Holy shit. Christmas is a mere 4 days away. In terms of getting presents, I'm ready, but as the years go on, I've started to wonder what the point is. If the whole idea behind the holiday is to celebrate the birth and subsequent gift-giving of Jesus then why am I trudging off to Macy's and emerging laden with sweatshirts?

We all bitch about Christmas having lost it's meaning but few people (and certainly not me) dare to break free from the tradition of buying gifts this time of year. A guy I play saxophone with is very religious, when I asked him if he was ready for Christmas he said yes, that they don't do presents on Christmas, but rather, buy something if they need it and keep the Christ in Christmas.

The jury's still out on my actual religious beliefs but I'm starting to think that we're all a bunch of hypocrites (yes, of course, myself included) to be buying all these presents in celebration of a holiday that means little to most of us.

What to do instead?
I really don't know. In an ideal world, I could give the $1500 or so I've spent on gifts to my favorite dog rescue (do you know how many dogs that can feed or provide medical care for? Many). I really wanted to do that, then send cards to everyone on my list telling them that I've donated in their name. But I didn't have the balls.

Maybe because I'm stressed, maybe because it's hard to feel in the spirit when it's 60 degrees and sunny, maybe I'm just too cynical, but this year carries no holiday magic but rather the frustration of buying empty gifts for the people I love and wondering why they don't mean more.