Taking Christ out of Christmas

I'll admit, I'm a pretty jaded kind of guy. Nothing bothers me the most than Christmas. I have absolutely nothing against Christmas really, it's the way everyone goes about celebrating it. What bothers me about it, is it's only a celebration of SHOPPING, and BUYING, and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS. Political correctness?  Shopping and buying? I'm sure some of you are thinking I've gone mad. Honestly I've been nuts for a long time. Just hear me out. 

Christmas and it's sole purpose was to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It's not the literal birth date of Jesus, but is the designated date that we all celebrate. In history, it has also become a time of gift giving and family gatherings. Nonetheless it is a Christian based holiday. 

Sadly, Christmas has lost it's meaning to the masses. It now spending spending spending. Money, money, money. Christmas sales everywhere, Christmas in July sales, Christmas summer sales, it's all enough to make a person sick! In my town, Christmas started to be celebrated commercially the day after Halloween!! Not even Thanksgiving yet and Christmas trees, and decorations are being put up. Not to celebrate Christmas but to remind people YOU NEED TO SHOP. Subconsciously they tell you Christmas has arrived and you need to SHOP NOW! Never mind the fact that in the pre-holiday season, prices jump so when the holiday season does arrive they lower the prices back to normal so they can say CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY SALE! People fall for it every year. "look at this great deal!, I remember when this was $20 more back in August!" failing to remember that the same items was really cheaper this past May, June or July. We're all suckers, we fall for it every time and not even realize it.

On the religious side of things, we have now become so "politically correct" that the Christian faiths are discouraged from celebrating the birth of Jesus publicly. All due to fear of offending other faiths, religions or those with lack there of. I just heard on the news this morning that somewhere someone tried to read a passage out of the Christian Bible in public, in celebration of a Christian holiday, and was stopped from doing so because it was ILLEGAL and NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT. This is a Christian holiday for crying out loud! Let the man celebrate his faith with others who share the same things. I'm not a Christian, I am atheist, though I may not agree or believe like others do, they should have the right to their religious beliefs, and to celebrate it how they see fit. For me if I don't like it, I can go home , not participate or change the channel. It is CHRISTmas after all, a Christian holiday, let them celebrate it and their faith.

The last thing that bothers me most about Christmas is it's used as an excuse to spend time with family and friends. This makes me sick most of all. Why do we need an excuse to spend time with family and friends and to give gifts. Shouldn't we do this anyway all year round? Our time on this Earth is short, and we need one day a year to make sure we show appreciation and love to our friends and family? Screw political correctness, shopping sales, and what not. Love and appreciate your friends and family all year round, don't just wait until Christmas or any other holiday to do it. Put some thought in your gifts and really make it count all the time. It will mean something, it will mean more when you do.