Is it just me or is the Christmas Spirit completely gone out of Christmas?

When I was growing up the meaning of this holiday was as it should be.

To be with the family, to spend some time away from the rat race, to reflect on ones life and most important: to show goodwill towards the fellow man or a woman.

I?m looking around these last few days and I see none of it. I do not like crowds so I stay away from the malls from Thanksgiving, until a week or so after new years. But a fellow needs to eat so sooner or later you end up there anyway. Yesterday my wife and I wend to get some groceries at Wal-Mart. Pulling in I got almost hit by someone pulling out of the parking spot without a single glace (I was looking for that so no foul). Then some SOB races at 50 mph across the lot to get the parking spot I am aiming at. I was gonna flip him but the holiday spirit and all? so I let him slide and gave him a friendly wave instead. As a payment I got a dirty look. Inside people running with the carts in pretty much the same manner: Pushing you out of their way, yapping on the cell phones while blocking the isles, etc? About the only nice thing was that the store had more checkout lanes opened up than they needed ? NICE!!!!!. No lines. In the parking lot I got sprayed with the yuck ? you guessed it some one hauling a?.. at 40 MPH. Finally we pull out and almost get hit again because another driver is cutting a turn to get to the spot we just pulled out from. It really gets me because we shop in this store year round and the only time I see this kind of behavior right before Christmas. 11 months out of the year people around here are actually nice. Why oh why do most of the people have it backwards?

I made the comment to my wife about this saying that I hate Christmas not because of what it represents but because it brings out the worst of people.

Am I the only one who notices this kind of trend?

It this only up here in the North- East?

PS. Can you use a ?Christmas Stress Syndrome? in a court while defending a capitol case?