Several years ago my parents sat my brother and I down and explained that the Ruiz family would no longer partake in christmas traditions. No more tree, no presents, no lights, tinsel or other meaningless things would fill our home come december. My first reaction as a spoiled american kid was that my parents were cheap and I was angry. Truth be told my parents were poor and axing the christmas crap was mostly a financial decision that doubled as a life lesson.

The first couple of non-christmases I felt slighted and I let my parents know. In conversations with my mom she challenged me to find reasons why we should celebrate christmas. I gave it alot of thought and I'd come to her with reasons like "its good to give". She'd snap back with an objection like "so give, give with meaning, give all year long, but don't give for the sake of giving and certainly not with the expectation of recieving". She was right. The energy surrounding Christmas wasn't the spirit of giving but the burden and urgency of buying gifts.

In my adult life I have made the choice not to parttake in this consumer driven holiday. But explaining to people that I don't celebrate christmas is like telling people I like to eat babies for lunch. They gasp, whisper behind my back, call me names. Call me Scrooge but when you're wasting time in the return line returning the scratchy sweater aunt Sue sent you I'll be busy appreciating my next breath.