No Christmas, from now on

Christmas crackers are ready to burst again, while many people gather with their friends and relatives. The traditional roast turkey, followed by Christmas pudding, will make a day coming up every year for the joy of the many cashing in on a large Christmas business throughout the city. A painful scenario, with the sacrifice of lambs, porks and turkeys to the advantage of the table. A sumptuous banquet that has little to do with Jesus, whose birth is likely to date back to an epoch between 7 and 4 B.C. (before himself! see the farcical element in their calendar) in September. Nonetheless, we've kept celebrating a false memorial every 25th day of December. And the most-anticipated feast of the year flavors the air since late November, when most people begin to plan their Christmas days while the whole community takes even 13 or 14 days off. Days that have never been a life-changing event, lost as they are in remote airports or tropical resorts. If you decide to stay in, what do they tell you? See you after the holidays, namely not before the sixth or the seventh of January. Yes, because there will be another feast celebrating the divine nature of Jesus called Epiphany on January 6. So it is like a two-week festival, beginning from December 23, that causes a huge waste of money and time. Would you like to have your TV repaired within a reasonable date? No hopes, they will return it to you by mid-January. A botton to be stitched? Not before the Epiphany, our workshop will be closed from tomorrow. The New Year will be rushing towards us and there's nothing we can do to stop it. But the worst nightmare comes before, when we're told that the thing cannot be done until the (legal) holidays are over. No one has a clue what they're doing, after the sense of it all began escaping them. We'll keep purchasing plenty of gifts without having an idea of the reason why we're doing it around the 25th day of December. They seem to lack motivation. What will happen this year that didn't happen last year? Nothing. Yet we used to look forward to Christmas, not considering that our recovering from our hangovers in the first decade of January would be as counteracting as any damage made to our body.

When it comes to entertainment, there's even a large array of Christmas books in the city's bookstores. Instead of having a new teddy bear for the kids, there's a recent mania of looking for a book that may attract them. Possibly an educational one, out of the usual Harry Potter-like adventure. There must be even a toy for adults (so they think) when they linger before the windows in search for something unusual, among the hi-tech devices or the most sought-after household appliances. There's not a better Christmas gift than promoting this Web site among your friends. Tell a friend of yours that one from Italy decided there's no Christmas this year, because the prophet whose birth they used to celebrate is out-of-date. He wasn't the starting point of a new race. Tell them this alleged wonder simply didn't add up. Then point out that it was said once and for all on the Web. It'll be the best Christmas gift. No money at all.

No turkeys, no lambs, no lies.

This page was published on December 3, 2004 just to recall you there shouldn't be any Christmas from now on