I never really noticed the lights as a Christmas-specific problem, between Diwali, New Year, and Lunar New year, there’s lights up from October to February in my country.

So as a migraine sufferer who does have issues with flickering LEDs at night (particularly the blue or blue-white diodes) I can’t blame Christmas alone for my pain.

But the carols! The fucking carols! I’m far more sound sensitive than I am noise sensitive with my migraines, and the vast majority of the “classic” Christmas carols just hit all the wrong tones for me. High pitched bells, weird twanging piano keys, blasting from speakers when I’m just popping into the shops to buy dunny roll, it’s awful. One of my jobs is a choir facilitator for an intellectual disability program, and this time of year is a walking nightmare because it’s carols, all carols, nothing but carols (and any attempt at musical redirection is a recipe for unhappy clients), I think I’m single handedly keeping my local chemist in business with my migraine med scripts.

I wear ear plugs where I can, but the pressure of something in my ears also triggers headaches, and obviously can’t wear plugs at work where my job is to listen and sing along.

It’s also just annoying to have everything December be Christmas - and I say that as a secular Christmas celebrator. There’s so much more to celebrate this time of year, but you’d never get a chance to know it.

I think a lot of people who celebrate Christmas have noticed it becoming even more overcommercialised than ever before, but it’s not really, it’s just a new type of commercialisation with so many industries being “fast”. Those on the outside of Christmas (Jews, Muslims, Pagans, basically every other religion and spirituality outside Christianity) the overcommercialisation has been obvious since the Victorian era.