Bah Humbug! What I don’t like about Christmas!

This is what I plan to put on my facebook page every day in Dec., but some of you don’t like that I am “being so negative” and a “hater”!  I am sorry!  It was meant to be a fun way to poke fun at some of the junk that has messed up Christmas. And if you know me you know that I am very opinionated but don’t hate much! Most of you also know that I love holidays, celebrations and parties. And that I love Christmas – just not all the ways we celebrate it! Oh yeah… And some of you don’t do facebook.

In an effort to trim the excesses and the commercialism, I am going to share what, for me, has overshadowed the purpose of this holiday. What I hate may not be what you hate, and I run the risk of offending everyone, so you may want to block my status for the next month! Move over Scrooge! Sit down Grinch! I am on a rant!

1. Bah Humbug! What I hate about Christmas! Fruitcake – needs NO explanation!
2. Bah Humbug! What I hate about Christmas…Cheesy Christmas Musak…Songs like “Santa Baby”. Yuck. And some stations play it 24-7!
3. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Everything flavored! I do like egg nog, gingerbread, peppermint, pumpkin, etc, but I don’t want everything I eat and drink to taste like them! (ie. I just saw eggnog Jamba juice and gingerbread Oreos). It is just too much!
4. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Decorating too early! I don’t like how it overshadows other holidays. What is up with Christmas decor before Halloween in the stores?! I am sick of it before the “season” even starts!
5. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Black Friday. There is something wrong when a whole culture shrinks one day of gratitude for a season of wanton consumerism and discontent.
6. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas: Mincemeat. Who came up with mixing chopped dried fruit, distilled spirits and spices and sometimes beef suet, beef or venison together? Why was this ever considered a good idea!?
7. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Frenzy that lasts for months – 4+ months of honoring consumerism, candy, traditions, greed and only one day to honor the Lord. How did one day mutate into an entire season of gluttony and excess?!
8. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Tacky clothes in colors that do not match and Santa Hats. The only thing worse is pet and car decorations?! (Although I must admit I wish I still had some of my Christmas Sweaters so I would not have to figure out what to wear to the Tacky Sweater Parties that are in vogue.)
9. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Overeating followed by a month of ads for diet plans and gym memberships that we can’t afford because we went into so much debt in December!
10. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Overspending. Rather than teaching that it is better to give than receive I think we are teaching our kids that more is better and it is okay to living beyond our means.
11. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Being generous only because it is the “season”of giving. Many are hungry and in need all year long! Generosity should be a habit and not an excuse to ignore the needs for the rest of the year just because you gave in December!
12. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Homework over the “break”. I hated it as a kid and I hate it even more as a parent!
13. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Blow-up lawn decor and “overdone” houses, but I do love looking at lights, especially Cuneo and Yale!
14. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Frosty the Snowman. I guess the whole story is just annoying and on top of that he is part of the “Winter wonderland idea“ I really don’t like winter! And, by the way, most of the world does not experience the New England scene.
15. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… How much stuff I have collected to celebrate and how much it takes to put it all away! But I am not sure that I will part with any of it any time soon and therein lies the rub! I have heard that there are some people who keep a storage unit full of Holiday decor!
16. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Houses with the lights left up all year. Are people really too lazy to put it away? It really does not keep the spirit alive! In Lieu of my bah Humbug rant I must say that I really hate (in the truest sense of the word) what happened in CT. and that those families have had their Christmas season wrecked – forever! Sending prayers and asking God to make His presence known. Thinking of the Scotty McCreery song and wondering what Christmas in heaven is like.
17. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Unfettered decadence and the over commercialization of everything! And if that is not enough, most people go “back” to shops after Christmas to get some more bargains!
18. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Traffic, long lines, and parking. Enough said. (Although I do live in So.Cal so I guess the argument could be made that it is not a Christmas issue! Hah)
19. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… All the misconceptions about the original Christmas event.(Like there were only 3 wisemen, Mary was all alone in a cave, there was snow on the ground)
20. Bah Humbug –  :what I hate about Christmas: The Hurry..The hustle and bustle. There is a difference between simply being busy and being hurried. Being busy is about the things you have to do. Being hurried is the spiritual, mental, and emotional state that you are in when trying to do the things you have to do. Every season is busy. We are busy people! BUT, You can be busy without being hurried. “Hurriedness is like a strong wind that blows on the waters of your heart. If the waves are too high, you forget about others and focus on your own survival, making compassion toward others impossible.“ Darrin Patrick
21. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Birthdays that get lost in the shuffle!  Including Jesus’ I always feel bad for the people I know whose birthday comes so close to Christmas that everyone is too busy to celebrate them and they get one present for “double duty”. (Happy Birthday to Sarah and Laurie and my BFF Cam!)
22. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… the ‘Christmas Persecution’nonsense! I do not know why it matters if a person says happy holidays or Merry Christmas because Christmas has become less of a Christian-centric holiday and more of a generic cultural holiday anyway.. It is celebrated by many non-Christians in various ways and the religious connotations are lost even on some Christians themselves. More importantly, however, is the fact that America has become more religiously diverse and there are more religions celebrating holidays around the end of the year and these people expect the same respect and consideration that Christians want for themselves. Saying “Happy Holidays” as a generic greeting means treating everyone equally rather than a phrase designed to undermine or exclude Christians.
23. Bah Humbug “ what I hate about Christmas” The Obligations. The expectations. The guilt.  I do not hate Christmas. I really don’t hate much at all. I actually like Christmas. I love my family, my friends, exchanging thoughtful gifts with the people I care about the most. I love home-cooked holiday meals and the warm familiarity of tradition. Setting up the tree, going to see the Marshall Fields windows in Chicago, watching an endless loop of A Christmas Story, the delicate understanding established between myself and the “grown up crowd” when I joined the ranks of those who realized that after about the age of 12, it was as good as it would ever get! Yet sometimes the rules and rituals feel so oppressive. The traditions wash out the simplicity of the celebration. After all, it is a mind-numbing idea that God stepped into our world and changed everything. We really don’t need to add to it with all that we do as if what we celebrate isn’t awesome enough!
24. Bah Humbug – what I hate about Christmas… Jim not being here to celebrate with us and create memories. He loved Christmas! 33 years ago today Jim asked me to marry him!
25. Bah Humbug- what I hate about Christmas… That people don’t get it!They don’t understand the main thing is not the incarnation but the resurrection! They are clueless that God loves us so much that he would lay aside His rights and come to earth to set us free from sin.
26. I will stop here because one thing I hate is when people don’t know when to quit and put the Christmas stuff away.