milktree

This is exactly why I'm such a grouch around Christmas.

http://www.monbiot.com/2012/12/10/the-gift-of-death/

I love the parties, and the food, and the smells, and the seeing people and the getting together and the decoration (although I suck at actually doing it myself); but all the "you need to buy something" and the intellectually dishonest "it's the thought that counts" drives me batshit crazy and stresses me out.

What's really telling about it is how the list of real, actual crap that actually exists and is manufactured, sold, bought, and given away is not so far from the list of crazy stupid absurd things invented for this 2002 Car and Driver review of the Cadillac Escalade EXT:

Cadillac's brand manager says, "Cadillac research showed that there was a real need for the EXT." A real need for a Cadillac pickup? Really? If so, then here are a few things that I really need: An air-conditioned front yard. Iguana-skin patio furniture. Stigmata. Mint-flavored Drano. Gold-plated roof gutters. A 190-hp MerCruiser SaladShooter. A dog with a collapsible tail. An office desk that converts into a Hovercraft. Chrome slacks. A lifetime subscription to Extreme Fidgeting. A third arm. A fourth wife. A smokeless Cuban Robusto. Reusable Kleenex.

The full review can be found here:
www.devtools.org/mt/rus/archives/000447.html