A time when you are insincerely generous, buy dear things hardly anyone wants, and give them to those you don't like.

The celebration of the birth of commercialism... Oh yea, and Jesus.

A celebration of humanity dating back thousands of years. It originated as a pagan celebration of the birth of the Sun, as it was celebrated on the winter equinox, and after that point, days got longer. When the Catholics/ Christians took over these pagan peoples, they replaced their holiday with their own Birth of the Son, (as in of God) to make the transition to Christianity's traditions easier. The idea of Santa Claus and his reindeer was created in the 1800s, and is loosely based on St. Nicholas, who gave random presents to people. The idea of a christmas tree dates back to German celebrations of Christmas thousands of years ago. They used an evergreen tree to symbolize life and hope in dark times, and hung apples on it. In modern times, it has again lost its religious meaning and is now used as a time of secular "joy." People spend the time with their family or friends and exchange gifts, a tradition from the Birth of Jesus. (As it is the birthday of the Lord, and people can't give Him material gifts, they exchange them with others.)

60 yr olds+ : "oh no. the family is coming over for lunch. i have to put up with their whingging and mess."
50 yr olds + :"christmas is so stressful - where am i going to come up with all the money for presents?!"
40 yr olds + (mid-life-crisis-era)+ :"christmas means big meals. it also means the time of year one adds more inches to thier middle"
30 yr olds + (starting-family-era)+ :" christmas is seeing the look of joy on my child face, christmas morning. its better to give than recieve"
from 20 yr old (lonely-depressive-bacholor-era)"christmas is all about santa who was invented by the coke-a-cola company to make millions of the stupid. christmas is a gimmick. its the one day a year i have to go to church"
teenagers (i-know-everything-era): "christmas is meant to celebrate the birth of Christ, its a catholic tradition shared all over the world, even though jesus' birthday isnt acctually on the 25th..."
young children every where: "i love christmas cos santa comes and gives me what ever i want, but its yucky waiting to open the presents. its ok coz i peek every year at them."

The date of December 25th probably originated with the ancient "birthday" of the son-god, Mithra, a pagan deity whose religious influence became widespread in the Roman Empire during the first few centuries A.D. Mithra was related to the Semitic sun-god, Shamash, and his worship spread throughout Asia to Europe where he was called Deus Sol Invictus Mithras. Rome was well-known for absorbing the pagan religions and rituals of its widespread empire. As such, Rome converted this pagan legacy to a celebration of the god, Saturn, and the rebirth of the sun god during the winter solstice period. The winter holiday became known as Saturnalia and began the week prior to December 25th. The festival was characterized by gift-giving, feasting, singing and downright debauchery, as the priests of Saturn carried wreaths of evergreen boughs in procession throughout the Roman temples.

A holiday that originally was supposed to be for the birth of Christ, but after all these years, its just nothing but commercials, sales, and stress. What does a fat guy who hauls gifts down into your lifing room, and then flies away on a sleigh have to do with Jesus Christ? Jack squat.

Christian holiday moved to conflict with the time of year when everyone everywhere (and everywhen) celebrates the winter solstice (point of Earth's orbit where, in the northern temperate zones, the sun's zenith slows its southern decent and begins moving north again = another year to live).

2. Hodgepodge of ancient and not-so-ancient rituals, including sacrificing a tree to Mother Nature, celebrating the miracle that got Nicholas his sainthood (reassembling murdered and hacked up child parts in a barrel back into children), and, oh, the birth of Jesus, a jew, and the guy that made 12 of his buddies drink his blood and eat his flesh, before he got executed and came back from the dead. (Can you say "zombie"?)

3. Day that Santa brings new socks and undies. If your bad, you get coal (to keep from freezing) and an orange (for vitamin C to prevent scurvy).