What I hate about Christmas

I love Christmas - the celebration of the birth of the Christ child, the feeling of goodwill towards others and the usual exchange of gifts plus hanging out with loved ones all the livelong day.  Christmas is traditionally the second day of the year where I extend my social skills by going beyond my usual 'eye-brow raise' greeting to actually uttering a sincere "Merry Christmas!" to our neighbours (whether they celebrate Christmas or not is another matter since I don't really know them). The first day of the year that I actually speak to the neighbours is 'New Year's Day'. I quite like getting the neighbourly annual exchanges out of the way within a week - pretty good timing having Christmas and New Year's so close together.

So, what do I hate about Christmas? Well, call me an anti-social bah-humbugger if you will but I dread the customary hugs and kisses that seem to be part of every 'Merry Christmas' greeting that you get in person.  If you're getting a 'Manuia le Kerisimasi' it's even worse as you can imagine at a typical Samoan Christmas family function, we are talking at least 30 people in the house ready to give or receive smoochie-hugs (yes, I made that term up thank you very much).

Let me make this quite clear, I love getting smoochie hugs from my babies and the husband (of course) and a brief peck on the cheek from parents and siblings is fine.  It's when you have uncles from your great grandmother's father's aunty's cousin-in-law's ex-husband's village in the house giving you their cheek or approaching you with lips in smoochy-pecky position that just stops me dead in my tracks.  I either end up giving them my cheek so instead of giving or receiving a peck on the cheek, we just end up cheek-ing each other. Awkward!  Nowadays, I tend to offer my hand and give people a 'Merry Christmas' handshake, pat on the back, nudge, shove etc... - the less contact the better.

Now that I have got that off my chest, please don't be offended if, when I meet you for the very first time or meet up with you for the first time in twenty odd years and simply greet you with an eye-brow raise or a very firm handshake and/or  pat on the shoulder. Just know that unless I am married to you, gave birth to you, vice-versa or unless we share the same parents - don't expect any smoochie-hugs from me anytime soon.  What don't you like about Christmas traditions or just Christmas time in general?