It’s less than a week before Christmas, but not everyone is ready to celebrate. Humbug Day, December 21, recognizes the Ebenezer Scrooges, the Grinches and the other curmudgeons who suck the joy out of the holiday season, according to www.NationalDayCalendar.com .

Humbug Day was created for to express our frustrations, to let our inner Scrooge out.

“The word “Humbug” is most associated with Ebenezer Scrooge, a character created by Charles Dickens in his story titled A Christmas Carol.

His famous reference to Christmas – “Bah! Humbug!” – declaring Christmas to be a fraud, is commonly used in stage and television versions of A Christmas Carol and also appeared frequently in the original book. Scrooge is a cold-hearted, tight-fisted and greedy man, who despises Christmas.

The word humbug refers to a person or item that tricks, deceives, talks, or behaves in a way that is deceptive, dishonest, false, or insincere, often a hoax or in jest. The term was first described in 1751 as student slang. It is now also often used as an exclamation to mean ‘nonsense’ or ‘gibberish’ (www.cute-calendar.com).

How you can celebrate Humbug Day? Post about the day with a few words of the Charles Dicken’s story on social media using #humbugday. Say “humbug” when the holidays frustrate you on this day, but according to the creators of the day, Thomas and Ruth Roy of Wellicat Holidays, say you are limited to twelve expressions. (www.checkiday.com).

You might also choose to read A Christmas Carol or watch any of a number of movies based on the story.