Fristmas (Fail Christmas)

I'm annoyed.
I really hate Christmas.
For some reason, it just makes me sadder every year.
Sure, I've been listening to Emily's Christmas music.
Sure, I love the Christmas lights strung up everywhere, and sure I love presents (who doesn't?), but I really hate everyone's attitude.
Christmas is terrible, really.

Everyone wastes money that they don't have buying people things they don't need. Why don't we spend the money on something wonderful instead? I mean, I love getting nice perfume or something, but the people who have piles and piles of gifts aren't learning anything about Jesus. We're feeding them straight capitalism.
We march past the homeless to put a quarter in the red buckets that the bell ringers are guarding. Why don't we serve a hot meal to someone who needs it? Why don't we give blankets to the poor?
What would Jesus do, Christians?
I received an email this morning, I'm sure some of you got it, about Christmas being just for the birth of Christ and about how this isn't a holiday. It was a forward, though, and no one I know wrote it, so pardon the attack that I'm about to launch:


Here's a little excerpt:

These are NOT Holiday Trees
They are not Hanukkah bushes
They are not Allah plants
They are Christmas trees.
Say it..
CHRISTmas , CHRISTmas , CHRISTmas

Yes CHRISTmas -not Holiday
We are not celebrating the birth of a Holiday!!!
We are
Celebrating the Birth of
Jesus Christ!!!


Wow, was the author of this email smoking crack? "We are not celebrating the birth of a holiday!!!" Holiday, strictly speaking, means holy day. (Look it up.) The day that your lord was born is not a holy day to you? Wow, what does Christmas mean? From the looks of that excerpt from the email, it means that the person who wrote that doesn't care about peace or love (good things, I would say) but instead cares only about making sure that everyone follows what they believe in.
You'll notice that each of the major religions, in their purest form, promote peace and justice in the world, hope and joy rather than hate and anger. But once those ideas fall into the hands of people, they are nothing, twisted until some message appears.
Christians, watch yourselves. You're all selfish and rude, and the attempt to force everyone on this planet to believe what you believe really hurts me.
Of course the Christmas trees aren't Allah bushes or Hannukah plants, that'd be stupid. Only Christians would come up with a way to make a plant something necessary for their worship and/or celebration.
Hannukah has its own traditions. The dreidel, the menorah, those things are what the Jewish people use to celebrate their own holiday.
And while Islam does not have a "Christmas equivalent," they have their own set of beliefs and practices as well.

The repetition and capitalization of the word "CHRISTmas" as well cracks me up. It reminds me of a scene in the 1985 comedy "Better Off Dead" in which a very American woman is being completely untolerant of the French foreign exchange student. She keeps repeating "CHRISTmas" over and over, progressively getting louder as the student has been pretending she doesn't speak English. We are just like that. Slamming people over the head with our pervasive, persistantly annoying culture.



So next time you say "Merry Christmas," just think for a second. Do you really want to force your beliefs down the throats of others? Do you really want to be "that guy?"
Say what you feel. I've been signing all of my emails: "May your holiday season be filled with joy and most especially peace." Yeah, it's lame, but at least I don't look close minded. We live in a country that is supposed to be based on the separation of church and state, yet at the same time, we are a completely Christian country. We don't think about it because most of us were raised Christian. We don't know any better.


Let's all practice a little tolerance this holiday or CHRISTmas season by not hating everyone who isn't us. (But where's the fun in that?)


Pardon my rant, I'm a little cranky this morning. I missed a final because my car started honking AGAIN at 6:30 this morning. It continued until I took it in at 8:15. I explained my situation to the guy who took care of the intake process this morning. He was very understanding and supportive and I was filled with hope.
At 8:30, as I was leaving, I got a call from Gino, the man who worked on my car last time and who will be doing it again today. He doesn't believe me. He tells me that last time, he left it here and it was silent. That's fine, Gino, I said, why don't you ask my neighbors? I'm sure they have a few choice words for you.
I do as well. For $350, I expected my car to be fixed. I didn't ask for it to only occasionally be fixed. And it will return to your stupid dealership as many times as it needs to until it is silent. All the time.
Ugh. I am exhausted. I'm in a terrible mood. I just want this week to be over.

I don't want to come home for break. I'll miss my friends. Hopefully, I'll be working to cover some of the cost of this stupid stupid stupid car. I need a miracle.