The love and loathing of Christmas

Christmas has always been, and probably always will be, one of the most awkward holidays for me. Most people either truly hate the holiday for what it's become, or love it based on beloved childhood memories. I prefer to ride the fence on this one.

The Loathing

• It's freakin cold damnit!
• People often make themselves feel better by giving to charity this time of year while completely ignoring the other three quarters of the year.
• Childhood greed is much more prevelant. Parents are spending way too much money to make their child happy for less than one day than to teach them that life isn't about getting everything you want.
• The over-commercialization of everything. Everything.
• The music. You'll never understand my deep hatred for Christmas music unless you've worked at a retail job for more than five years.
• Christmas's origins aren't religious, nor is it the day Jesus was born. It is a holiday that was stolen from pagan solstice festivals celebrated by the Romans and other early civilizations. Nobody seems to care about this fact, yet all that's talked about is how religious Christmas is. I don't get it.

The Love

• Christmas specials and cartoons. I'm talking the old school ones like the Grinch and Rudolph.
• The wonderful, fattening food.
• For one day out of the year, you can feel like a kid again. You don't have anything to worry about (usually), you can eat all you want (pie!), and you can play with your new toys (Plasma TV!) all day.
• You can buy really expensive things for yourself and not feel guilty (you earned it!).
• Although it is cold out, it's a great opportunity to warm up with the one you love.

There you have it. I'm sure I'll think of some more and throw them in there when I have time. Let me know if there's anything else I should add! For those of you who read this, have a great Thanksgiving!