"Avarice. The avarice never ends!"

"I want golf clubs, I want diamonds, I want a pony so I can ride it twice, get bored, and sell it to make glue!!"

i wanted to hug Jim Carey when i first saw that movie.

is it just me, or has Christmas nowadays become less about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and more about materialism? 'cause it seems that way to me.

i know i'm hardly the most religious person around, but this trend really pisses me off. it just serves to reinforce my suspicion that the good in human kind is slowly leeching out of society.

i long ago gave up the cherished, naïve assumption that everyone in the world is kind and selfless and compassionate. i long ago formed the opinion that a lot of the people in this world are greedy, self-centered, and maybe, just maybe, don't give a shit.

so even though this trend comes as no surprise to me, it still rubs salt in the wound, because i truly want to believe that humanity as a whole still retains some shred of... well, humanity. so it makes me sad and no little bit angry that people would do this.

here's my deal: even though i'm not very religious, i still respect religion and all it does to help people's lives, and some aspects i do admire. so when something like this - like Christmas becoming nothing more than a chance for the rich company owners to suck more money up into their bank accounts to sit on and hoarde like a sleepy dragon - happens, it doesn't sit well with me.

maybe i'm just being idyllic and naïve still, expecting people's virtues to overcome their vices, but when i was a little kid and i was taught what Christmas meant, they never mentioned extravagant decorations and piles of expensive gifts and people getting trampled to death in front of a Walmart. so what i hear and what i see aren't matching up.

here's the gist of a quote from Sra. Depew from when i took Spanish from her: "your actions are so loud that I can't hear your words."

the morals of all those beloved Christmas stories are being drowned out by the screaming, wailing avarice all around me. i can't hear it anymore.

so that's why, for the past few weeks, i've decided that i very nearly hate Christmas. the charm it held for me when i was little has faded, and now all i see is greed. it's frankly a bit sickening. that's why i've become such a Scrooge. it's not because i don't believe in Christmas -- exactly the opposite. i still believe in it, when most of the world has forgotten what it really means.

i will hold on to those stories i learned as a child. i will hold in my heart the true meaning of Christmas, in spite of the rest of the world and their avarice and greed.

i don't need gifts. i don't need a tree. i don't need any of that. all i need to enjoy Christmas are things i already have for myself - my family, my friends. and the true meaning of Christmas.