I know that right now there is a kerfuffle against the plain red Starbucks cups. It seems like it is this year’s battle in the never ending “war against Christmas.”
Well, I’m in China, so who cares? In this Communist, developing country, Christmas is far, far away from me. Right?!
Nope. It’s followed me even here. The day after Halloween, every place was decked out including Starbucks. (While westerners were still sipping their pumpkin flavored stuff, we were already dealing with Christmas flavors.) I’ve talked many times about how burnt out I got with Christmas back in America, and how I am happy to not be dealing with the holiday frenzy anymore. This will be my 7th year being away during Christmas and actually I don’t really care.
What I do care about it being harassed by the holiday here when it isn’t even celebrated. It’s like I now get all the annoying parts of the holiday (the shopping, the advertisements, the constant Christmas music) without any of the good stuff (the holiday cheer, the extra smiles on people’s faces, the big meals and deliveries of homemade cookies). In fact in someways it is even worse because being foreign, people want me to be included in more things to give it a “real Christmas feeling” (Actual words people have said to me to get me to go to their parties or meetings.)
It didn’t used to be like this. Just a few years ago, Christmas was a vague idea and decorations were left up year round. No more, now it’s not only well-known and popular, but growing and growing. If China’s no longer safe, where can I move to get away from it all?!
Bah Humbug!
Leave a Reply