The name is Scrooge

I was travelling home from camp this afternoon when it just hit me: I have absolutely no vested interest in celebrating Christmas at all. I'm glad to have a public holiday and all, but honestly I feel that Christmas has no relation to me whatsoever. Of course, some of you might retort with the whole "season of giving" and "a time to get together" routine, but to me Christmas is just a husk standing where a man once stood. Take a look around you: be it in shopping centres, on TV screens or even at home, charity is the last thing on the layman's mind. No, the modern Christmas is simply a hollow excuse for businesses to sell and consumers to buy. Perhaps there are still some people who truly make an effort to be extra nice during this time of year, and I applaud them for their unwavering faith in the Christmas spirit, but their angelic voices of hope are being drowned out by a chorus of cacophony courtesy of every advertisement plugging their last-minute yuletide sale and every bratty kid who refuses to settle for his/her iPod if it's not in the right colour.

It's the end of the year, but my troubles have only just begun.