Holiday Spirit?

Christmas is not my favorite holiday. In fact, if it weren't for the time off from work/school, the excuse to eat yummy winter foods and the presents I wouldn't like anything about it. Now I know it may seem like I just named the best things about Christmas and you might wonder what I DON'T like about Christmas, just think about everything else: the shopping, the madness, the commercialism, screaming kids, stressed out people, Christmas music (yeah, I said it!), the intense focus on buying people presents they don't really want or need and whom you wouldn't normally buy for.

Most of all, I hate the focus on Santa Claus. Oh yeah, I went there.

I believed in Santa until I was about 5 years old, then I noticed that "Santa" used the same wrapping paper and note cards as my parents did. Then I had to decide whether to allow my belief to shatter or whether to allow for the possibility that Santa is a home invader who waits till the last minute to wrap gifts and even steals supplies from my parents to do so. I chose the former option because, let's face it, it's way less creepy.

As an adult my hatred for the "Santa Claus conspiracy" is what it does to children. Parents spend a great deal of time and money carefully choosing gifts for their children. They wrap them, hide them, and wait with anticipation to see the look of glee and surprise on their kids' faces on Christmas morning. Then this guy Santa comes into the picture and the kids no longer feel excited and happy that they have parents who love them enough to go to so much trouble for them, they thank some imaginary fat ass who commits an unheard of number of burglaries(breaking and entering a dwelling house at night with the intent of commiting a crime therein- i.e. stealing materials, eating milk and cookies, possibly damages a fireplace or Christmas tree) in a single night. I want my kids to believe in ME. I'm the one who loves them enough to make sure they have presents on Christmas by working for the money, listening to what they say they want, and doing the shopping and the wrapping. Plus there's the added religious issue. It would be nice if they knew that the purpose of Christmas is to celebrate Christ's birth, not to shower already pampered children with gifts.

My disdain for Santa Claus aside, Christmas can be really fun with the right combination of things. This year I'm having a very quiet, simple Christmas. I'm not even leaving town. This has been making me feel a bit blue. Then yesterday and today it started to sink in that this time of year can be really fun. I've been doing lunch with colleagues, buying gifts for family and shipping them out, planning my baking and cooking, and getting excited about opening the gifts that I know Leigh put a lot of thought into. I'm also really excited for her to open the gifts I bought for her because there's a lot of things she will enjoy and some things she needs. Today was particularly fun because there's a lot of yummy food around the office for snacking and everyone is really happy about the upcoming season. So I guess I can stop being such a Grinch and let myself enjoy this Christmas, even if it's not the perfect combination of things :-)