Okay.  I admit it. I’m a Grinch when the holidays begin. But not for the reasons that you might suspect. I’m a Grinch for two reasons:

First off – Capitalism has absolutely ruined what should be a very joyous celebration, second only to our Lord’s glorious and life-giving Resurrection which defeated death and brought life to all mankind. Somewhere behind the din of advertising, the screaming announcers pounding the airwaves to make us buy more junk than we need, the urges to excess in everything from Christmas revels to drinking ourselves silly at parties, and the general tone of the whole season, I think I heard a baby in a manger crying.  Faintly. Very faintly. We are supposed to be celebrating His birth – the Incarnation of God on earth – remember?

Some of the ads on television are absolutely despicable. I’m thinking especially about the car ads. One that sticks out in my mind from a couple of years ago showed a family happily motoring down their driveway on individual Segway scooters. You know, the little two-wheeled personal transportation devices on which mall cops pursue their beat. Well, as it happens in the commercial, a brand new car (Buick, I think) slowly drives down the road, passing the family on their new Segways as their faces turn from joy to disappointment that they didn’t get a new car for Christmas.

This year’s Lexus ads are just as nauseating. You must have seen one of them by now. They begin by showing a young child discovering a brand new Lexus in the driveway and  going in to spasms of dancing joy over the car. As the dancing and merry-making continue, the shot changes and the child is now an adult. The subtle hint is that the little child in all of us who looks forward to presents at Christmas will be so happy to get a new Lexus this year.

This is Capitalism at its finest, psychologically manipulating us to believe that happiness comes from owning stuff. The subtle inference is that if you don’t get a new car, or a 72″ plasma TV, or boatloads of junk, as the equally obnoxious Wal-Mart ads show, you have been cheated and joy will not be yours this Christmas.

It makes me want to puke!

The second reason I hate this time of year is the hypocritical way in which people will peel off a little bit of the riches they have and toss a bit of it towards the poor. And I have every right to feel this way because many, many years ago, my wife and I were among the poor. We lived paycheck to paycheck and still kept falling behind. I tried everything I could think of to pull us out of the hole, but our bills were always a couple of months behind. We just couldn’t catch up.

Once a year on Thanksgiving and Christmas, we would receive a nice box of food, including a large turkey, from our neighbor a couple of doors down. She knew of our plight, and being a leading member of the local Methodist church, she got us included in the yearly giving for those in need. We certainly appreciated the kindness offered to us. It was money we didn’t have to spend on Christmas dinner that could be transferred to the electric bill.

But the needs we had didn’t disappear after Christmas was over.

Now if you are one of the people who consistently cares for the poor in some manner throughout the year, what I am ranting about doesn’t apply to you. It applies to those folks who have plenty of money in the bank, a solid job, and all the perks of the good life, but who once a year give a little to the Salvation Army or donate a food bag at their parish and go away feeling that they have “done their part.”

Uh uh. No.

The poor have needs that don’t quit. But worse than that, the same people who  maybe drop a few dollars in the Salvation Army bucket will turn around after the holiday is over and absolutely grind the poor into the ground. I’m thinking of bank CEO’s who have established draconian punishments for over-drafting on one’s checkbook. The poor live so close to the margins that it is almost impossible for them not to do this. Banks, in turn, are all to happy to take out large penalty fees from a person who doesn’t have two cents to rub together. And this right after spending Christmas telling us how much they do for their community and how well their bank treats people and the neighborhood. Actions speak louder than words. This is just one example of screeching hypocrisy.

In fact, the reality is that being poor is simply too expensive.

Being poor is also tough when your children are being psychologically manipulated on television to think that the more presents you get for them, the more you love them. Children don’t understand that Mommy and Daddy are two months behind in the rent because Tommy had to have his tonsils out last month and the rotten insurance from the government didn’t pay for it all, so Daddy is paying monthly on the hospital bill. Or perhaps it was that the car needed four new tires. The car that Daddy must have to get to work so the family can keep a roof over their head. With the poor, it’s always something going wrong at precisely the wrong time. Actually, there never is a good time when you are paycheck to paycheck. You pray that nothing goes wrong, and when it does, you start looking for part-time weekend work to make up the shortfall.

I’m not going to continue to rant on, although I could easily do so for pages and pages. The poor need us more than just once a year. They need to be treated with dignity and respect more than just at Christmas.

So go….enjoy your holiday. Go to church, sing the carols, feast with your friends, and partake of the joy of the season. But if you really want that joy to last, if you really want to put meaning into Christmas, find someway to give yourself throughout the year to someone who is in need. If you are a Catholic man, join the Knights of Columbus. You will get ample opportunity to do corporal works of mercy as a Knight. Volunteer at a food bank. Build a house with Habitat. There are so many ways to give of your time and talent. You are needed. Don’t let Christmas be the only season of your giving.

And you know, in reflecting on this piece after I wrote the first draft,  I realized that I’m not really a Grinch. I don’t really hate Christmas. The fact is that I love Christmas, and it is because of the love for what Christmas truly is, and how it truly should be celebrated, that I write this piece to express my displeasure over how we human beings have mangled it into something unrecognizable.