My main problems with christmas can be summed up as:
- the extreme commercialisation and ultra-consumerism
- the expectation that people get together and celebrate in a certain way. If you don’t, you are “weird”
- you’re expected to enjoy whatever festivities and celebrational norms the collective society throw at you
- Tradition trumps individuality: although the religious meaning of christmas has been thoroughly watered out over the years where I live, there is still the christian fariy tale as the basis of it all, and if you protest against it, you are “weird”. Even here.
- the kids have been conditioned by society to accept christmas as the festive culmination of the entire year, so as to not be “cruel” to them, I am forced to conform.
Like others here, I certainly do not mind a few days off from work and to spend time with my family to enjoy good food and drinks, and to have a bit of fun. But the total framework of christmas (especially the extreme commercialisation) makes me dislike this season. Over the years, I have come to dislike christmas earlier and earlier in the autumn, starting when the shops start to sell shitty christmas decorations.
Bah, humbug!