Its not a christian holiday, the date is wrong. Sure you can say its christmas, but its not. Crazy pagans, not calling it christmas.

If people find it offensive, then they should close their browser, and get rid of their internet. Or just grow thicker skin. There are worse things, and if a word or something petty like that offends you.. Then god help you in the real world. With you know, actual problems.

Except that it is. With the internet at your disposal, you could have very easily put Christmas in the search bar and found some kind of explanation on Wikipedia for your assumptions.

Only its not, Jesus was assumed to have been born around april iirc. Ahh yes wikipedia, if I actually cared enough, I could edit it, thus altering the fabric of space and time, making what I write 100% true.

Religious reasons aside, which have nothing to do with my decision, I'm skipping Christmas this year. Mainly due to the fact that I work retail, I'm so sick of the consumerist attitude that surrounds the whole holiday. It has also been a pretty big past several years with very little time off so it'll be good to have at least a day or two to myself.

I really, seriously, considered just saying "You know what? Count me out this year." This "holiday" has become such a sham. I hate the music, I hate the season, I hate the "basis", and I hate what it's become. Christmas is nothing but an excuse for people to go on a consumer frenzy and it practically forces people to buy shallow crap to make themselves, and others, feel fulfilled. I don't even want anything this year, nothing that can be physically bought and presented to me anyways. What do I want for Christmas-Yuletide-Holiday-Season this stupid time of the year? I want people to stop over indulging in stupid things. I want people to stop being so upset over petty differences in "tradition". I want people to realize that every single person is in their own way contributing to the ever increasing disaster that this planet is becoming.

Global warming, pollution, waste, it's all our fault, and this "holiday" just encourages it all. Instead of wasting our time and energy growing trees to chop down and then toss out 2 weeks later, and going to the store to buy pointless stuff for everyone you know, everyone should do something productive. Gather with your families and just do....something. Anything other than this self indulgent needlessly wasteful consumerist object obsession-fest. Talk about the world, talk about the problems we face as a planet, try and better yourselves and those around you.

Or you can go to the mall, get trampled the day after Thanksgiving, and buy that 4 dollar toaster to gift your coworker.

I really hate this time of the year. Bah! Humbug.

Whats up with the blasphemous strikeouts OP?

Haha, well... Christmas, like how it is often celebrated these days, have so damn little to do with Christ, I find it quite, in lack of using more vulgar language, odd to call it Christmas.

"Consumermas" is more appropriate than anything. Besides, calling it blasphemy seems a little too far of a reach. If you want blasphemy, you should try to debate with me.

Where I'm from (Kenya), global warming is a sham. We are all to busy celebrating with our families to care. Most in Kenya are too poor to afford anything much, but they are still happy and upbeat, that it why I love Christmas in Kenya so much.

There is nothing wrong with not relating Christmas with "Christ". It's just the common name we use for this holiday these days and at this point it would be silly to take up another name for it even if it would be a better name. You can relate X-mas to whatever you desire to relate it to, be it your own religion, be it celebrating the coming end of winter, be it celebrating good crops and hoping for better crops next spring, be it celebrating having family and friends to spend your time with or even just using it as a convenient time to share what intrigues you with others while allowing them to do the same with you through gift swapping.

So Christmas or Yule or Winter Festival or whatever you like to call it, even X-mas, it's all acceptable.

Oh and when I said X-mas was not a Christian holiday I didn't mean that it didn't have anything to do with Christianity, like 8% (roughly estimated) or so of X-mas is to do with Christianity. But what I meant is that you can't assign it to be a holiday of some religion or celebration when it takes from so many things that all you can really say is that it's a "multicultural holiday".

Sometimes I wonder if it shouldn't just be called "Stressmas".

I've decided to cook Christmas dinner today to spread things out a bit so they're less hectic tomorrow, though I understand various other countries already have that more enlightened approach of not trying to cram everything into one day.

In Iceland we celebrate all this stuff today. On the 24th. And I'm just chilling around on the forums and such. And sure I'm not the one cooking dinner but my parents are just watching Christmas Carol on TV.

Last year at this time I was rushing around finishing up wrapping and my parents were sweating over dinner and running to the stores that are open on this day to get ingredients they were lacking and such.

It really depends on how you pace yourself. I decided this year I'd take care of cleaning the parts of the house I clean and I decided to buy and wrap up all the gifts I was going to buy starting to do this a good week before X-mas. And really after last year I think everyone here decided something similar but now everyone is just doing nothing, just lulling around waiting for the night to come so they can go and cook or put the tableware on the table.

We're pretty disorganised as a couple and tend to leave everything 'til the last minute, so it can get hectic and unpleasant.

Wrapping is another thing we've decided to dispense with: gift bags and fabric wraps are much nicer IMHO, and rather less wasteful--and though not an environmentalist, that does bother me a little. But best of all, none of that faffing about with cutting paper, tape that sticks to everything except what you want it to stick to and figuring out how to wrap awkwardly-shaped stuff (always too disorganised to put it in a box first!)

As it turns out, my other half is away this year, so I suspect I'm not going to be on top form after drinking the bottle of random fizzy substance by myself.

I don't celebrate christmas in the sense that I don't go to church or stuff like that. Tonight we're going to a restaurant for a couple of drinks, then we're going for an early breakfast at around 2am.

Yes and yes.

Normally I go visit my family during this time. But for the last two years I have not. I find that everybody is so damn centered on the hustle and bustle of giving each other stupid gifts that nobody actually has any time to sit down and converse with each other. If I'm only going to make it "home" once a year, it sure ain't going to be [censored]mas any longer.

I don't care about Christmas really, if my parents believe in that, who am I to say that they're wrong?
I personally don't celebrate it, I just get presents. C:

I don't celebrate Christmas to me its just another regular day.

I will never skip a Christmas. I love Christmas and celebrate the religious aspect of it as well as the theme giving and spending time with my family. So it's a pretty fun holiday in my eyes.

To all of you on here.... bah humbug!!!!!!!!!

I will not be skipping Christmas. It's too important to both me personally and all my family and friends.

I wish I could, but no. It'll be cooking, cleaning, and pretending to be interested in people's conversations for me. Don't see the point of it, but that's a rant for another day.

For the last two decades I have decorated, shopped, sorted, wrapped, labeled, mailed, baked, prepped, cleaned, cooked, and hosted Christmas events. I have worried, stressed, ran endless errands, and tried to make Christmas enjoyable for every one else. I have filled my own damn stocking each of those years, and every present under the tree I knew what was in it. My husband gives me gag gifts on occasion. I hear [censored]ing and moaning, but rarely a thank you. I called my mother the other day to thank her profusely for all the years of christmas insanity she endured so that others would have good memories. If I were to show my ass, I'd be a bad mom. No matter the reason. Even if I were sick.
I am fed up with Christmas. I cannot wait to clean the whole mess of it up and get on with 2012.

Uberbanana pretty much summed it all up much better than I could.

One weekend, preferrably in January, as a gift to myself, I am going to the beach. Where I can put my bare feet in the sand, feel the waves svck the surf out from under my feet, watch wildlife, and pick up perfect, tiny seashells. Maybe I will come home after I am done. Maybe not. Every memory of the beach I have is a happy one.

Pretty much sums it up for me, now I don't have to type yes I know I am lazy.

Pretty much this.

And while I'm tempted to get into the whole debate over its religious aspects, I'm not going to. Because it's Christmas Eve and I don't want to stir contention. Also because I'd rather not end up associating Christmas Eve with "Forum warning".

Grr... we got our Christmas gift from my brother-in-law today: a load of legal paperwork intended to cause as much aggravation as possible. It's not really anything that serious, just the estate of my partner's and his late father, but he's repeatedly used it to cause trouble. I saw this coming weeks ago, but now that I've actually seen it happen, I'm still astonished that he'd sink so low as to notify us (rather than our solicitor, too: nice touch) of some unnecessary legal hassle on Christmas Eve.

Some people are just irredeemable gits, it would seem.

Oh yeah, he is very much Scrooge-like too: works for an investment bank, no less. Figures, I suppose.

Sounds like hes a dike.

I asked my mother about not getting presants next year. Her response was "want money instead", I said no, just didnt want anything. She then used the word scrooge, and despite me not wanting nything, it appears I ill be getting something next year too. So much for skipping this.

Personally the most happy I felt was a random guy on dark souls wishing me merry christmas. No idea who he was, summoned him, he died, but I thanked him becuase I still beat the boss. Then he ished me merry christmas. No idea why I care, I dont care about christms, but that was nice of him.

Now my mother is wailing like a banshee, trying to sing the hyms they are singing on the TV. God damnit I hope the singing isnt on for much longer.

Every year this comes round and every year I point out that the Internet is a global network that doesn't just include Christian based countries or persons and the majority of people on Earth are not Christian nor Western based and thus tomorrow/today is a day like any other for the bulk of people on this planet.

That being said, I shall spend the day doing what I do but once a year, not going to the pub (because it's closed).