The vast majority of us love Christmas. The putting up of the tree and the decorations; sending cards and buying gifts are things we all enjoy doing. Yes, we may have a bit of a moan about the expense and the hard work involved etc but deep down we love it really.

There are, however, a small section of society who absolutely detests Christmas and all that it stands for. Now, nobody hates anything for no reason. Even the most famous Christmas hater of all time, Ebenezer Scrooge, had reasons for hating this time of year. So before you go shouting "bah humbug", here are just a few reasons why they could hate Christmas.

Religion is a major reason why a lot of people don't like Christmas. Most Agnostics and non Christians tend to just let the Christmas period pass them by, but some zealots hate everything that Christmas stands for. They won't participate in the run up to Christmas, or take part in any of fun things that may be planned at work. Leave them to their own devices; nothing you say or do will bring them around to your way of thinking, so you just have to respect their beliefs.

Bad memories, or incidents, can make people hate Christmas. They could have, as a child, been present at a huge family row that had repercussions for years to come. Christmas would get the blame for everyone being together, and they will have dreaded Christmas ever since. Maybe they had a particularly miserable Christmas which was the last one before their parents separated, or before a parent or loved one passed away. Although many Christmases will have passed since then, they will always remember the bad times. It's human nature that allows bad memories to become more vivid than the good. If you went on holiday every year and one year it rained, that's the holiday you'll remember. A bad Christmas memory will never go away either.

For a lot of people, it's the modern day greed and commercialism that they hate so much. They will argue that the true meaning of Christmas has been lost and all anyone cares about is money. They also hate it when they are sent a Christmas card from a box of 20, which to them means it was sent because it had to be, with no care or thought behind it. They want a purist Christmas, with carols and holly and old Fashioned values. Sadly there are very few who also feel this way so they tend to spend a miserable Christmas alone.

Christmas should be a time of rejoicing for one and all, if you embrace everything about Christmas, that's great! If you want the company at a gathering of someone who doesn't; invite them by all means, but don't be offended if they don't turn up.