A lot of kids get butterflies in their stomachs the night before Christmas. They’ll stay up, unable to sleep from excitement, and maybe even try to catch Santa Claus. I was one of those kids, but my holiday insomnia was not linked to excitement, but to dread and anxiety about Christmas Day.
I can’t stand Christmas; I don’t even like the holiday season in general. Simply put, I am a grinch through and through.
I come from a Christian family, so I understand the importance of the holiday: the backstory, the traditions and a church play every year, where I always got cast as a shepherd with no speaking lines (shout out to Shepherd No. 2).
I’m aware that this holiday to some people represents more than just gifts and spending money, that family and the “holiday spirit” are what’s really important. It was ingrained into my mind every year with “It’s Christmas, Charlie Brown” or participating in Operation Christmas Child.
I even like some aspects of it: family, charity and being grateful for the small things.
But that idea of, “It’s the thought that counts” and holiday kindness is gone, and it’s not coming back anytime soon.
Every year, the holiday season arrives with a flood of decorations, carols and forced cheer. It’s branded as “the most wonderful time of the year,” but for many people, including myself, it’s actually the worst. Beneath the glitter and lights, the holidays often bring stress, financial strain and emotional exhaustion.
The pressure to create perfect memories can be overwhelming. From buying the right gifts to hosting family gatherings, people are expected to meet unrealistic standards of joy and generosity. 
For those struggling financially, this time of year magnifies inequality and debt. The commercialization of Christmas turns what should be a season of connection into a competition of consumerism.
By far the biggest issue that most people have around holidays, but specifically the holiday season, is materialism.
The shopping season seems to start earlier. Halloween candy isn’t cleared from stores before Christmas decorations appear. From my point of view, every year, it seems people have a certain bar that needs to be passed to be happy with what they receive as gifts.
We have become accustomed to commercials where a husband surprises his wife with a new car topped with a giant red bow, or children run down the stairs to mountains of gifts, and maybe even a puppy to make it feel wholesome and joyful.
The thought in “it’s the thought that counts” is tens of thousands of dollars and a car payment, along with over-the-top jewelry and maybe a small fortune made up completely of toys.
Commercials and marketing campaigns sell good times and make you equate gift-giving with love and care for people in your life. Instead, these advertisements sell an illusion of holiday cheer.
This is not just a symptom or a small part of the holidays. Greed has seeped into every aspect of how we go about the holidays.
We’ve created a specific day where people can indulge their shopping thirsts. The day after Thanksgiving, the holiday that centers community and family, is Black Friday: a day literally dedicated to buying, which, in my opinion, centers on greed and corporations.
As reported in 2024, two out of three shoppers said they overspent on Black Friday, and one in four shoppers took on new or additional credit card debt just to fund their shopping excursions.
It’s so ingrained into pop culture that we make jokes about people fighting over a discounted jacket or old ladies bickering with the staff at the store to get a better deal. Black Friday, greed and the lack of generosity are not just things that certain people do; it’s the status quo for the holidays.
The holidays bring out the worst in every individual. The stress the holidays bring, mixed with the anxiety of money and family pressures, is enough to destroy anyone’s peace of mind.
However, I think it would be wrong to just critique what’s wrong with modern-day advertising for the holidays. We’ve let greed corrupt the most basic of meanings for what this time of year should really be about: giving.
The purpose of the third-century tale about Saint Nicholas, who would later become Santa Claus, is about kindness and unconditional generosity. I would argue that Santa is the most iconic figure of Christmas, so why have we changed the meaning of him?
We’ve taken the story of a man giving to those less fortunate than himself, into a man who uses labor year-round to manufacture the newest gaming systems or the latest dolls. His motives are not for charity anymore; he’s driven by the simple fact that people have an expectation of receiving a gift.
According to a survey by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, for people living with mental illness, 64% say the holidays make their condition worse, and 68% report feeling financially strained during the holidays.
When that stress becomes chronic, as it often does during holiday overspending, it can lead to clinical anxiety, depression or insomnia.
At the end of the day, enjoying the holidays isn’t a bad thing if that’s what you like. But it’s clear that the holidays are just a way for people to express their worst qualities.
The meaning of Christmas is not unconditional generosity and kindness anymore, despite a few good-willed mall Santas every year trying to make a few kids smile. It’s greed, dressed as Christmas cheer; Merry Christmas, I guess.
