FUCK CHRISTMAS

Not even a stat holiday in Taiwan. But since I teach English in a cram school they do something for it. Interestingly enough they will tell the story of Santa and the story of Jesus in the English schools. And no one ever complains about it or screams political correctness.

Aw yeah that's the best thing. My office closes at 12pm on the 24th and doesn't open again until Jan 2nd.

Presents are the big hassle for me. I don't like buying them for people, and I don't like receiving them either. I hate pretending to like a gift, like when my brother gave me a $50 gift certificate for Walmart (I've been boycotting Walmart since forever).

But get-togethers and food? There aren't enough reasons to have them. Christmas is as good as any.

Christmas was something that mattered more to me as a kid than it does now, but it's also something I look forward to doing a few years down the road when I (hopefully) have a kid or two.

Being in college, I get about 5 weeks off for the winter between semesters, which is timed to accommodate Christmas & New Year's. On the downside, I work crazy shifts including overnight ones in the weeks leading up to Christmas and you can only hear so many renditions of the same Christmas song in a twelve hour period before you start to go insane. I worked overnight with a half dozen other people on Thanksgiving to decorate the store for Christmas, and that was an adventure.

As for gifts, I've really grown out of receiving them in the past several years, and when my parents ask me to make a list, it's a struggle. I end up asking for clothes and things I need as opposed to things I want. And I've never liked giving gifts, since you need to worry about how the recipient will react, and whether or not you're giving them as much as they're giving you and if you can even afford to do so.

I'm no fan of Christmas, either. I'm as unreligious as they come, I hate shopping for gifts and I hate receiving them, too. Nobody does anything nice for me any other day of the year; why the fuck should they feel obligated to do it now?

But most of all, I hate seeing my family. My mom's family mostly consists of farmers. The majority of them don't even know how to turn a computer on and everybody is either much older or much younger than me. So I have nobody to talk to and I basically don't exist for those few hours.

And then there's my dad's family... Ugh. Nobody likes anybody. Everybody is overly critical. My aunt is always going on about how you don't need to know what happened during the "Pearl Harbor War" because stuff like that isn't important... One really needs to focus on finding fair trade products and free range organic chicken eggs and making sure that you keep a cup of water under your bed at night to collect evil spirits (and flush it down the toilet each morning). And then there's grandma... Oh man. Instead of just handing out gifts, she always has to turn it into a very, very stupid game. Last year, you had to roll dice. And if you got a seven, you got to go up and pick a present from grandma's pile. If you didn't get a seven then you had to pass the dice on to the next person and hope that you eventually got a seven........... :| After about half an hour, everyone had a box, and then we all had to watch as all the young crickets opened their present. And of course, every box was empty, save for a Grandma Gift Certificate, which you had to turn in to Grandma as proof that you won the game. And then you'd get your envelope with $10 in it. Fuck my life. Thankfully, because most everyone hates each other, these gatherings are mercifully short.

Also, I work at a grocery store and it's fucking busy this time of year. People are rude, and think I can conjure everything they need out of thin air. (I always laugh at the idiots who buy a giant frozen turkey the day before Thanksgiving. Yeah, it'll thaw in 12 hours. Sure.) I know it's awful, but when people ask me to find something for them in the back, I just go back there, mess around on my phone for a few minutes, and then come back and tell them that "No, we don't have any more cans of peas."

Yeah, wake me up in January.

Why do some of you mention religion? Christmas is about an old guy with a beard and consumerism :P

It's more of a mindless tradition in my family. Most of us see each other only 2-3 times a year so it's a good opportunity to see how everyone is doing. We usually offer things like handmade products, sweets, CDs and most couples give clothes to each other... nothing super fancy or expensive like smartphones and laptops. It's more about enjoying time and a good meal together.

I'm guessing 2d6, where grandma may have known that a 7 is the most likely result on 2d6. (see also: craps)

author=Avee
Why do some of you mention religion? Christmas is about an old guy with a beard and consumerism :P

It's sort of the common misconception that christmas has anything to do with Christianity, when it actually has its roots in European paganism and stuff like that.

I like the gifts and the opportunity for family get-togethers it brings, but that's about all I truly love about christmas.

I love it for the fact that it's the one month of the year that I'm usually fully at peace with myself and I can spend time with my family and loved ones and exchange gifts.

S'all there is to it. I could do without the commercialism and everyone hyping it up two months before it actually happens though lol