worked retail knows that everyone who walks through the front door is an asshole.

[Bats]

I feel sorry that all these nasty experiences have happened to you just on that day, it's really unlucky. However hating it wont make it any better, it just becomes worse. Try and make it good, I see you've started by shopping online, that's a nice step to avoid all the craziness in stores.

I don't particularly like it now that I'm older, not the events that precede it especially. However I just view it from the positive side, you're with your family (hopefully) giving presents to the people you love, making them happy and in return being happy yourself.

[belfpala]

I'm glad my family doesn't give a damn about gifts. We don't even do the 25th as anything religious. It's just an excuse to take a day off and hang out together.

I know other families have different attitudes. I like the way mine does it, though.

[Deleted]

local =/= global
don´t take away my christmas because some people somewhere act like dicks

[Trassk]

oh for god sake.. (funny since I'm atheist). Dude, I'm an uncle too, I got two young nephews, but I don't have some huge bitch on about christmas.

infact since my drunk useless father died, christmas has been a joy to be a part of, tiring in the lead up, but the pay off is great, sharing it with my family, seeing my nephews open there presents, mums christmas meal, its great.

And christmas has nothing to do with jesus (being how its a stolen holiday by christians anyway), its got everything to do with home, family and just having a good time of it. If you can't enjoy that for just one day of the year.. I just feel sorry for ya :S

[Psilar]

The OP is pretty much spot on in his analysis - basically that the idea of Christmas is being destroyed here in America. It's being turned into a day (and season) of greed which bastardizes the pagan and later christian ideals. It was never supposed to be like this. Some of the stuff the OP talks about are just shit luck, bad timing issues, but the part about Christmas being slowly ruined I can sympathize with.

With all that said, I don't understand why you need to give gifts on Christmas. If you love someone you should show them now and not wait until the 25th of December. That's what it's all about, I think.

[Neliah]

Christmas is so stupidly overrated now. Who the hell gives a sh** about it anyways. These times it's not about spending time with your family, it's all about people wanting the most expensive and absolutely useless shit out there. Best thing to do is shut off the phone, lock the doors and ignore everyone around you.

We buy shit we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't like - and that's a fact.

[DStrukt]

cba reading what you said i dont need to but if you dont believe in christmas, dont want to celebrate it then dont, doesnt mean you need to ruin it for people who do

[SunspotAnims]

I'm sorry for the bad things that happened, but it seems like most of those things were hardly in your control, so my best suggestion is to just let your hatred go. You gain nothing from it but a bitter attitude that most people want to stay away from, and it prevents you from even trying to enjoy the day/s that friends and families get together to eat, chat, exchange gifts, and generally just enjoy each other's company.

Sure, bad things happen sometime, somewhere, to someone every single day, but I really don't see how that's a good excuse to not take the time appreciate some of the good things in life.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Christmas is so stupidly overrated now. Who the hell gives a sh** about it anyways. These times it's not about spending time with your family, it's all about people wanting the most expensive and absolutely useless shit out there. Best thing to do is shut off the phone, lock the doors and ignore everyone around you.

We buy shit we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't like - and that's a fact.

It's not overrated. If you don't like it FINE but don't dumb down on others.

[slime]

People sure do get mad and upset at things they can't control.

Glad I am able to relax, no matter the day, and just enjoy my life through the good and the bad.

Ignorance is bliss afterall.

[Spectral]

I'm glad my family doesn't give a damn about gifts.

Yeah. My parents bought me some running clothes, which is nice. My girlfriend and I don't exchange gifts, we just go buy some goodies together. I don't do gifts with anyone else. These are social norms that I think are best shrugged off.