Anti-anti-Christmas

Spend, drink and be merry

Nice article in Scotland on Sunday (the Scotsman) for those of us who feel faintly uncomfortable celebrating an event whose religious significance we don't believe in, faintly resentful of the way we're dragged into the lair of rampant consumerism, faintly guilty etc. etc.

In amongst the humorous common sense, this, I think, captures it rather neatly:

If you believe what you read, the only people who seem to get on at this time of year are hardcore Christians and the secular left, both of whom put aside their differences to really try to destroy what is still, for most of us, a happy and joyful time with a massive splurge of griping.
According to the Christians, Christmas is a religious festival that has been hijacked by the retail industry, which has destroyed its true meaning and created stress and misery for millions. According to the secular left, Christmas is a pagan festival which has been hijacked by the Christians, and then by the retail industry, which has destroyed its true meaning and created stress and misery for millions. Now there may not be many certainties in this world, but of one thing you can be sure: if two such extreme and opposed world views are in agreement then they must both be wrong.

Does that mean I can go & enjoy myself now?