If You Hate The Holiday Season, You Are Not Alone
Do the words “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” make you want to vomit? Do the commercials on television make you want to skip over the month of December? If so, you are not alone. Majority of the population love the holiday season because of Christmas, which makes the day after Thanksgiving until December 26th some of the hardest days of the year for those who don’t love the holidays.
One of the biggest things people who hate the holidays have against Christmas is how materialistic it has become. Christmas only seems to be about things, and not family, or giving back to others. Holidays should not be about materialistic things, or what gifts one will get. If you are under the age of seven, then being excited about toys and gifts is acceptable, since you are still learning the cultural significance of the holiday season. As you get older, however, the excitement of getting should fade, and it should transition to the excitement of giving.
Society doesn’t help these perceptions about the holiday season. Black Friday sales have now started on Thanksgiving, which only adds to the commercialism of the holiday season. Christmas songs start playing on a few radio stations in the middle of November, and some completely switch over starting the day after Thanksgiving. Christmas is basically shoved into everyone’s face way too early.
Not everyone is privileged enough to have an extravagant holiday season. Some families might not be able to afford more than one gift for their kids. Other families might be apart due to having a parent working to earn more money for their family, or a parent or older sibling might be overseas.
The holidays can also be hard for some, due to family members, immediate and extended. Some people might have a difficult time seeing their extended family, who they only see one time a year, and do nothing but criticize, make fun of, interrogate you on your lifestyle choices, and are straight up rude to you. Others might have a hard time, because it is their immediate family who does this.
For transgender kids, the holiday season might be hard, due to the fact that their families might not be accepting of the pronouns that they use, or how they identify. LGBTQ* people might have to face harassment from homophobic family members.
The holiday season is meant for reflection, giving to others, spending time with family, whether if it’s one’s real family, or selected family made of friends, good times, and making memories. Not inanimate objects that rarely hold any significance.
Before judging others who hate the holiday season please understand that for some people, it is one of the worst times of the year.