Lyric discussion by ultradave 

After reading all the comments here, I'm really surprised that no one really gets it...

He's singing about the dreaded family gatherings that come around the holidays with the people you're supposed to be close to you, but you aren't. At least that's what I get out of it.

Brilliant song to say the least.

I agree, I just imagine some guy struggling to deal with the holidays and his family/coworker gatherings. Getting drunk, getting cut off in traffic by people rushing to buy shit. The beauty of Christmas.

An error occured.