Last year for just about the first time as a grown-and-past woman I didn't resist Christmas. I didn't feel as strongly about it as did jOhn way back there in '03 but the whole season felt artificial and shallow to me; I didn't like the incessant music in the stores and the ho ho hos everywhere or the fact that it began practically in October. I didn't like giving or getting gifts because it was expected.

Then last year I recognized that it wasn't going to change and that the problem was in me.