Sick of Christmas

Well, we're just wrapping up Thanksgiving, and I'm already sick of Christmas. This season of joy, goodwill, and cheer (which now means commercialism, theft, and greed) seems to be starting earlier each year. People have been putting up Christmas decorations for weeks now -- some houses in my neighborhood skipped straight from Halloween pumpkins to Christmas snowmen. I guess they couldn't find an appropriately tacky 7-foot inflatable turkey to stick in their front lawn for the month in between.

I've been told that radio stations have been playing Christmas music for the last couple of weeks. The Hallmark channel (and probably many others) has been playing a lot of cheesy made-for-TV Christmas specials for the last few days. I know this only because I'm visiting my family for Thanksgiving, and my mom and sister insist on watching every one of these holiday-themed abominations -- nevermind the fact that it's not even December yet.

My family already thinks I'm a "Scrooge" because I'm always sick of the holiday season long before Christmas even gets here. I don't even put up a tree in my house because I get so many trees and holly and bows and lights shoved in my face every time I drive down the street or see a commercial on TV. Is it really just me, or has this holiday gotten out of hand since the wonderful days of my youth when Christmas actually meant something, and was something to look forward to rather than something to drag out for as many weeks as possible? Don't get me wrong; I'm all about the idea of Christmas, and the true meaning behind it, but I think that we as a culture have destroyed it by focusing on all the wrong aspects of the holiday.