Christmas – I’m with Scrooge!
by OK, if you’ve got kids it’s a bit different, but generally, these days, Christmas is just a rip off for the benefit of big business.
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Bah humbug! Let’s get that out of the way now. Yes, I’ll be called miserable, unfestive, Scrooge-like…& possibly worse, but I prefer to think of myself as a realist. And, as a realist I have come to the conclusion that Christmas has now become just one big rip off. As a non-parent, this is easier to achieve. My sympathy goes out to all you parents who are probably now on your sixth week of pestering, cadjoling & mithering. How your heart must have sank in late October when the first Christmas adverts started to appear. Therein lies the crux of my argument. If Christmas was truly about the birth of Jesus, we would only start to hear about it now, in mid-December. There are also very strong arguments from learned historians, that in fact, Jesus was actually born in September but the churches wanted to hijack the pagan winter solstice celebration & therefore moved the event!
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Leaving aside these old arguments, the truth is that Christmas & religion are probably as far apart today than they have ever been, (that is unless consumerism is your religion!). All it means to huge swathes of society is consumer excess on a disgraceful level. To watch TV in November & December one would think that people did not have a decent meal for 364 days. We are bombarded with images of how our festive table should look, & heaven forbid you do not have the table legs groaning under the load, even if eating it all will probably make you ill. Supermarkets push alcohol onto people who are not normally drinkers. Turn down that Christmas drink & you are derided as miserable & unseasonal. Is it any wonder that hospitals admissions for accidents, falls & victims of assault soar over this “festive season”? For most of the year we are encouraged to eat & drink sensibly & healthily to help stem the global obesity epidemic, but, come Christmas, big business sees its chance to cash in & rampant gluttony takes over.
And so to after the event. For every person who looks back on “the best Christmas ever!”, there must be many times more who hold their head in their hands. Broken marriages & relationships, family arguments, injuries, illness, “foot in the mouth” comments to the boss at the works party &, most of all, crippling credit card bills to come at a time of recession, oh yes…would they still be singing along with Andy Williams….”it’s the most wonderful time of the year….”? I don’t think so.
That is, unless they are wealthy business owners or executives who have just earned more in Christmas bonuses than most of us will earn in the next 10 years. It may well be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, but they are certainly cashing in on the birth of Christ while they are down here!
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