Christmas
Christmas is great. People leave behind their boring grey lives for a while, and do something different.
Christmas decorations are a great example. Most homes are fashionably sylish (and therefore dull), with shiny surfaces and monochrome walls. But for one month of the year, people add a little fun, a little colour, a little texture into their homes, with baubles, and tinsel.
The food is also something to look forward to, even now that I'm a veggie - piles of roast veg is a treat. And we all wear stupid hats, and tell mostly lame joke, but its still fun!
So why bang on about how good Christmas is? Because I wanted to be positive, and not be accused of being a humbug when I say "I don't want any Christmas presents". So here goes, I'm about to say it :
I don't want any Christmas presents.
There are aspects of present giving which are good. For example, the exchanging of gifts can strengthen relationships. Also some people enjoy buying presents, and why prevent somebody from getting enjoyment? I should argue that this is a character flaw that needs sorting out, but I won't! Instead, I'll just hint that there are lots of people in the world that would benefit from a gift more than I would.
Perhaps this year, perhaps next, I may have the bottle to be true to my own ideas about gifts. I don't care about fairness, I hate waste and I don't like to follow convensions that serve no purpose other than the continuation of that convension. I don't like the over commercialisation of Christmas, and in fact, I don't like commercialisation at all (which is why I have stopped watching TV adverts, web adverts, and wish I could rid our streets of adverts too).
So I should not look in shops, magazines or on-line for gift ideas. If I happen to think of something that I know somebody needs or will enjoy, I'll buy it for them. I won't try to think of something though. So for the most part, I won't buy anybody anything.