Does anyone else hate Christmas?

[Sho'Nuff]

I want to like Christmas, I really do. In fact, it would make my wife deliriously happy if I liked Christmas. But the fact of the matter is, I don't. To the contrary, I pretty much hate the holiday/season/whatever, and everything about it. Outlined below are a few of the reasons I dislike this time of year. Admittedly some are better than others, but at a minimum I think all are at least valid points.

#1 Xmas starts too damn early - it is at the end of December people - it is simply wrong to start playing "white christmas" over and over in stores the day after halloween.

#2 Pretty much everything about the holiday is a giant falsehood. You know what kids, forget what I said about telling the truth because Santa is REAL! Also - that mound of presents is representative of the three gifts some dudes who might have existed long ago might have had. Jesus wasn't really born on December 25 (we conscripted the date of a pagan holiday), but don't worry about that!

#3 It is completely and utterly wasteful. Something like 65% of all Christmas gifts are returned. That means that all the effort that was exerted to obtain those gifts was utterly wasted. Imagine what we might accomplish as a society if we were to focus all that wasted energy into something worth while.

#4. It pushes a lot of people into debt. Don't worry Johnny - mom can't put food on the table or pay the power bill, but we will find a way to get you some presents. Now - wheres that pesky credit card.

#5. People preech peace on earth and goodwill toward men, but most people just think of themselves and their own family at christmas. There are tons of people out there who have almost nothing. But rather than help them out (as Jesus the carpenter would have done), people turn away and focus on buying crap they don't need.

#6 It creates false and unreasonably expectations in many families. Growing up - christmas was horrible for me. My mother had this preconceived notion of how the day should go. When my father, brother, and I didn't make her expectations come to life - she got pissed off and cried. That pretty much happened every year from when I was born to when I moved out of the house at 22.

#7 The friggin music is terrible. It just is. And it is played, WAY too much.

#8. Trying to actually get anything done in the month of December is nearly impossible. Lots of people are on vacation, there are a million parties to go to (I like parties in and of themselves, but not when they just expose me to more xmas crap).

#9 My wife gets pissed at me because she wants to buy me a gift and I won't give her any ideas because I hate the holiday for at least reasons 1-8 above. And she gets flabbergasted when I tell her to make a donation on my behalf to a local charity. "Who doesn't like presents" she says. Well - I don't. Sorry. I don't need anything, and anything I want I can buy myself.

Etc.

Anyone else feel this way? I have been able to conceal how I feel in past years, but this year I haven't done such a good job of that. Partly every time I go into a store nowadays I feel like I want to tear my eyes out.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I love the Christmas season, it's a nice festive break that breaks up winter a bit and turns it into a more festive wonderland. Seeing all the decorations, lights, and hearing all the Christmas music etc.

Only thing is I find some people make it too hectic. I'm not a fan of parties and large gatherings, so I try to avoid those as best as I can. I go to our department party, which I actually do mostly enjoy but not a fan of the bigger parties. For gift buying, I've pretty much got it down to buying for my parents and nephews, and for parents me and my sister usually just do a single large gift. We never know what to buy them.

Really Christmas is what you make of it. some people do go overboard to the point of making it stressful.

I put up a tree even though I live alone, and decorate outside. I eventually want to be one of THOSE houses that goes completely overboard, but that is a lot of money and also lot of work to setup, so a project for the far future when I have more disposable income. Like I'd want to setup some permanent outlets throughout the lawn etc to make things easier.

 

[BoomerD]

"Hate" is a strong work, but I'm not a fan of the Christmas (Merchant's) Holiday season..for a lot of the reasons Sho Nuff mentioned...but, for me, the music is the best part of the holiday...Believe in "the reason for the season" or not, the music is fucking great! (but yeah, it started here in Mid-October in some stores...WAY too early.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I do agree stores start way too early. Part of me actually likes seeing Christmas stuff early, but part of me hates how commercialized it has become.

What I do love seeing is the lights on houses slowly start to show up as it gets closer to December. I often have mine on by start/mid November but was late this year. Both my neighbours beat me to it. I only put my tree up like yesterday.

Actually at the peak of the season I need to take my drone up at night, will probably look cool.

 

[sandorski]

Love/Hate. Love the day, opening Gifts, eating a feast, seeing people I haven't seen in a year. Hate the run up to it, figuring out what to buy, crowded Malls, indecisions.

 

[Kaido]

I want to like Christmas, I really do. In fact, it would make my wife deliriously happy if I liked Christmas. But the fact of the matter is, I don't. To the contrary, I pretty much hate the holiday/season/whatever, and everything about it. Outlined below are a few of the reasons I dislike this time of year. Admittedly some are better than others, but at a minimum I think all are at least valid points.

#1 Xmas starts too damn early - it is at the end of December people - it is simply wrong to start playing "white christmas" over and over in stores the day after halloween.

#2 Pretty much everything about the holiday is a giant falsehood. You know what kids, forget what I said about telling the truth because Santa is REAL! Also - that mound of presents is representative of the three gifts some dudes who might have existed long ago might have had. Jesus wasn't really born on December 25 (we conscripted the date of a pagan holiday), but don't worry about that!

#3 It is completely and utterly wasteful. Something like 65% of all chrsitmas gifts are returned. That means that all the effort that was exerted to obtain those gifts was utterly wasted. Imagine what we might accomplish as a society if we were to focus all that wasted energy into something worth while.

#4. It pushes a lot of people into debt. Don't worry Johnny - mom can't put food on the table or pay the power bill, but we will find a way to get you some presents. Now - wheres that pesky credit card.

#5. People preech peace on earth and goodwill toward men, but most people just think of themselves and their own family at christmas. There are tons of people out there who have almost nothing. But rather than help them out (as Jesus the carpenter would have done), people turn away and focus on buying crap they don't need.

#6 It creates false and unreasonably expectations in many families. Growing up - christmas was horrible for me. My mother had this preconceived notion of how the day should go. When my father, brother, and I didn't make her expectations come to life - she got pissed odd and cried. That pretty much happened every year from when I was born to when I moved out of the house at 22.

#7 The friggin music is terrible. It just is. And it is played, WAY too much.

#8. Trying to actually get anything done in the month of December is nearly impossible. Lots of people are on vacation, there are a million parties to go to (I like parties in and of themselves, but not when they just expose me to more xmas crap).

#9 My wife gets pissed at me because she wants to buy me a gift and I won't give her any ideas because I hate the holiday for at least reasons 1-8 above. And she gets flabbergasted when I tell her to make a donation on my behalf to a local charity. "Who doesn't like presents" she says. Well - I don't. Sorry. I don't need anything, and anything I want I can buy myself.

Etc.

Anyone else feel this way? I have been able to conceal how I feel in past years, but this year I haven't done such a good job of that. Partly every time I go into a store nowadays I feel like I want to tear my eyes out.

If you're open to some constructive criticism: it sounds like you're focused on generalizing how you perceive other people feel & act around Christmas, and especially how Christmas is marketed & sold to Americans. If that is your focus, then yeah, you're gonna get a Grinch-y attitude towards it. One of the points of Christmas is to make an extra effort to be nice to the people around you & do nice things for them, like get them special gifts they wouldn't normally get. It's the same idea as birthdays: it's just another day, if you treat it like just another day, or it can be a fun, once-a-year celebration that is out of the ordinary because it's fun to do. As adults, sure, there's nothing stopping you from getting a job & paying for your own toys year-round, but that's not the point of stuff like Christmas or birthdays. Discussion of individual points:

1. Christmas starts early because marketers want to make sales. At my house, we at least try to put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving & not before, haha. Also, if people weren't crappy to each other (on a regular & global basis), we really wouldn't need Christmas to remind us not to treat each other like garbage & to do nice things like gift thoughtful gifts to each other throughout the year.

2. There may be a lot of fake-ness associated with Christmas, but what it boils down to is whether you like traditions or not. I don't get to see my family as often as I'd like & the holidays are a great excuse to hang out & make an extra effort to get together.

3. That number on how many returns there are is high, but not surprising, I guess. I'd be curious to see how that breaks down, statistically...like if they're returns because the clothes don't fit, or just because people don't want the stuff they were given, or because they gave them crap presents without any thought or effort put into them & the person wouldn't have wanted them anyway. Like, at this point, I pretty much just give my siblings Amazon gifts cards & gift cards to restaurants that I know they like so that they can pick out stuff they want off their wishlist & go out to eat on a date or whatever. Although I can't imagine society focusing that into something less wasteful because we have the amazingness that is the Internet & most of us just nef on it instead of doing really amazing things with all of the data & information we have, and a lot of the charities that we donate to are mis-using the funds, so it's hard to even trust those places these days.

4. Mixed feelings on the debt issue. Some people do it & get legit in debt, which is crazy. There were lean times in my family growing up that we didn't get much because we just didn't have the budget for it. There were also times when I knew my parents sprung for nice stuff that they'd have to pay off, but they weren't putting themselves into any kind of crazy debt they couldn't pay off or that would circumvent bills or anything. I guess it's more about intentions & an individual's financial situation more than anything.

5. I don't think there's anything wrong with supporting your own family for the holidays, because a lot of people don't even put that much effort in. I've had neighbors where the mother would rather buy drugs for herself than food for her kids, no joke. And I do tend to see people donating a lot more during the holiday season, whether it's money to homeless people or a tip in the jar at a shop.

6. That sounds like an issue very specific to your mother, and it sounds like that might be the root cause of all of the issues in your post...dang man, if my mom got pissed off & cried because we couldn't meet her expectations every Christmas, I'd probably hate Christmas with a passion too. It sounds like that just ruined it for you. I feel bad for you dude...that sounds pretty rough having to grow up in that situation for the holidays. Dang. On the flip side, you're now a married adult & you can choose to behave differently around Christmas. You said that your wife would be deliriously happy if you liked Christmas...rewind back to 12-year-old-you & imagine how life would be if your mom had loved Christmas too. I don't mean to be a shrink here, but you're kind of passing on what your mom did to you, to your wife - you're being the stick in the mud who is ruining it for her, the same way your mom ruined it for you. Might be worth considering a decision change about how you treat Christmas so that you can make it awesome for your wife in the way you wanted it to be awesome when you were a kid. Also, dang, now I'm thinking of all of the implications growing up with a mom who treated Christmas like that would bring...Christmas movies probably just make you mad. That's awful bro!

7. It gets over-played. It's fun, if you're in a holiday mood, but it's grating due to the repetitiveness. I use Spotify & listen to my own playlists, haha.

8. Yeah, I can't even go to the mall to get replacement shoes or anything...the lines on the highway after work are already a madhouse. It's annoying, especially because some of the good restaurants are out that way & everything is just clogged. And there are a LOT of social events out there to suck up your time, which is fine, unless you don't really want to go, and then everyone is bugging you to do stuff all month long. I can't argue with this one lol.

9. I actually really like your idea of having your gift go to charity. It makes you feel good & it makes the gift-giver feel good & it benefits a random stranger down the line. That's actually a pretty cool thing to ask for!

I think you have a lot of valid points, and it seems like all of it is rooted in your mom basically ruining Christmas for you from childhood to adulthood, which stinks. And I totally understand that, because I have extended family (with whom we don't spend the holidays with) who are exactly the same way...the wife in particular...everything has to be "just so" (from the decorations to the schedule to the type of gifts) or she pulls a tantrum & becomes this emotional tornado that kind of ruins the mood for everyone else. To me, that is entirely missing the point of the holidays. I mean, aside from binging on holiday goodies, the idea is to step up your game of being nice to others, giving thoughtful gifts (of which I think your idea of giving a donation to charity is a really great idea btw), throw some extra coin in the collection plate (Salvation Army/church/whatever), etc. Imagine if we acted like that all year round. Things would be pretty different...

 

[Kaido]

Really Christmas is what you make of it. some people do go overboard to the point of making it stressful.

That's really what it boils down to. It's all about your attitude & your actions. I have seen certain families (and certain people within those families, in particular) go overboard & make the holidays stressful, not only for themselves, but also for their family, but I think those are kind of the, ah, vocal outliers.

I feel kind of bad for people who don't celebrate Christmas, as the American marketing machine tends to go nuts around the holiday seasons. This was the first year that I witnessed Christmas stuff in-stores BEFORE Halloween. Like two or three weeks before! I have two friends in particular that I've talked to this about, one is Muslim & one is Jewish, and it's interesting to hear their perspective on things. Mostly they like it because it's fun to have a holiday break & see people being happy & spending time with their families & seeing the decorations & whatnot. Plus I get both of them Christmas presents because screw you, I like Christmas & you're getting a gift so too bad

On the flip side, we're also gutting other holidays. The local school district banned Halloween at school and renamed it to "Story Book Character Day". You can only dress up if you can find that character in a book. Also, you can't bring in candy anymore, only cards. Super neutered. That drives me a little bonkers...I'm pretty sure the only thing kids are out worshipping that day is all the free candy

 

[Skunk-Works]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuRJNgJqWnM

 

[sdifox]

It's the endless Christmas music that gets me. You would think there will be new songs each year. Nope, not a sngle fucking new song, always the same ones.

 

[lxskllr]

I love this time of year. The days are short, the nights long, and the temperature's cool(ish lately :^/). I also enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells. Smells like smoke, evergreen and whisky. It's the time of year for men.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Christmas is wonderful. It's like the weather, there's nothing you can do to change it. You can change your perspective though. Concentrate on the good things, the joy, the food, making your wife happy.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

The shopping mall nearest me begins to get insanely busy a week or two before Black Friday and runs though February, takes a brief respite and picks up again in March from tax returns and then dies off around beginning of May. People love to window shop like they won the lottery or something.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Regarding gifts (#3 in your list) - this is why I buy people stuff like wine, chocolate or other edible things, or experiences, and not decorate or useful things.

You will eat and enjoy a nice box of chocolates or share a nice bottle of wine with your spouse. But book taste is difficult to get right, and I'd never buy someone else a gadget. It does help that this is also cheaper - I realized I used to buy people expensive presents because I wanted to impress them. Just buy people something to make them feel good rather, even if the feel good only lasts for a day or a week. It is better than a present that will never be opened, or may be regifted or returned.

I like the idea of Christmas - sharing it with your family - even if I'm not particularly good at getting into the spirit.

 

[dud]

I love Christmas and all it stands for ... but I dislike the rampant commercialism. I loathe the voices telling us that the only way we can be happy (and to show others that we care) is to buy-buy-buy!

 

[IronWing]

So ignore all the crap you don't like and make the holiday as you would like it to be. Stay out of the stores. Turn off the TV. That crap can't get into your life unless you choose to let it in. Don't buy presents unless you want to. Accept presents graciously as some folks like to give presents. If the presents received aren't your thing, dispose of them in the manner most agreeable to you. We re-gift immediately or donate most of the presents bestowed on us each year. For us, returning for a credit isn't worth it when we can drop a box at Goodwill and be done.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I prefer Halloween and Thanksgiving as no religion is involved with them.

 

[IronWing]

I prefer Halloween and Thanksgiving as no religion is involved with them.

You're doing Halloween wrong.

 

[Puffnstuff]

You're doing Halloween wrong.

Nah, seeing kids smile and having fun makes me happy which is the exact opposite of how most Republicans feel about it.

 

[IronWing]

Nah, seeing kids smile and having fun makes me happy which is the exact opposite of how most Republicans feel about it.

Republicans (other than Christine O'Donnell) do Halloween wrong.

 

[sdifox]

Nah, seeing kids smile and having fun makes me happy which is the exact opposite of how most Republicans feel about it.

Kids are only allowed to smile and have fun during Christmass in USA? How horrible!

 

[Sho'Nuff]

If you're open to some constructive criticism...

Thanks for the thoughts. I was really just venting as I have been feeling extra moody this year (to the point I might be heading to a doctor - I feel like I'm emotionally on edge all the time lately) and I won't dump this stuff on my wife out of respect for her.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head when you said that #6 is the root cause of my dislike for the season. My parents were decent folks, but my mother and father have/had a lot of issues and they all seemed to manifest themselves at holidays. Over the years I have come to learn that my mother was pretty much emotionally abused by my grandfather her whole childhood. He basically destroyed her self confidence- to the point that her only reaction to anyone doing anything except what she said was to either cry or scream at the top of her lungs. That turned all holidays into "do what mom wants days," so everyone in our house tip toed on eggshells on all major holidays so as to try not to upset my mom. My dad wasn't any help with this. Long before I was born he decided that he didn't want to fight with my mom, and his reaction to her temper tantrums was to leave the house. And let me tell you, its awesome when your mom gets pissed at 7AM Xmas morning and your dad leaves the house and doesn't come home until dinner. Then dinner comes, someone starts to complain about some little thing, and mom is off to the bedroom crying. Not to mention it was "fun" to watch my divorced grandparents (who only ever got together at Christmas) sit at opposite ends of the table giving each other the evil eye. etc. Wash rinse repeat for 20 odd years.

Then shortly after xmas when I am 23 my dad tells me the he and my mother are getting divorced and he is moving back to eastern Europe. His rationale? My brother and I are grown up now and "don't need him," and his income wasn't enough to let him live the way he wanted in the U.S. After he left, only my brother, my mother, and my aunt were remaining in the U.S. My mom comes up to visit a couple times a year to see the grandkids, but its clear that we are second fiddle to her church schedule. She doesn't even call me on my birthday or our anniversary (I'm starting to wonder if she knows on which date either event is). I only hear from my brother when he needs something (maybe once or twice a year). I speak to my dad somewhat often, but its getting hard because he is seemingly going out of his way to make every effort to hurt my brother and I, though I suspect he doesn't realize it. So yeah - my "family" is pretty much completely dysfunctional.

To the contrary, my wife's family is about as close as a family can get. There are a couple of iffy people, but its clear that everyone in her family loves each other and would do anything for one another. As a result, the holiday season for them is filled with happy events spent together, laughing, etc. I really wish I could get into that spirit and just feed off of it . . . and for a time I could. But as I have gotten older my reaction to those events has become increasingly dark. To the point that I want almost nothing to do with them. All those events do is remind me of how my experiences growing up were not that way, and how my own family is opposite to my wife's family. I know the way I feel is rooted in selfishness and I should be able to just get over it. But (frustratingly) I just can't seem to move past it. Now I am just trying to insulate my kids from my own feelings so that they don't grow up to feel the same way. I'd rather they think I was happy and grow up normal, than know I am not happy and feel like it was somehow their fault or their responsibility to fix it.

Anyway - sorry to drone on and on. I'm not looking for sympathy or even empathy. I just need some kind of outlet so that I don't lay all this crap down on my family and ruin their experiences.

 

[HumblePie]

#1 Xmas starts too damn early - it is at the end of December people - it is simply wrong to start playing "white christmas" over and over in stores the day after halloween.

#2 Pretty much everything about the holiday is a giant falsehood. You know what kids, forget what I said about telling the truth because Santa is REAL! Also - that mound of presents is representative of the three gifts some dudes who might have existed long ago might have had. Jesus wasn't really born on December 25 (we conscripted the date of a pagan holiday), but don't worry about that!

#3 It is completely and utterly wasteful. Something like 65% of all Christmas gifts are returned. That means that all the effort that was exerted to obtain those gifts was utterly wasted. Imagine what we might accomplish as a society if we were to focus all that wasted energy into something worth while.

#4. It pushes a lot of people into debt. Don't worry Johnny - mom can't put food on the table or pay the power bill, but we will find a way to get you some presents. Now - wheres that pesky credit card.

#5. People preech peace on earth and goodwill toward men, but most people just think of themselves and their own family at christmas. There are tons of people out there who have almost nothing. But rather than help them out (as Jesus the carpenter would have done), people turn away and focus on buying crap they don't need.

#6 It creates false and unreasonably expectations in many families. Growing up - christmas was horrible for me. My mother had this preconceived notion of how the day should go. When my father, brother, and I didn't make her expectations come to life - she got pissed off and cried. That pretty much happened every year from when I was born to when I moved out of the house at 22.

#7 The friggin music is terrible. It just is. And it is played, WAY too much.

#8. Trying to actually get anything done in the month of December is nearly impossible. Lots of people are on vacation, there are a million parties to go to (I like parties in and of themselves, but not when they just expose me to more xmas crap).

#9 My wife gets pissed at me because she wants to buy me a gift and I won't give her any ideas because I hate the holiday for at least reasons 1-8 above. And she gets flabbergasted when I tell her to make a donation on my behalf to a local charity. "Who doesn't like presents" she says. Well - I don't. Sorry. I don't need anything, and anything I want I can buy myself.

Etc.

Anyone else feel this way? I have been able to conceal how I feel in past years, but this year I haven't done such a good job of that. Partly every time I go into a store nowadays I feel like I want to tear my eyes out.

Not the biggest fan of the "Holiday" season, call it whatever you want. For the most part I can ignore what seems to be massive pet peeves.

1) Holiday run up is just stores trying to sell more. Ignore them like any other marketing blitz. Music, decorations, and whatever are just dumb to me. I just ignore most of it and so it doesn't bother me.

2) You believe in religious fairy tales of any sort? As far a giant falsehood... I wouldn't say that. It is symbolic of a time when in winter it made sense to get out of the house and mingle with people. As far as celebrating a birthday or following 3 wisemen/kings, or whatever religious trappings are concerned, I don't go for any of that. If it makes someone else happy then so be it. It doesn't personally affect me so I find this point to be upset about a little silly.

3) Sort of agree, but not really something to be upset about.

4) This is a major sticking point and one I feel a bit upset about as well. I dislike how it turns people into crazy consumers too.

5) related to 4 and I agree

6) I see your point, but mostly a personal problem. Many people have their idea of the "perfect holiday" and tries to force everyone else to revolve around that idea. It's a bit annoying when they are family you like otherwise.

7) Same as number 1 really. For myself, I just tune the music out and ignore it. If you can't then that is a personal problem.

8) Meh. Take vacation yourself. If you can't and are trying to do someone else's work while they are gone then all I can call you is "SUCKER!"

9) Yah, I'm there with you in a sense. Again it's a personal problem. I really don't like getting gifts unless it is something I want, and most of what I want I can't afford myself. Otherwise I'd just go buy it. Which means most people can't afford it.

Then again since I have kids, I don't see the gift giving aspect as something for adults. I see it as something for kids. Doesn't take much to make them deliriously happy with a few toys. Most of which won't be returned. Only the gifts given to adults tend to get returned in society. So I don't buy anyone else that is an adult a gift that isn't my wife. Even then, I get something like movie tickets or something like that which we can both enjoy.

In the end, it's about perspective. There are certainly some annoying aspects about the holiday season. Mostly though I feel as if you are blowing it all out of proportion.

 

[Kaido]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head when you said that #6 is the root cause of my dislike for the season. My parents were decent folks, but my mother and father have/had a lot of issues and they all seemed to manifest themselves at holidays. Over the years I have come to learn that my mother was pretty much emotionally abused by my grandfather her whole childhood. He basically destroyed her self confidence- to the point that her only reaction to anyone doing anything except what she said was to either cry or scream at the top of her lungs. That turned all holidays into "do what mom wants days," so everyone in our house tip toed on eggshells on all major holidays so as to try not to upset my mom. My dad wasn't any help with this. Long before I was born he decided that he didn't want to fight with my mom, and his reaction to her temper tantrums was to leave the house. And let me tell you, its awesome when your mom gets pissed at 7AM Xmas morning and your dad leaves the house and doesn't come home until dinner. Then dinner comes, someone starts to complain about some little thing, and mom is off to the bedroom crying. Not to mention it was "fun" to watch my divorced grandparents (who only ever got together at Christmas) sit at opposite ends of the table giving each other the evil eye. etc. Wash rinse repeat for 20 odd years.

Then shortly after xmas when I am 23 my dad tells me the he and my mother are getting divorced and he is moving back to eastern Europe.

Wow. Dang. Yeah, that would pretty much slaughter any good feelings about Christmas

So ignore all the crap you don't like and make the holiday as you would like it to be.

I don't know how easy it would really be to overcome a lifetime of negative feelings towards the holiday, but if you're open to change, I would take this advice. Take ownership of Christmas & redesign it to make it awesome for you & your family...don't let your parents & grandparents keep control of it in your memories anymore. Right now, any reminder of Christmas kicks off those negative memories, which is totally understandable give your history with it...I think it'd be awesome to re-attach those triggers to new traditions that make you happy. Like, my buddy does something like you do with charity...he takes his whole family out - wife & kids - several times during the holidays to work at soup kitchens, partly because it helps people, but also partly because it makes you feel good to help other people & it also makes you appreciate what you have. On the flip side, my other buddy's kid complained non-stop about getting an iPhone 6 last year instead of a 6S or whatever the latest model is. There's a lot of feelings of entitlement out there & it helps to put things in perspective. We did a lot of Christmas doorbell ditching as kids...our mom would drive us to our friend's & neighbor's houses & we'd drop off a box of cookies with a Christmas card & run away, haha. It was fun to do & you know the people always appreciated getting a random gift. It sounds like reframing what Christmas means to you might help in removing that shadow that your family's memories have hanging over your head.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Your user name and avatar indicate you have, or at the very least, had, a good sense of humor. Therefore, I will appeal to that.

When the Shogun of Harlem posts content that makes him sound like a little bitch, it is indeed time for that trip to see the doc. Because you are probably suffering from low T.

I dig the whole holiday season from mid October through the new year. My fall and winter cooking repertoire are my family's favorites, and it is the ideal time for baking here in FL. Every outdoor activity, with exception of surfing, or any water sports really, becomes more enjoyable.

The lead up to Halloween for my son and I, is playing games with horror themes, and all of us watching some of our favorite films that fit the theme.

Thanksgiving means me boy gets a 5 day school break, and some serious eats happen.

Saturnalia, Xmas, whatev, is yet more serious eats, additional baking, and grabbing the best deals we can find on pc gaming gear and games. And me boy gets an even longer school break.

The mrs and I, only do 2 friends annual xmas parties, so obligations are not over burdening.

As to all the traditional music, decorations, garb, and shopping? Why the F not? Get that stick out of your butt and get ye to the sawbones.

 

[nakedfrog]

The music is the worst part for me.