5 Things That Turn Me Off of Christmas

Hello, and welcome to my new blog. I have an online journal, but those are pretty lame so I figured I would take my opinions on the world, entertainment, life, etc. to a more public venue. And here we are.

So, it's that time of year again. Everyone is getting into the spirit of things and the Christmas (or holiday of your choice) season. This year, I'm just not feeling it. Maybe it's because I'm X miles away from home in a dorm room that subtly whispers "institution," or that finals are just around the bend, but I could not be less excited about the coming holidays. There are a few things in particular that are keeping me from feeling so jolly.

1. Gingerbread Houses- These are probably the least of my troubles, but I've never really understood the purpose of gingerbread houses. When someone frantically tries to procure a list of activities for over the holidays, a gingerbread house is bound to end up on the list. I just don't understand how this is any fun. You are taking perfectly good sweets and making them crusty, disgusting, and inedible. Then, after you put all of your hard work into one they either a) sit around the house and look tacky or b) get eaten slowly when there is nothing else around to snack on. And nobody likes eating one of those godforsaken things. I promise.

2. Christmas Music- If pop music wasn't bad enough these days, Christmas pop music came along and totally defeated it. It doesn't help that these songs never seem to go away. There is generally maybe one new Christmas song per year that gets radio play. And just about every single one has jingle bells in the background, because guys, that is a very original and clever idea. As far as my personal least favorite Christmas song goes, it's a tie between Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas (Is You)" and "Last Christmas" by Wham!. These are guaranteed to play in every store you enter while Christmas shopping. The saving grace of Christmas music is definitely Vince Guaraldi's "A Charlie Brown Christmas", a classic jazz album.

3. Rankin/Bass Stop Motion Movies- This one is more of a matter of personal prejudice. I officially hate this company for putting out movies such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and The Little Drummer Boy. The movies terrified me as a child. The character of the Abominable Snowman haunted my dreams for years. Probably the scariest thing to me was when the characters' eyes would roll around in their heads as if they were possessed. I hate these movies with a passion and they are crappy, creepy, outdated, and irrelevant.

4. Fake Christmas Trees With Fake Snow- As far as tacky Christmas decorations go, these come in at my number one spot. Net lights are a close second.

5. Shopping/Materialism- This is by far my number one complaint about the Christmas season. Everyone feels obligated to buy everyone gifts, regardless of their financial situation. Most of these gifts don't address the needs of the recipient, but are merely some dumb trinket that will be thrown away within the year. I've never understood the reasoning behind giving gifts for Christmas or birthdays, because no one did anything to earn such a reward. Material items are merely being dumped on us for living another 365 days. Not a lot of thought goes into them generally, either, and they are rarely homemade. I am all for stumbling across something in the store that is perfect for person X and giving it to them, but at Christmas time there is a sudden pressure of having to find them a gift on a deadline. It's really a children's holiday, and adults should be wise enough to be able to control their wants. In the mean time, children are taught to be greedy and expectant of anything they want. I knew some kids who went so far as to select the gift each relative/friend should be giving them. This year in particular, budgets are tight, but many parents aren't letting up on the gift giving at all. Has anyone ever noticed how the dilapidated houses on the block are always the ones with a beat-up pink Barbie jeep lying upside down in the front yard? Those things are expensive! I just don't understand it.