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Health & Fitness

Just Say NO to Christmas!

Christ∙mas  ꞌkristməs  n  1: American social madness masking as a holiday, characterized by mass buying and giving orgies, which leave people with debt, unwanted or useless merchandize, and a sense of frustration, guilt, or shame ; 2:  The fourth quarter of the year and prime engine for the retail economy, which is the reason for the season;  3: Formerly, a religious holiday celebrated by some Christians to observe the birth of Jesus Christ

It is time to say NO to Christmas (definition 1).  Rather than try to reform it, make it less materialistic, or even “put Christ back into Christmas,” we should just accept defeat.  The quickest path to sanity and true celebration is to abandon Christmas altogether.

Whatever religious or other meaning Christmas may once have had, the “holiday” has been completely co-opted by the shopping industry.  Though I have yet to see an ad claiming that “Baby Jesus would shop at Macy’s,” all other symbols, traditions, and music have been used to feed the buying frenzy. And for what?  We Americans spend $450,000,000,000 per year on Christmas ($1500 per adult and child).  And we are not happy doing it.  Now Christmas (def. 1) will destroy yet another holiday: Thanksgiving.  This year you can shop, eat Thanksgiving dinner, and shop.  Or why bother with dinner and family at all?

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So I invite all of you who yearn for peace and quiet, for time with family, and for a chance to actually connect to spiritual depth in this season to just walk away.  Leave Christmas to the corporations.  (They’re people now, anyway, and this is their holy-day.)

Let’s invent a new holiday.  For Christians, that might be the Feast of the Nativity or the Birthday of Jesus. Other religions have winter celebrations already, but if you have no particular faith, there is always the winter Solstice, which marks the time when days begin to grow longer once again.  Most of these religious, spiritual, or agrarian festivals draw on themes of darkness and light, difficulty and hope, waiting and introspection, rest and regeneration before times of active growth.  They offer plenty of ways to connect to our hearts, families, and community.

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By all means, if you have traditions that give you joy and feed your soul, keep them or adapt them.  But let’s once and for all stop the buying craziness.  NO MORE.  If you absolutely need to spend money on others, for mercy’s sake support your local school or homeless shelter or sustainable energy project or overseas microfinance initiative or the rebuilding of the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan.  $450 billion could do a lot of good, if properly channeled.

But do it.  SAY NO TO CHRISTMAS.  Invite your friends and family into the conspiracy of freedom and light.





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