Only two weeks to go, but nevertheless the worst two weeks of the year. Peace and goodwill to all men ? Don't make me laugh. Not out on the High Street it's not. Out there the human sheep are giving succour to the the capitalist beast in a display of selfish, atavistic consumerist consumption. And why ? Well, to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus, of course.
Don't make me laugh. Mr. Christ himself (if he hadn't been dead for 2,000 years) would probably be watching it all wearing a "not in my name" t-shirt. And he'd have a point. After all, you can bet your last selection box those fighting over the turkey in M&S haven't been to church since they were kids.
The people who wonder if they have bought everyone enough Christmas presents are the same ones who rail against religion as the cause of war and human misery, who decry priests as paedophiles and mock those who believe in the teaching of the Bible. Hello ! Christmas is a religious festival, folks. No wonder the Christians are embarrassed by it all.
They're not the only ones made sick by the perversity and hypocrisy of it all. But the pressure to conform is often too great for those who realise what a sham it is to celebrate Christmas and not be a Christian. How can we not join in ? Think about the kids with no presents. What would the family and friends make of it all ?
Well, I bring such people good news. I have never in my adult life sent a Christmas card or felt as though I needed to give a present. I tell family and friends that they will receive no greeting or gift from me because I do not celebrate anything I don't believe in.
And their reaction to this is ? "OK, fine. We see your point." No adult has ever blackballed me for refusing to recognise them or their children in what is considered to be the appropriate way. No child I know has thought less of me because I haven't added to their mountain of gifts from Santa's sleigh.
It's as easy as that. If you don't see the point, if you think it's costing too much money, and especially if you can't afford it , just give up Christmas.
Plenty of other societies have done it. In the Soviet Union, where atheism was state policy, they didn't have Christmas. But everyone recognised that in the middle of winter the weather was shit and people felt a bit down in the dumps. So, the week before New Year (which, by the way, really is worth celebrating) people got time off , the kids got sweets and small presents, the grown-ups got booze and they had an official Winter Festival. No Wise Men, no manger, no baby, just a bit of a knees up.
And, you know, what's wrong with that ? So let's do it. Cut the spending on presents, forget the turkey, get rid of the pointless cards. Let's stop prentending and take the Christ out of Christmas. We'd be doing ourselves a favour and the true believers in the story of the birth of the infant Jesus could get their festival back too, although they'd probably have to move it to a different date !
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