Why I don't like Christmas

Today is 24th December and Christmas Eve (or "Holy Evening" as it is called in Germany) is the main time of the festive season in this country. It is afternoon, the shops have closed, the world is becoming quiet - and I want to think about why I don't like Christmas. Well, not Christmas in general, but what has become of it.

The first time that it dawned on me that modern Christmas is not really about the child in the manger and the message of hope and love he stands for, but about consumerism, was when I was 14. I tried to boycott the meaningless show, but, of course, my mother would not let me. However, it grieves me to see that the situation has not become better during the past decades, but worse. The image of Christmas that I see nowadays in the media and the stores is one that makes me sick. Really.

Christmas in the shops seems to start directly after Easter. Or the summer holidays. November is a month with days when in churches we remember those that have died - sometimes the Christmas tinsel and glitter is kept in the cupboards until the last one of these Sundays, but then it hits you with a vengeance. Christmas decoration is big, glittery, loud and screaming into your soul. Everything, from fur coats to toilet paper is turned into a Christmas present. Prices go up. Getting a present is turning into some kind of Olympic Games: more, bigger, more expensive than the one you got last year. A real gift, one that means you have spent time and thoughts on ? Forget it, we must rush on.

Music - where are the traditional Christmas carols ? This year I have heard not a single German carol anywhere in public. Radio and TV play "pop" songs that are mostly American. White Christmas. Jingle Bells. Winter Wonder Land. Little Drummer Boy . I have nothing against American songs, not even against these ones. But do they reflect the true meaning of Christmas? My ears are getting sick, too.

Decorations of houses and homes - they can turn into a nightmarish rush and competition, too. Up to about 15 years ago, lighting the outside of houses was done sparsely here. I liked the lights in the darkness. Nowadays there is no darkness any more and the symbolic meaning of the light has disappeared.

The highlight of modern Christmas is the advert of a well-known brown soft drink. A dark winter night is illuminated by a truck and a vending machine and people say with hopeful eyes: "It is Christmas." It has gotten to a point that my young students claim that Santa comes in this truck these days. One day we will go to the manger and pray to the Holy Bottle ?!?!?!

This modern Christmas is so phony, so false, although it may reflect a desire for happiness, peace and love. But we won't find it this way, even if the decorations and presents become bigger and bigger.

The true Christmas is not glittery and cosy. It is about a young couple who find no room to give birth to their child. It is about the child that grows into a man who preaches a message that is not comfortable at all. If you take it seriously, you must open your eyes and do your bit against injustice in the world, against the destruction of our planet, against poverty, racism, and intolerance.

I am not a theologian, but I am a Christian and I am longing for an honest Christmas. One that does not ignore the misery, but can be celebrated in the happy realization that at Christmas our God came to us to share our sadness and despair.

Of course, the "honest" Christmas spirit can be found at the most unexpected places and definitely also with people who don't share my religion. I know , because I have met them. Or because God sent them my way !?!