'Tis the Season to be Broke

The year is almost over and today will be my last working day for 2005. My thoughts on Christmas revolve largely around the crass commercialism of a supposedly holy season, celebrating the birth of, who else, but THE MAN, I mean, GOD HIMSELF, Jesus Christ.
Okay, you can horsewhip the darn capitalists (the communists will love this!) for hijacking and corrupting the solemnity of the season, but their nefarious trade would never thrive without throngs of one-day millionaires (the ones with 13th-month bonuses) patronizing their shops, emptying their shelves of all imaginable things that are offered at bargain prices. The countless year-end sales promotions only represent the unabated consumerism of the yuletide season. Throw in the endless rounds of parties that could fill a person's social calendar, and you can say that December is the month for hedonists.
I may sound like a reincarnation of Scrooge, but is it not abhorrent for people to treat Christmas as the reason to go broke in the guise of generosity? I mean there are eleven months of the year when you can partake of your blessings with your friends and kin, so why wait for the last month to be selfless? Is not not weird for somebody who has been so self-centered from January 1st to December 24th to sudden reverse course and be altruistic on the 25th of December and then revert to his old selfish nature the next day? A Christmas Day miracle? A recently converted Scrooge? Maybe. Maybe not.
I just wish that people would not wait for Christmas to be benevolent when they have been malevolent creatures before the yuletide.