Can't we just stick to the standard 12 days of Christmas? (which, by the way, begins with Christmas, and finishes with the epiphany feast on January 6th) and isn't the roughly two weeks before that retailers had already hijacked with bastardizations of the source material.

Is anyone else sick of the desperation in large corporations trying to stay relevant?

Or the local mechanic offering "50% off brake-pads for Christmas!" (seriously, if you buy 'practical' gifts like vital vehicular safety necessities that really shouldn't be delayed until the mechanic is having a sale, they best be addressed to 'The Car' and not someone you care to impress).



Don't get me wrong, I'll still celebrate Christmas with my wife (at least the New Zealand version that's less religiousy and more presenty). She'll probably cook a feast that we'll harvest the leftovers from until New Year's Day - because she enjoys cooking and nothing to do with the perceived need to eat more food than some communities see in an entire year that also comes with the season. We'll exchange gifts and watch traditional festive movies like Die Hard. Hell, I might even enjoy it – my biggest thrill of the season is finding epic gifts, even if my dearest wife never remembers what I get her (which isn't an indication that they're inferior gifts, last year was a complete monopoly set from the 30s – the earliest I could find).

But even still, I refuse to even acknowledge the existence of Christmas until December, usually around the time my opinion is rendered irrelevant and a blinking beacon of lights bright enough to hail the next galaxy over appears in the living room. I don't think it's unreasonable to reply to "What are your plans for Christmas?" with a sharp "It's August, I don't know what I'm doing next week" (an actual exchange that occurred this year).