This Time of Year Makes ME F#$%^ng Sad

This time of year makes me fucking sad. I know it’s about God and Jesus' birthday or at least that’s what we were told, right? It’s not about Santa Claus and naughty lists, Target Runs, and fancy trees. It’s about consumerism and Black Friday and I hate it.

I hate the mad rush and the big shit deal people make about “The Holidays” and seeing their families. I hate the fancy slaughter that happens to make an animal a centerpiece. I hate the gluttony of people stuffing their fat faces and drinking in excess because of the holidays.

I hate the catalogs and the lie we sell our children that Santa is real and where some kids get to enjoy the fun in that, others wake to find nothing under the tree. It is extra stress for parents with a lack of funds to make it happen and it sucks.

I hate how amped up the kids are this time of year and then how disappointed and how discouraged they look when they have opened everything. People spend months preparing and then it’s over in a few minutes. We clean up the mess of torn through special wrapping paper and bows and then we wait 365 stupid days to do it all over again.

What if people could take a holiday together and travel or have days off as a family. Some can, but many have to work and don’t even have Christmas Eve off. They are right back to work the next day because people need to eat and shelves need to be restocked.

Wake up, people. We are being manipulated under the guise of Holiday marketing. Yes, enjoy your family, sure eat something delicious, but quit making such a huge haul and spending so much money at Big Box Stores. Our future depends on it. We the people of this Earth are killing our planet and not even taking a second glance. We are supporting factory farms that turn out abused Turkeys and Hams in masses.

We are contributing to a lie that we have believed for way too long.

For me when I slide into a Christmas Eve Service I feel like this is the “reason for the season.” I feel calm and the music is nice, but all of the other stuff just feels like too much. I am opting out of Holidays from now on. I’ve felt it coming the last few years and this year I know I am done. My hope is I can take this time from now on to do something nice for someone that doesn’t involve plastic gifts that will fill up landfills. Something genuine. I would like to take a trip off the grid and rejuvenate before the first of the year. I would like to truly take stock of what I am thankful for without needing more, more, more.

I am worried about this planet and animal agriculture. I am worried about how if we all keep charging forward with no one stopping to take stock of what we do and why that we will have no planet. We will wish we stopped to take heed of the warnings.

If anything, tell your people you love them. Hold them close, but zip up those stockings and snuggle up with a good book. Save up for a trip. Call someone who may be lonely. Visit a nursing home, write a letter. Make a meal for someone.

Don’t make the holidays an excuse for gluttony and overindulgence. Many of us have pain and grief this time of year and our nervous systems know it is too much, but we charge forward afraid to hurt anyone’s feelings.

I feel sad for the multitude of people who lack family and friends, who are isolated and afraid. Who are battling addiction or incarcerated. I feel sad for the undue stress of parents that Christmas puts on them. I feel sorry for people who rack up credit cards year after year on gifts they can’t afford. I feel sorry for people who have lost their families and have no one to celebrate with. I feel sorry for those who have lost loved ones and it’s too hard to bear sitting around an empty place setting. I feel sorry for the homeless and those who are hospitalized.

Also, the Sugary Holidays drinks at Starbucks are full of shit and people are so addicted to their peppermint mochas and what not. They are becoming richer and richer while we die of ill health and become poorer.

Call me a grinch, I don’t care. I seriously can’t take it anymore.

It’s time we get to know ourselves. It’s time we quit hanging around people we can’t stand. It’s time we speak up with our pocketbooks. It’s time we stop being hypnotized by clever marketing and wake up.

This is a game that I am no longer a pawn in.