ugh the commercialism of christmas! Im watching this santa clause parade. Its one big fucking ad! sorry weskimo, but Im not feeling the christmas love at the moment.

fuck yes.

Fuck people that don't like commercialism. If these holidays weren't commercialized no one would pay any attention to them, no one would celebrate them, and you wouldn't have them at all! The only reason most non-religious people even know anything about Christmas, Halloween, and Easter is because big companies put out tons of advertising and product to capitalize on "festive cheer". Which circles back to draw more people into the holiday that might not have otherwise celebrated it. Without candy, christmas presents, and chocolate easter eggs, all of these holidays would have petered out into strictly religious observances that none of us would give two shits about.

You can't have one without the other any more, so fucking deal with it.

thanks but i prefer my economies to be stable in the long term.

(someone might want to split this thread...moderators.)

I'm with DMUSER. I'm ok with the commercialization of these holidays, specifically christmas, and to a lesser extent, halloween. Advertising and commercialization have, like DMUSER said, kept these holidays alive. Really, if Christmas was just about family, or observing the celebration of the birth of christ (or whatever), nobody would give a crap. Who wants to be forced to spend time with their family or go to church? Christians, that's who. And if your religious beliefs don't lean that way? What then?

It's all a matter of maintaining interest. Like Easter. When I was little, I would love to get up and find the chocolate eggs my parents had hidden all over the house while I was asleep! Now, candy isn't such a big deal, so it is just a day off work for me now. Christmas, being more commercialized, has held my interest, because I get shit.

Also, I like to think that a bit of the spirit of the holiday actually makes it through all the stuff. I feel good when I can give someone something on Christmas that makes them happy. They're happy, I'm happy, and nobody goes to work. Good holiday. Case closed.

note:
Unless you're DMUSER, in which case, it makes me happy when I can give you something on Christmas to totally own you.

I agree with Trevor as well, however it is really annoying when the advertising starts before Halloween is over. I like how the U.S. has black friday and uses it as the marker for when the chrismas stuff starts.

Christmas is ultimately the combination of the Roman Saturnalia (gift-giving and merry-making) and Germanic Yule (trees, wassailing) winter solstice traditions crudely adjusted to incorporate Christian symbolism. The Bible advocates the adoption and alteration of regional customs to encourage conversion (the Book of Titus, I believe,) and Christmas is an excellent example of the practical application of this strategy. There are gigantic historical and theological arguments against the observation of Christmas, although most of those arguments are rendered moot by 1 Corinthians. Either way there's not much to suggest Christmas has ever been about Christian values aside from the very modern sentimentality with regards to Christmas and Christianity in a broader sense.

I agree with the commercialization of Christmas (and other holidays) for the sole reason that it increases the variety of goods available to consumers: Christmas and Halloween decorations, for example. I have not and never will complain about the commercialization of Halloween for precisely this reason. The part I disagree with is the institutionalized social pressure associated with Christmas gift-giving, the outrageous burden it places on the entire service industry at the absolute worst possible time of the year, and the perennial debt spending that is not backed by equity. It fucking sucks, it's inconvenient and inefficient, and god help you if you need to overnight a package in the whole fucking month of December.

I've always had mixed feelings about Christmas. There are so many things I like about the holiday (the pretty lights and decorations, eggnog, spending time with family, the amazing food, giving and recieving gifts). But there are things I really dislike as well (Christmas music, the stress of finding the perfect gift for everyone, the toll it takes on my bank account, and rude people in shopping malls).

But this year I've decided that I really like Christmas, mainly because I got all of my Christmas shopping done before December. I didn't spend a big chunk of money all at once so it wasn't a huge shock to the budget. I didn't stress over what to get people because I gave myself lots of time to think about what they would like. Best of all, I can avoid the malls during the mad Christmas rush.

Now I can just sit back and enjoy. It's very relaxing. You should try it next year.

Now if only something could be done about the bloody terrible Christmas music.

Dmuser is right, we cant have one without the other anymore, but that doesnt mean I have to like it! And if people dont stop and say, hey Christmas is kind of a joke, then its going to get even worse and were going to start to see Christmas commercials in June. So I am going to continue to bitch.

On another note, I am attempting to calm the Christmas hate, and focus on what its supposed to be about, that being spending time with family and good friends.

Fuck the fucking Christmas Music on the radio, and fuck the fucking Christmas ads played before Remembrance Day. I don't give a shit about commercialization in the later half of November, but fuck any cocksuckers advertising before then, those boys died for our rights dammit.

Wait. What about our right to advertise for Christmas starting in June? Didn't any of them die for that?

This makes me want to photoshop santa-hats onto the D-day landing pictures