Christmas....or not

It's Christmas, Yuletide, The 12 Days, Xmas, Hanukkah, the time of carols, Draidels if your Jewish, Yule logs, cards, neighbours trying to out-do each other with there garish lights and bloated Santa and reindeer effigies, stockings and if your bad then a lump of coal in a sock, it's a time to give/receive gifts and engage in conversation with family you never ever talk to and act like you get on, it's a time for celebration if your religious, and if your not like me then it starts to lose its power as you get older, gone are the times when I used to wake up 5 hours too early and drag my stocking (which was bigger than me) into my parents room and sit on their bed between them and open all the individually wrapped presents, gone is that 'christmassy' feeling people talk about. For me, christmas is just another day now, and that's not me being a scrooge, I just feel that each year it becomes sooner and sooner, they started advertising christmas in the supermarkets in september this year....SEPTEMBER! Now it's a constant battle to buy presents that at this present moment in time noone can afford due to the economical crisis. Everyone wants laptops, Playstation 3's, expensive label clothing, Christmas becomes almost a segregator of the Rich and Poor, noone likes to feel that they can't give equal to what someone has given them gift-wise, and there is nothing worse than seeing or hearing what everyone is buying their friends and family for christmas yet it only seems that it's you that can't afford stuff or you thats having to 'tighten' the proverbial belt for a few weeks. What happened to christmas being enjoyable and not worrying what gift you receive or give, and not worrying about stresses or worries that have been at the forefront of your mind all year round? What happened to being happy that your simply ALIVE. Im lucky to have the friends I have, im lucky to have my only 2 members of immediate family my Mum and Dad
 These are the blessings im counting this year, these are my gifts, and im damn proud of them.