Some of my close friends wonder why I’m such a Scrooge McDuck when it comes to the holidays.  Can you imagine why?  You walked into stores a few weeks ago, and the Xmas displays were already shoving aside the Halloween decor.  You tune in the radio, and the stations are already playing holiday songs.  And a few people are already claiming to get their shopping done before December hits.  (And in this economy, one has to ask, “With what money?”)  Putting aside the whole spiritual aspect of Xmas, it used to be a time to get together with friends and family.  True, it has been commercialized for decades (after all, Linus even said it was run by a “big eastern syndicate”), but the whole aspect of “The Holidays” has become annoyingly and helplessly obnoxious in the past dozen or so years.  Personally, I can’t wait for the holidays to pass.  This whole orgy of commercialism, rammed down our throats for more than two months straight, all over one freakin’ day out of the year, just irks me no end.  The only “true meaning of Xmas” in the 21st Century is to take us for everything we’ve got, whether the marketing is crammed down our throat, or we’re guilted into it.  No thanks!  Fast forward me to January 2008, and I’ll be happy.