First of all, Asians who are non-Christians never do Christmas. It has no religious links with us since young and it serves no spiritual or emotional benefits for us. So what do we do when the month of December approaches? We deck all shopping malls with lights and blast carols everywhere and pretend to get all warm and fuzzy for the season. Gosh, we are this close to pretending that it is snowing in sunny Singapore.

Next, Christmas just became another excuse to buy stuff. I do not oppose to splurging on something nice on oneself or your loved ones with the year-end bonus. But what's with the office gift exchange shit? I am going to have my first one this year and I think I will dread this activity for the rest of my working life. Well, what's more silly than spending $20 on a gift that is for someone that I do not have intention of gifting to and getting something that I think the person might need but I don't know because I don not know the person well enough. I'll just end up buying something really general and getting something even more general in return. It's at its worst when the rule of the game is to get something fitting for both genders for a random gift exchange, then I'll see the standard list of mugs, Body Shop gift set, photo frames, notebooks, book holders and what not. What's more, no one will say no to this activity because it promotes team bonding and you'll be labelled a wet blanket for doing so. Why can't it work like CNY? During CNY, people give ang paos to ppl whom they really want to give to. You don't see colleagues who are married giving ang paos to those who are single, do you? In the case of Christmas, it's just replacing cash with gifts. Maybe it's just me. When I go overseas, I do not get souvenirs for anyone because I know I'll end up wasting money on cheap, useless magnets, mugs and yucky sweets. I'll only buy things for my family and close friends because I know the gift fits them and they will use it, and I don expect my friends and colleagues to spend money on tacky souvenirs too. I'm clearly not stingy, I just believe in gifting someone whom I really want to give something to, I mean, isn't that what buying a present is all about?!

And then there's the random Christmas songs on the radio trying to eject some "warmth and fuzziness" into the radio waves. I do not appreciate the interruption to the normal music with songs, of which lyrics depict snow and sieges which we'll never see in smoking hawt Singapore.