Scrooge

I'm having trouble justifying some of the Christmas Spirit these days. With consumerism more rampant than goodwill, I feel like my favorite holiday is getting a bit...tainted.

It killed my soul a little to see Christmas goods on the same shelves as Halloween decorations.  The music starts too early, and it's just not special anymore. Anyone can tell you that when you start doing something every day, it ceases to be a treat and becomes a routine. I love routines, don't get me wrong, routines shove me through the day. Treats, on the other hand, are breaks from the routine. They are the whimsy that allows us to go off track for a while, knowing that eventually routine will get us back on track.

So now it's December 1st, the day I traditionally give myself the treat of putting up all manner of decoration and turning on that holiday music station for the first time, and I'm totally apathetic towards the whole production. I've been seeing the decorations and hearing the music for months now, outside of my home. My nativity scene is still in its zip lock baggie, in the bottom cabinet. The ornaments are beside the dryer, with the exception of the one ball that my cats managed to play with all year. I'm still listening to radiohead, mudvayne, disturbed, rhianna, three days grace, debussy, a perfect circle and all of the other artists that are on my every day play lists.

Then there's the whole issue of a tree. Do I, as a human, have a right to go kill a tree, just to have it die slowly in my house for no practical purpose? There's no symbiosis there. Not to mention, heating the house is expensive enough. I don't need to add 30 more strands of light to my electric bill (which would metaphorically kill more salmon, since the electricity is from the dam). On the other side, I know the trees are raised without the space to grow into the forest that they'd like to be, and a lot of great charitable groups really depend on the sales for their fundraisers...I just can't justify killing a tree right now. I can't justify the whole ritual of getting into the holidays right now.

I'm feeling pretty scrooge-y, now that the snow's gone and finals are upon me.
How do you get into the holiday spirit?