This article is classified "Real"
Christmas: the time of year where people shall come together in celebration
and happiness. This is, alas, fiction. If it were ever true, it has been
consigned to the chronicles of history. Unfortunately the festive season,
with its new market-orientated mentality, has turned normally sane [1]
people into animals.
During the course of every day life, you can define a breaking point - that
is, a point before where everything is, to all intents and purposes, fine
and dandy, and after which, to the exclusion of all else, is hell. It has
been observed that this point is significantly lowered in the average human
being, during this period of the year.
Whereas, once, you might find someone with a happy smile, holding open the
door to you, you are now more likely to find some mean expression bidding
farewell to a door, which is in turn bidding welcome to the bridge of your
nose in quite spectacular fashion. It is because of this that Christmas is
now known to some as a painful time.
It is perhaps because of the increased stress of life in general, combined
with the added stress of the number of other equally stressed people rushing
around doing what they have to do, in turn combined with the fact that there
just aren't enough hours in the day anyway, and why can't everyone else
realise that. Except they do, and wonder why you don't. Except you do, and
so on...
The best advice, if you want to avoid the wrath of others for no apparent
reason, is to hide in a box, under a table, or stay locked away in a room
somewhere, for the month of December. Alternatively, you might seek to
strive for a better society by coaxing people into a nicer merrier way of
life. It is probably a good idea, if you chose the latter, to wear
protective clothing and/or a tank [2].
[1] This is debatable. See any article about people for details.
[2] Or even a tank top, which might reduce your colleagues to fits of
laughter.