twiddle thumbs promised her sister she would help decorate her tree/home. what the hell, i'll pitch in too. things changed and we helped decorate her parents' tree instead. the tree is up so it's official, christmas time is here. i hate this time of the year because of all the terrible christmas music being played in stores. i really hate it when stores stock stuff for holidays that are months away--some stores have christmas items stocks in october. i also dislike christmas for the vast commercialization and assimilation of it. also, the paganism mixed in with christianity pisses me off in general because technically the christians are not supposed to follow customs of the heathens. there is something to be said about seventh day adventists as they stand apart for various reasons among their christian peers.

the other aspect that bothers me about christmas: why do we nationally recognize christmas and not other holidays with religious ties? pisses me off. the shopping malls are only closed on easter, thanksgiving, and christmas. thanksgiving is a national holiday. it's an american day. to be closed on that day makes sense. for a country where church and state are separate, it does not make sense to shut down government on christmas. i know malls are not tied to government, but their hours are a good indication of what a country is like. the post office and our monetary system may not technically be a direct tie but they are related to the government and those operations do not exist for the public on christmas though there may be some poor sap who has to work behind the scenes.