Our Beautiful friend Jarrah singing with Gangaji.

She sang this song at our wedding

it seems like such a strong blog title, i know.

perhaps because 'boycotting' is generally such a political and positional thing to do.

so boycotting might be a little too strong, because it is not about resistance.

for me, at least, this non-celebration of xmas is about allowing myself the space to simply enquire into what xmas is all about.

the answer is so blindingly obvious - and yet it is an answer that is so frequently ignored for a whole bunch of reasons - because of all the reframing we have done around what is, essentially, a christian festival.

i'm not christian, so why celebrate xmas?

god doesn't even exist in my experience of reality - so propping up a christian festival in any way is completely irrational

the answers i usually get, and the ones that up until now i have accepted and gone along with are usually something along the lines of xmas is a time for family.

what kind of a reason is that? and why? why xmas?

for me, the xmas period is an opportunity to rest, to recover from a year of hard work - because most of the world in which i do business is celebrating it, and so it's a logical time to close the office for  a few weeks.

if xmas needs to be the excuse to spend time with people you love, i would suggest there is something deeply out of balance in the way you live your life.

in australia this year we have heard that $35 billion is being spent on xmas - and it's being reported as if that's a good thing

the annual operational budget of UNICEF is only $2.7 billion.

surely there is something wrong with this picture? or maybe it's just me

instead of following a hard-wired compulsion to consume ever more - at a point in human history where the danger of our consumption patterns has been pointed out in significant and consistent detail - perhaps we might want to do the opposite and simply celebrate - quietly and without excess - the simple miracle that we live in a free and democratic world with a standard of living that is the envy of the overwhelming majority of the worlds population

and if we really feel we need to spend, why not give to those who are most in need, and let friends and family purchase for themselves if they genuinely believe it is of importance.

when you consider that on xmas day 72 000 children under the age of five will die of completely preventable diseases - as they do every single day - while 1% of the world's population control 80% of the planet's wealth [in predominantly christian countries] one could be forgiven for suggesting that perhaps, for christians in developed nations, they should be singing dirges instead of carols

or you could just call me a humbug and be done with it