In a message dated 12/29/01 1:18:48 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< the truth is (and aren't we supposed to admit the truth, or something like
that?) I hate christmas. >>
Dear Mary,
I wish I had the option here of choosing a much larger font size to say this:
ME TOO!
When I think of my childhood Christmases, the memories all have yellow and
black CRIME SCENE tapes around them.
Idyllic stories such as Mark's remembrances of Christmas with his family at
his grandparents' house are as foreign to me as tales from a Mongolian ger.
What I remember mostly is a lot of tension and yelling.
I learned that the whole Santa Claus bit was a lie from my first-grade pal,
Brian Mac Isaac, while waiting in line to talk to Santa. I was six years old
and heartbroken. Besides souring Christmas forever, the news made me
permanently skeptical of authority.
Yet even the most well-meaning parents continue to deceive their children
with the Santa lie to this day, setting their poor little hearts up for major
disappointment at some later date.
A holiday that should be so simple -- a celebration of the birth of a poor
little boy who would grow up to change the world with his message of faith,
love and peace -- has turned into a greedy free-for-all for children and
adults alike.
I have tried my entire life to enjoy Christmas, but I don't. I really have
given it my best shot year after year, but it is difficult for me to love
anything that is so full of lies and good intentions gone bad.
And to add further insult to injury, anyone who feels the way we do about
Christmas, Mary, is forced every year to remain silent throughout the entire
glorious frigging season out of fear of being labeled a Grinch or a Scrooge.
I am so glad it's all over because now I can say what I have been holding in
since Halloween: CHRISTMAS SUCKS!
--Bob
