A Christmas Rant...

I'm going to get something off my chest here.  Sorry to my 1 faithful reader (Hi Summer!) about the forthcoming rant...I'm just curious, but why do people have to be so doggone judgmental?  Particularly about people's Christmas traditions?  I have seen so many negative posts on facebook about the so-called ridiculous ways people choose to celebrate the season.  Why do they care?  Is it hurting them that someone else enjoys doing certain things?  I am certainly all for simplifying, and I eliminate things that don't add anything positive to my family.  But it is certainly not my place to judge if somebody else doesn't do things exactly the way I do.  Some people really enjoy decorating to the hilt because it's a great creative outlet.  (I do not suffer from this problem...)  Some people really enjoy the baking part, baking all kinds of goodies.  Again, something else I don't suffer from.  I like baking a few things, and I stop when I've had enough.  Here's the one getting my blood boiling.  Elf on the shelf.  Oh.  My.  Goodness!  I must have seen a dozen different people this week post about how awful this little tradition is.  Who cares?  If you don't like it, don't do it!  Simple as that.  You don't need to criticize those of us who do enjoy it, or make us feel like heathens for even thinking about doing it.  And if you feel pressure to have an elf because people enjoy putting up pictures of the cute ideas they come up with, that's your problem, not theirs.  We started the elf last year.  Ours is still very boring and sometimes sneaky.  Y'know, he hides in the same place twice.  (Or someone forgets to move him...)  I think all the cutesy ideas are cute, but I know that would take it too far for me.  But that doesn't mean my friends shouldn't get their creative juices going, does it?  I do it because it's not high stress for me.  I get that it would be for others, as there are traditions that I don't do because they're more stress than they're worth.  There was a particular blogger that went off big time about how bad this tradition is and how it's teaching kids the wrong things.  Not to mention the creepy part.  Well, Santa can see you when you're sleeping and knows when you're awake, how is this more creepy?  And it's only teaching my kids the wrong things if I am enforcing the wrong things.  And who is this person to care?  What bugged me most is that this person seems to be an LDS blogger.  That's the Christmas and the Christian spirit, right?  Putting down somebody else's tradition because, well because, why, exactly?  Yeesh.  Is it too much to ask that we simply enjoy the season and it's magic the way we see fit, and stop worrying about whether or not other people are doing it the "right" way?  I don't judge people who choose not to do some of the traditions I like to do.  Shouldn't it follow that they shouldn't judge me, or anybody else?  I remember a discussion with a friend who had chosen that her family would not do the whole Santa thing.  Her kids know that other kids believe, and know not to say anything that would destroy the magic for them.  That is just how she decided to do things for her family.  As we talked about it, I didn't get the impression that she was looking down on anybody else for teaching their kids to believe in Santa, she just didn't want to participate in that tradition.  It didn't change the way I do things, but I understood her point of view and respected it.  The end.  I wish more people could be that way.  Okay.  Rant done!  Let's just get out there and remember that kindness, understanding, and peace are some of the things the Savior taught.  And He is, after all, the Reason for the Season.