[Misc] I cant be the only one who doesn't like Christmas

[Icy Gull]

Christmas itself is great. The hype and gradually increasing “holiday” madness on tv, in the shops and on the roads from the middle of October in ever increasing hysteria until it reaches a mental level as Christmas Eve arrives is possibly the most stressful time of year for me. Hate it with a vengeance

I really miss the old days when Christmas started a few days beforehand and was not a business driven con.

 

[Fungus]

Roll on January.

 

[studio150]

Things that have improved Christmas:

The disappearance of carol singers
On line shopping, so no need to queue for hours in town, or fight your way though crowds on the street

Unless you have young Children the only good thing about Christmas is Boxing Day football

 

[Driver8]

Roll on January.

March for me. I love Spring and could happily sleep through winter like a bear!

 

[Palacefinder General]

I love it.. means overtime.

Indeed, Rostered to work 2pm to midnight both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year.

 

[Bozza]

Totally agree. Christmas is what you make of it.

I'm lucky in that our office shuts down on Christmas Eve, and this time round I'm not back till 6th Jan. A lovely long break, I can have a load of lie-ins, meet up with family and friends, see my little grandson enjoy his 2nd ever Christmas and spoil him rotten. There's football all over the shop, games on TV plus games I'll attend, with plenty of PUBBAGE inbetween. Lazy evenings grazing on Twiglets watching movies, drinking port and waiting on MOTD knowing there's no work in the morning. Walks along the seafront in the cold. Idle perusing of the sports pages in the pub. Poker nights. Cold meat and pickles on tap. Bring it on.

You've pretty much described my recollections of my childhood Christmases., Family would come round and camp out at our house for days on end (frankly it felt like weeks some years) and I loved the Twilight Zone of the time between Christmas and New Year where you forgot what day it was. Days would involve picking at various bits of food, playing games together and watching the big films on TV.

I have such warm memories of my Christmases as a kid, that I find myself worrying that my kids won't feel the same way when they are older and look back. In part, I think that's because my daughter doesn't live with me, so we either have her for a week or so up to and including Christmas Day, or have her for a week from Boxing Day.

Although Christmas Day is the special day, I prefer the Christmases when she's with us from Boxing Day, because it means she's not whisked away leaving a pile of barely touched presents, and we can get to enjoy that long spell of chilled out time that extends from Boxing Day onwards.

So, in summary, I'm not a massive fan of the ever-lengthening build-up, but I love the bit afterwards when we get to spend it together.

 

[darkwolf666]

Wife thinks its because I'm a miserable ******* in general but I just find Christmas a drudge. I hate the false bonhomie, the buying and receiving of utter tat ("ooo, a bottle of beer and a glass, thanks"), day after day of gorging oneself because we've bought too much food, endless crap TV "christmas specials", bollocksing up the football schedules, pubs full of amateur drinkers, houses covered in twinkly lights, the wastefulness of christmas cards (I told wife I thought we should donate to the RNLI instead but was shot down).
There's probably more.
Please tell me I'm not alone on this one.

No, you are in good company, those that follow the religions of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism don't recognize Christmas and Easter as they are ancient Christian festivals, so no, it's not just you!

Just convert to one of those and you are safe in your miserable world

 

[Chicken Run]

I use to like Christmas, not so much now.

 

[BBassic]

I'm completely ambivalent.

It means seeing family and friends and that's great but every other aspect is heinous. Mindless consumption, money money money, the f**king shambles that is the card industry.

Bleurgh.

EDIT - maybe I'm not so ambivalent

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

I agree. I try to keep to the true meaning.
It starts far too early.



Because Christmas is so overhyped, people who haven't got family, or who have real domestic problems can suffer badly. People dying at this time of the year also cause very painful memories for those who are left.

Very much this. We know a number of people who have suffered bereavements around Christmas, some of them sudden and tragic, and they are never forgotten.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Wife thinks its because I'm a miserable ******* in general but I just find Christmas a drudge. I hate the false bonhomie, the buying and receiving of utter tat ("ooo, a bottle of beer and a glass, thanks"), day after day of gorging oneself because we've bought too much food, endless crap TV "christmas specials", bollocksing up the football schedules, pubs full of amateur drinkers, houses covered in twinkly lights, the wastefulness of christmas cards (I told wife I thought we should donate to the RNLI instead but was shot down).
There's probably more.
Please tell me I'm not alone on this one.

This, this and this thrice. It's the reason I up sticks and go to rural France for two weeks. No TV, some nice cheese washed down by a decent red and no hassle ( or politics of where we go for Christmas Day ). Country walks in a sharp frost and maybe a mulled Cider in a typical French village bar.

I would suggest respectfully to the OP that if they worked in hospitality during Xmas then things may not seem to be so bad!

In my teenage years and early 20s I used to work in Brighton hotels. Used to love working Christmas Day - get away from the mundane family day, a complete anti-climax, and instead be working in a busy buzzy atmosphere where all customers were happy, drunk and tipping heavily. Triple time, free taxis to work and home, free drinks all day. Only down side was the staff meal being Christmas dinner for weeks on end - I like a Christmas dinner but the same for four weeks got a bit tiresome. Problem being the chefs were mean fvckers who had lots of sharp knives so nobody dared ask for something different ! Great times - best industry I've ever worked in.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

You've pretty much described my recollections of my childhood Christmases., Family would come round and camp out at our house for days on end (frankly it felt like weeks some years) and I loved the Twilight Zone of the time between Christmas and New Year where you forgot what day it was. Days would involve picking at various bits of food, playing games together and watching the big films on TV.

I have such warm memories of my Christmases as a kid, that I find myself worrying that my kids won't feel the same way when they are older and look back. In part, I think that's because my daughter doesn't live with me, so we either have her for a week or so up to and including Christmas Day, or have her for a week from Boxing Day.

Although Christmas Day is the special day, I prefer the Christmases when she's with us from Boxing Day, because it means she's not whisked away leaving a pile of barely touched presents, and we can get to enjoy that long spell of chilled out time that extends from Boxing Day onwards.

So, in summary, I'm not a massive fan of the ever-lengthening build-up, but I love the bit afterwards when we get to spend it together.

Count yourself lucky - when the ex-Mrs W and I divorced she swore I'd never see my kids on Christmas Day - sadly he's been good to her word ! One of the reasons I hate Christmas and run away.

 

[Wellesley]

As a kid I went to a C of E school and when you actually believe in the birth of Christ and Father Christmas it is a majical time. Now as a non-believer I still love it, the more hype the better for me. Even non-believers tend to gather their family together at this time, so maybe the Lord works in mysterious ways. Love buying gifts for my kids, even the adult ones and can't wait for Christmas Eve when we will all be in the same house again for a few days.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

I've always liked Christmas, not loved it, but enjoyed it as a time of relaxing & seeing family etc. and always looked forward to it. As a kid, my parents didn't go overboard with things, & kept it small, which was great. HOWEVER, over the years, my missus has become more and more obsessed by Christmas, which has kinda spoilt it for me. She starts watching Christmas movie channels in July, listens to Christmas songs / radio ALL THE TIME, wears Christmas jumpers / dresses / hairbands constantly - and starts badgering to put the tree up from November. Much to her, and my children's, frustration I always refuse - and the tree / decorations don't go up until the first weekend of December. I've also stopped sending cards as I see it as a colossal waste of material, and a bit pointless if Im honest in these days of messaging / social media.

Once we get to December Im fine with it, but I just want Christmas to be a nice quiet, simple affair, without mountains of tat under the tree, celebrated for just a few days with family - like it used to be - and not 6 months of it being shoved in your face, piling pressure on you to start buying stuff you cant really afford.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

As someone who professes the faith, I could say something about losing sight of the true meaning of Christmas.

.

Do you mean appropriating the traditions and stories of other religions?

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

Is it OK to like bits of it (footie, drink, getting presents, seeing the family members you like) and not others (TV specials, shopping, giving presents, seeing members of the family you can't stand)?

 

[Easy 10]

You've pretty much described my recollections of my childhood Christmases., Family would come round and camp out at our house for days on end (frankly it felt like weeks some years) and I loved the Twilight Zone of the time between Christmas and New Year where you forgot what day it was. Days would involve picking at various bits of food, playing games together and watching the big films on TV.

I have such warm memories of my Christmases as a kid, that I find myself worrying that my kids won't feel the same way when they are older and look back. In part, I think that's because my daughter doesn't live with me, so we either have her for a week or so up to and including Christmas Day, or have her for a week from Boxing Day.

Although Christmas Day is the special day, I prefer the Christmases when she's with us from Boxing Day, because it means she's not whisked away leaving a pile of barely touched presents, and we can get to enjoy that long spell of chilled out time that extends from Boxing Day onwards.

So, in summary, I'm not a massive fan of the ever-lengthening build-up, but I love the bit afterwards when we get to spend it together.

Likewise, I've carried on as far as poss with the Christmasses of my own childhood. Its different now that the kids are grown up of course, but its still a special time where we make that additional effort to see friends and family and generally have a few get-togethers, silly games, and piss-ups. And you're right - that chilled out time between Boxing Day and New Year is absolute BLISS.

Hoping for a better one this time round, as last Boxing Day we had the family round for a buffet and games night, but my selfish missus decided this would be a good time to start coughing up blood. So we spent most of it in Worthing A&E. I mean honestly.

 

[MattBackHome]

I love everything about it. EVERYTHING

 

[Marshy]

Seeing good friends, eating lots and drinking a bit, making my kids happy with a couple of small gifts..

Why would you not enjoy all those things...

Cheer up you miserable sods.

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

People seem to forget the true meaning of Christmas - a bunch of drunken Santas kicking the crap out of each other. This happens every year throughout New York in a 'charity' event called Santa Con.