The Christmas Hater

There’s something for everyone during the Christmas season. Some people love to buy presents for others; other people love to receive presents. Some people love to meet up with family while others enjoy their vacation alone. For Mr. Gordon, Christmas is the time to ruin other people’s Christmas.

For those who don’t know, Mr. Gordon is a religion teacher here at Oratory. Most religion teachers love Christmas; just ask Mr. Camp. But Mr. Gordon is not your normal religion teacher. He vehemently despises Christmas. He argues that Christmas has been commercialized. Christmas is no longer about the birth of Jesus; it’s about gifts. By focusing on gifts, it becomes all about “me.” People focus on the gifts they got and not on the giver. Mr. Gordon likes to appreciate the true giver, Jesus. And since Christmas has strayed from its original meaning, Mr. Gordon now despises the holiday.

Most people would call Mr. Gordon “the Grinch” after reading or hearing about his hate for Christmas. But Mr. Gordon isn’t the Grinch; he isn’t a quitter. Mr. Gordon doesn’t appreciate being called “the Grinch” because he calls the Grinch a quitter. The Grinch doesn’t go through with his plan; he ends up giving back all the presents that he stole. He ends up liking Christmas by the end of the book which is why Mr. Gordon doesn’t like the name. He isn’t a quitter like the Grinch; Mr. Gordon hates and will continue to hate Christmas to the day he dies.

But for Mr. Gordon, it’s not enough that he ruins Christmas for himself; he has to ruin it for others too. At the supposedly mature age of 20, Mr. Gordon decided that he was going to ruin someone else’s Christmas. After his then-9-year-old nephew shut off his video game, Mr. Gordon decided to reveal that Santa wasn’t real to this unknowing 9-year-old. But he didn’t flat out tell the kid that he wasn’t real. That wasn’t enough for Mr. Gordon. He wanted to make the kid find out for himself. So he brought his nephew up to the attic where Mr. Gordon knew the presents from “Santa” were hidden. He made the kid take pictures of the presents and compare them to the presents he got from “Santa” on Christmas day. When Christmas came, the boy compared the pictures, realizing they were identical. The kid burst out in tears and his entire Christmas was ruined. All while Mr. Gordon was laughing hysterically. Thankfully, Mr. Gordon got what he deserved when his brother (the kid’s father) beat him up.