I Sort Of Dislike December

Please don't misunderstand me, I don't dislike Christmas or the holiday season. I enjoy the family that comes over and I enjoy drinking eggnog underneath a big fuzzy blanket and watching Christmas specials (In fact right now I'm enjoying a rerun of the Glee Christmas special).

What I don't enjoy is the feeling of obligation.

Every Christmas special you see tries to decry the commercialism of the season, they encourage people to spend time with their families, to enjoy the camaraderie and happy feelings that the season brings with it, and then they cut to multiple commercials advertising expensive jewelery, perfume, and new "must have" cars.

Every Christmas I feel the inevitable feeling of obligation that comes from being bombarded by gifts and stocking stuffers from friends and acquaintances alike. I hate feeling like I HAVE to buy them a gift of equal or greater value in return. I didn't ask for them to get me anything, and they didn't ask me to get them anything in return, and so I won't.

I will accept this commercialist ritual when it comes to family, as my family is rather small and it's easy to buy gifts for them, but I cannot abide by this ritual in my circle of friends, which is considerably large (I have lots of friends because I'm awesome).

Lucie was offended by how little thought Tom put into this gift,
I mean, she'd been working with Tom for 2 whole weeks.

Happy Holidays All.
Or rather, Bah Humbug.