Christmas Rant Interlude

So far my Christmas posts have garnered feedback that ranges from apathetic to downright hostile. The atheists got mad at me for suggesting we should do away with Christmas' Christian symbolism while the Christians got mad at me for saying we should preserve and give credit to Christmas' pagan roots. I've had friends tell me I "made some good points" in that tone parents use when congratulating children on crappy macaroni portraits. I've had people tell me I'm giving atheists a bad name, that I have a problem with Christianity, that I'm incoherent and rambling.

And I got called a Grinch once or twice.

I resent that.

Overall I get the feeling that, no matter how good my points are, people are going to react negatively. I'm not terribly shocked; I am shitting on everyone's favourite holiday, after all, and for what? No one really cares where Christmas came from or how it became entangled with Christianity. No one is actually going to stop calling it Christmas. This little witch-trial of mine is a lose-lose.: I'm not winning any arguments, nor am I hooking new readers.

I started regretting my commitment to write about Christmas almost from the onset, when I realized two things:

1. Eight weeks is a really long time to spend writing about something you despise, and
2. My qualms with Christmas are just that: mine.

I've been wanting to take Christmas to task ever since I quit celebrating it. The initial harassment I faced left a bitter taste in my mouth and even though people stopped giving me a hard time a few years ago I never stopped resenting Christmas.

I know that my beef with Christmas is childish and hypocritical. It also goes against the purpose of this blog. The Meme Merchant is about seeking enlightenment and cultivating positive thought. It's about exploring new ideas, new ways of thinking, and improving yourself.

It's also an outlet for my noisy mind and a way for me to work things out. I'm always looking for ways to improve myself and my fixation with Christmas is just another item on my endless to-do list. My last four posts are therapy. They aren't meant to turn anyone off Christmas or convince people to discard the name; they are my attempts to rid myself of this irrational bitterness.

Don't think that I'm back-tracking. I stand behind every word I've written on this topic. None of us  decided that December 25 should be a special day requiring that we observe a series of ancient rituals. These traditions were stitched together by politicians and handed down to us via a long line of people who lacked the ability to think critically.

We are not slaves to tradition. In fact, our willingness or refusal to carry traditions forward determine their survival. That's why I encourage everyone to customize Christmas. Pick and choose what you want to keep in your holiday. Make up your own traditions. Why not? No one can tell you how to celebrate Christmas. Inventing new traditions might sound like a strange idea but we've already witnessed the rise of at least one new tradition in our lifetimes: the ugly Christmas sweater party.

Brilliant.

If you're hesitant to modify Christmas, just remember that the Christians did this very thing when they introduced the holiday in the fourth century CE. I imagine it went something like this:

"How can we get these dirty heathens to abandon their ways and follow Christ's teachings? I got it! We'll let them keep burning crap and feasting on Dec 25 but we'll tell them it's for Jesus' birthday instead!"

Cue laughter and high-fives.

For my last Christmas rants I'll explore the ethical dilemma of Santa Claus, the pitfalls of having a season of charity, and the materialistic focus of the holiday season. I imagine I'll get some more Reddit hate mail before I'm done but you can't please everyone, especially on the Internet.

26 days till Christmas

/rant over