I'm such a slacker. Look at me, I haven't blogged for, like, five days. I've been ill, I've got this cold. I'm ok now, mostly better, but have had to restrain myself from getting on here and having a nice old whinge! It's a funny thing, but I feel like very little is happening in my life right now... and yet, my "social calendar" is about the busiest it's ever been - so much to do with so many people! So little time before Christmas!

Now is probably a good time to have my annual anti-Christmas rant. There are so many reasons to dislike, discourage, not celebrate, and generally complain about Christmas. I don't know where to start.

1 - Historical Innacuracy. It's generally acknowledged that Jesus Christ was not born on Christmas day. He wasn't even born in the right year. Some say the date was hijacked from a Pagan festival pre-dating Christianity, which seems likely.

2 - Lack Of Meaning. Even if it was Jesus's birthdate, why does that matter to me when I'm not a Christian or religious at all?

3 - Marketing-driven Myths. I object to the premise that Christmas is a time for giving and loving and family. Surely these things should happen all the time. We shouldn't need to be told to set aside this one particular day in the year to see our families and to give presents (as if money ever bought love anyway, pfft) and to extend the hand of friendship to every man and his dog.

4 - Consumer Driven Buying Frenzies. Everybody has swallowed the marketing hype put out by retailers (or anybody who wants you to spend your money on their products), so a simple trip to the supermarket becomes a battle past every other shop overflowing with people wanting to buy their relatives' affection.

5 - Religious Intolerance. Yes folks, Christmas is all about intolerance. If you don't celebrate Christmas, you're weird. Try telling somebody you don't believe in Christmas, see if you can count the miliseconds before they say "That's weird," or "Why not?" or "Dude, that's so screwed up, you won't get any presents".

The only reason I've done Christmas at all since I got old enough to choose is to keep my family happy. They're not religious, but they're traditionalists. Christmas is a time for family. It's other people's expectations that keeps me perpetuating a ritual I feel no association with. I wonder how many others out there feel the same? We should start an anti-Christmas society, banding together so as not to disappoint each other by not buying each other gifts or sending cards.

Sadly it's too late to start boycotting Christmas this year. I've already bought several people's gifts. But next year... oh boy, bring on next year.