I hate Black Friday.

People being murdered on Black Friday over some crappy-ass product that will malfunction after the return period.

I hate Japanese tourists and fat girls in elf costumes at the mall.

Creeping Christmas music is the most annoying. I don't mind the decorations or merchanidise, but hearing carols before it's Halloween - ARRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH.

I hate that the holiday shopping season starts so late. I wish it would start on Memorial Day.

I hate those Salvation Army bell ringers! I also hate wrapping presents. I do, however, like the extra drinking that goes along with the holidays.

1) The music. Oh god, the music. Every year it's the same old songs over and over and over. I go to the grocery store. Same songs. The mall. Same freakin' songs. Any !@#$ing store I go to it's the same songs over and over and over for a month straight.

2) Lines. Lines, lines, lines, lines, lines. Lines. And more lines.

3) Christmas creep is the inevitable hatred. Christmas costs enough as it is without me having to be reminded of it for an average of four months straight. Debt is coming like a horseman of the apocalypse, and he wears belled slippers to signal his impending arrival.

People who are supposedly full of good tidings push and shove everyone around while buying gifts. I hate those people.

Oh, I actually got to witness someone being arrested for assault after being caught flinging buggers at another customer. Yes, it was at a Wal-Mart. That actually made Christmas that year!

I simply hate the traffic/congestion/rush of people. That's it. Taking 30 minutes to get out of the mall parking lot.

Thankfully, the internet came along and not only saves me 20-50% over what I'd pay in the store (usually), but I don't even have to leave the house to shop. Whew.

@dewsipper: Yeah...but did you ever see a construction worker high out of his mind on coke get tackled by a cop in a burger king?!?

My only Black Friday experience so far--

Going to an indoor outlet mall, with my then girlfriend, to wait in line in a clothing retail shop for 1 hour and 30 minutes to buy a few articles of clothing. Not to mention the sea of people we had to swim thru to find the store.

At 12:30AM, Friday Morning.

Oh, traffic and parking were a pain as well.

If I repeat that experience this year... I'm bringing a book or my NintendoDS.

I absolutely hate the creep. I saw my first Xmas ad this past weekend and there was no end to my rage that day after seeing it.

Seriously, one day I want to become a senator just to introduce a federal mandate prohibiting holiday advertisements before Thanksgiving, let alone TWO MONTHS IN ADVANCE.

@SPENCERG: Oh yeah-- being trampled to death sucks too. =(

That's prolly the worst to happen.

1) Mall traffic and parking issues.
2) Black Friday nonsense -- people standing in line all night.
3) Last year's lack of serious discounting in one of the worse economic downturns
4) Gift cards. What is the concept here?

Being a non Christian, the holidays are kinda interesting for me anyway, but what I hate most is being sooooo careful not to insult anyone by saying happy holidays, merry christmas, etc. No matter which way you go, someone is going to be rude about it/take loud offense just to blow off their stress. Anyone besides me remember that song "happy chrismahanakwanzika to you" ?

@nstonep: Wow, that was very specific.

Is this bringing up a traumatic memory?

I don't like the creep either. Nor do I like the constant Consumerist posts about the creep.

The mandatory "cheerfulness".

@akronharry: I don't know about you, but for me, Christmas starts on Boxing Day. I simply re-box my gifts, toss new tags on them, and I'm prepped for next Christmas!

Don't take me wrong, I like Christmas carols, be it "classic" or Mannheim Steamroller seasonal music, but to hear it in stores, in malls, on every radio station (including PBS), school holiday productions, month(s)long church services, restaurants, open air markets, city streets, and on and on and on and . . . . . . . .

I just hate crowds. I also hate that the item you buy today will be 50% cheaper tomorrow because you just happened to miss the sale.

@rhodies: I particularly hate stores (mainly smaller ones) who loop the same 14 track christmas album over and over and over.

@Preyfar: 1: The music is the only good part. I love Christmas music.

2: Lines are evil. But they do not exist at Amazon.com. So I don't really care all that much.

3: Can I interest you in a Singing Santa?

oh, did I forget, ~ ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, etc. outside stores.

People who don't understand that pickings will be slim and you won't get the newest, hottest gizmo for your kid for Christmas if you start shopping on Dec. 20th.

@alexburrito: And then, come Dec. 26th, no more Xmas music. I grew up Catholic and we didn't even sing one Xmas song until Christmas Day and, by then, everyone was sick of them.

@plamoni: Absolutely. I was at the Grand Canyon and almost took a plunge because some idiot Japanese tourist needed to get the perfect picture of the tour bus. (not really Christmas but yeah I ran into a couple annoying ones in manhattan during Christmas)

And I generally don't think a woman should be in a sexy elf costume unless she is sexy.

Hey...they asked for details they got details.

The music. It slowly drives me batsh$@ crazy. That and the crowding. They crowd more and more on the shelves, and there are more people. It's why I turn to online shopping more during the holiday season.

@dewsipper: I hate that too. Hardly anyone actually enjoys shopping for gifts anymore. It seems like it's more important to people to do the buying rather than the gifting.

1) Traffic everywhere. If I need to got to Best Buy for something quick, I dont want to have to waid 30 minutes to pay $9.99.
2) Music. Stop it. If I want Christmas music I will buy a CD. Play my normal music.
3) Lights everywhere. I dont want the house across from me lit up like a runway when I'm trying to go to sleep at 10:00.
4) "Bargains" and "Sales" It's never on sale and it's never a bargain, there is always a catch to the discount... always.
5) Salvation army. Don't ask for my money when you can legally discriminate against your employees becasue you are a "church"
6) People telling me "happy holidays"... no Say Merry Christmas, or what ever holiday you are celebrating. Just stop telling me to have a happy holiday!!!
7) Stupid Sweaters on TV - when the news people do their christmas card on TV with their family and wear those god-awful sweaters in front of a fake fireplace.

I can go on, but I have to get back to work.

I work in an office building attached to the Galleria Mall in Houston. Ten months out of the year, we have dedicated (not reserved, just set-aside) parking for the office building's tenants, with card access. In November and December, the access gates are open for shoppers every day and we have to scramble to find a place to park just to get to work. May I mention that we pay hundreds of dollars a year for our parking rights?

That fake cinnamon/"holiday spice" smell that permeates many stores from October to January. It makes me nauseous enough to leave stores even when I've really wanted something they were selling. Come on…I can't be the only person who HATES this and more and more stores do this every year.

@nstonep: That's not offensive is it?

@bloggerX: THIS

Why does this have to happen every year?

I could cheerfully commit homicide over the Christmas muzak. Especially the pop Christmas muzak.

It makes me want to light everything on fire.

I've, uh, worked retail during the holiday season. I'm sure that's easy enough to tell.

Rude people, the spirit of the holidays tends to bring out the worst in people. Lets try to be nice to each other when shopping in the stores.

Low stock of the most popular products at retailers

Christmas Creep in the halloween aisles right now

Giving Visa gift cards instead of cash..

Waiting in lines at the stores (although online shopping solves that)

Things I like:

Music after Thanksgiving, any earlier is just annoying.

Online shopping - means I don't have to battle the crowds and sometimes I get cheaper prices than the stores.

The fact that the toy fad is over in my whole family because the kids are all older, YAY!

After holiday sales... not talking the day after Xmas, but when retailers start discounting in Jan/Feb/March.

I hate that Christmas is just all about the presents. Business has shoved gift giving down our throats so much, that's the only thing people relate to Christmas. This year, I keep telling everyone "I do not want presents, do not get me anything". So far I've been called a Scrooge, a Grinch, and some other interesting things. I'm not saying I'm anti-Christmas, just anti-gifting.

With that said, I really hate the shopping crowds, I hate the lines, I hate the pressure to buy people "nice" things.

@katia802: I do, I'm a non-Christian, and I agree with you 100 percent.

I wish everyone "Peace." What are they going to do, disagree? LOL....

@Slackerchan:

I hate the creep too, having Christmas season start in September ruins it for me, the Christmas season should start the day after Thanksgiving.

I'm not a big fan of the Christmas consumerism either.

@nstonep: It's offensive to ones sensibilities if they try to imagine a fat girl in an elf costume.

Thankfully for me, I just ended up imagining Amy Acker in an elf costume.

@alexburrito: I don't mind Xmas music, its just that Xmas music before halloween and anytime before Thanksgiving is just annoying. That is when I mind it. I don't mind it when its used in the context of the season (the month of December). If you don't like then make sure you bring your MP3 player and headphones when going out during the season.

@nstonep: It's totally not offensive to imply that fat people can't be sexy.

@quirkyrachel: I'm a non-Christian and I don't actually celebrate Christmas myself, but I was a voice and piano major in college and I've been in choirs ever since I could lisp in tune. I know all the words to every carol, and much of the standard holiday choir music, and I confuse the hell out of people who know I'm a stone cold atheist.

@mxjohnson: Then don't read and comment on them?

Traffic/parking.
Rude sales staff & customers.
Christmas Music non stop.
Christmas creep.

/Worked in a "Christmas" section of a department store, years ago. Killed my Christmas spirit for a long time. Only having kids has somewhat brought it back.

@plamoni: I think the lines and rude people are the worst part. Christmas music does seem to make some people batty as well, especially when you start pumping it in your store on halloween day. Not only that but it brings down employee morale, as if retail employee's don't have enough stress during the holiday season. They don't want to listen to Xmas music all day long for 2-3 months.

Thankfully these things don't exist on Amazon, Newegg and ebay (well its possible to get a rude seller on ebay but I haven't had it happen to me yet).

The crowds. I can't walk into a mall or any store like Best Buy or Wal-Mart from Black Friday up until New Year's. There are just way too many people and I can't take it. I do all of my Christmas shopping online because of the craziness.

@Preyfar: I hate lines too, but not so much because of the length of them. I don't mind standing in line to pay for my merchandise. What I really, really hate, however, are the people who bring coupons knowing they won't work, try to use them anyway and insist that they do work! There are 25 people in line, buddy, own up to your own cheapness and get out of the way! Pay for your stuff and leave!

I also hate entitled people, who seem to get grumpier during the holiday season because they really (for some reason) think they should have special treatment because of the holiday sales.

@Saboth:

I agree. The music and Christmas creep are annoying but fundamentally the problem for me is it's just too crowded. People get tired and cranky. Everything takes to long. I avoid going to shopping centers for the entire month before Christmas. I don't care how big the sales are on Black Friday. I won't get near a mall. The only way you get the great deals is to camp out and it's just not worth leaving my family on the holiday to spend a miserable night in a parking lot. Like you, I've done all my Christmas shopping online for years. I usually get it done in one sitting and I don't have to worry for the rest of the season. I can just enjoy the parties. You know, the actual fun part of the holiday season. One other savings this creates, aside from lower taxes and discounts, is that I don't impulse buy things for myself like I did when I went to the shops.