Christmas was the day that nearly everyone else was involved in and
stressing over. Myself, I felt like myself and a friend were the only
ones taking it easy and playing games. When our relatives came home,
they were exhausted and arguing over something, so I think it's fair to
say that Christmas doesn't succeed in making everyone happy. In fact, I
haven't seen anyone happy about Christmas in a long time. For months at
a time, people spend money that isn't theirs on material things that
they'll never see again. What do they have to show for it? Paying
credit card bills well into the next year and coping with depression in
some form or another.

Myself, it's just another day, and the less
I allow myself to be involved in it, the happier I seem to be. Because
when it's all over, I still have money, I have no debt, and I still
have a full-time, non-seasonal job. It would seem as though life is
better without Christmas.

Of course, I couldn't let this topic go
without pointing out that December 25th is not Yashua's birthday, and
there is no Biblical imperative to celebrate his birth (however, there
is still a Biblical imperative to keep Passover, Matzah, Firstfruits,
Kippurym, etc., because contrary to popular belief, these things
haven't been "done away"). I can also mention that December 25th was
Sol Invictus, a Roman festival celebrating the birthday of sun-gods,
Yule was the name of a Scandinavian solstice festival honoring the
thunder-god Thor, and that most of Christmas's traditions came from a
Roman festival named Saturnalia, which involved rowdy behavior and a
suspension of formal rules while people partied, exchanged presents,
got drunk, had gay sex, among other things that were later given a
Christian message by the "if-you-can't-beat-'em-join-em" Catholic
church.

I don't get too offended when someone attempts to force
it on me. It's easy enough to ignore them, and they just don't know
better.