Merry X-Mas to Me

I don't celebrate Christmas.

I don't get bummed out either, I kind of see it as kind of like a burden being lifted.

Christmas is so commercialized right now, at some points it seemed to me that it wasn't so much about the birth of Christ, but just about getting presents. It seems like it is inevitable that you must buy a ton of presents for everyone in order to celebrate this Holy Birth. What does Santa Clause have to do with baby Jesus anyway?

I see students in school dragging bags of presents for their friends and whatnot,even though a part of me was thinking: "It's kind of awesome that they get all kinds of presents," but ultimately I wasn't jealous. I didn't have to go Christmas shopping, spent time thinking who should get what, contemplating how big a budget I have and how much I have left.

Several years back I brought ton of cards to give to friends, but right now, I gave one physical card to a friend, and just gave e-cards to the rest.The closest thing I had as Christmas shopping was buying three books for free-time reading over the holiday break .To match the holiday spirit, I brought The Road by Cormac McCarthy, a tale about a father and a son making a post-apocalyptic journey South. 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell, both cannot be categorized as Christmasy.

So because I'm an atheist, I have no Christmas obligations. I guess (a little) money in my pocket is a Christmas gift for me.