smiles, everyone, smiles

This is a hard time of year for many of us.  We are rushed and forced all over the place.  Pressured and prodded, pushed and bullied.  The other way to describe it is Christmas in America.  Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. And we will teach you how to spend every last cent of discretionary income on useless items.  We will pressure you from late August right up to the end and even after the holiday; we just call it a season now.  I don't have all that much to say about this besides I have been fortunate enough to avoid this disgust for the last two years and have been reaping the peace.  I am not about to tell you don't consume.  Just don't expect me to, at least not right now. 
To be honest, this confuses me a bit (what doesn't?).  I love to consume.  I am not attached to stuff (sure) but I like stuff.  I like looking at stuff, using stuff, eating stuff.  I guess what I don't like about this whole thing is the idea that I am forced to buy something, anything for everybody that I care about and even some that I don't due to social pressures.  that is where my issue resides.  Fuck what do I know what makes people happy.