What are you doing for Christmas?

I hate Christmas it’s like you are forced to be happy when you don’t feel happy 

I'm a Coeliac and a tee totaller ,so nothing fun.  Suffering. Remembering all the Christmases past when i could eat and drink what i liked.

Trying to watch what i want on tv rather than what some other *** wants to watch. hahaha


Merry Bloody Christmas!

What.was the skiing and Switzerland like for you (I've no experience of either)? You say you like online boardgames, do you have any particular recommendations? I've played a lot of online Backgammon since 2020 having not played before. I like and respect the game but would like to perhaps try some others now

Ah, so it's Charmaine that has vanished. I had been struggling to remember her username, but knew it began with C.

It's a shame, as she hadn't been here long, had she? Maybe she just needs some time out to hibernate. Who knows!

Slightly off topic. What happened to Charmaine? Have I upset her? I was happily exchanging messages and vanished. This happens to me multiple times. Least got other friends who can private message.

Same

They get so much hype but they are the worst time of the year for me

So busy and loud a complete sensory overload every year and it lasts for months I think that's why it is so bad.

A lot of people look forward to it but I dread it I really do

That sounds nice spending Christmas together. The big family get togethers are the hardest for me.

Me too! I would gladly not have those parts of the year every year.

Lol poor Santa ^^

Christmas???

Ummm no thanks. I'll skip it and go straight past new years eve well I'm at it ^^

I feel the same. Both me and my brother hate the time of year. We go out for dinner just the 2 of us, just get through the day at least x

My problems with work is that I'm a people pleaser so when I get asked to do stuff like the Christmas party I worry I'll upset everyone if I say no and they'll judge so I just say yes, even if it means I'm going to hate it and suffer for it later. 

Every year I tell myself I'm going to say no this time, I've got other commitments. Oh no I can't! I've got to see family this time!

But every time the words oh yes I'd love to! fly from my lips before I realise it.

I don't have any culinary skills either, my Dad cooks the Christmas dinner. If it was down to me we would all die horribly of food poisoning lol  

January blues are my favourite part of the year! No Christmas for another 12 months... if only it just vanished completely then I'd enjoy the entire year.

Amen.  Literally.  Dawn, your words are bang on - every single one of them.

Number said:

.but the "shopping" imperative to "give gifts" and the expectation that you will be "pleased" to receive pointless anonymous tat, drives me insane.

It is a commercial madness that I simply cannot understand and that results in pointless consumerism, wasted money and needless wasting of planetary resources.....for the sake of a "tradition" that has no basis in spirituality nor logic nor faith.  Pointless.

Exactly, right there!  THAT is everything that is wrong with Christmas.

If the religious thing is your bag, good for you.

If the party thing is your bag, good for you, just don't expect every one else to party.

But the commercialism - sack santa, I say.  Sack him!  We'll all be the healthier and wealthier for it. 

Indeed.  There are 12 days of Christmas - none of them are in October

LOL

LOL you sound like me.  

You don't have to go to the Christmas Party, you know.  Just tell them it's nothing personal, but you hate Christmas and don't feel like it.  It's become the standing joke at work that I am the Christmas Grinch, but they respect that it isn't a great time for me.

My answer is: I'll be doing as little as possible.  I can't cook a Christmas dinner - my culinary skills suck and I hate the smell of boiled veg and gravy.  My biggest problem will be how to make one for my elderly parents regardless. Groan.  Roll on January!  While everyone else has the January Blues, I perk up significantly :-)

Ignoring it as much as possible. I've managed to join a uni library that claims to be open 24/7/365, so hopefully I can go there in the afternoon as usual. Otherwise reading a lot of books and planning my shopping trips around the times when the supermarkets are chaos.

Obviously due to my 30 years working in supermarket retailing at age 53 now, the past few years before Covid has seen the run-up to Christmas being way too commercialised, starting ever earlier each passing year, with Christmas displays in shops appearing from the end of August onwards, through to Sept, through October snd Halloween, after which time, it becomes too much and by Christmas Eve, aside from a big rush very early on, then by 1pm the store is practically dead, until people start realising the store closing time is 5pm and they rush to the store at 3-4pm up to 4.30pm - the strangest thing for me is that the “reason for the season” is lost in all of this (that of Christ’s birth) and this is epitomised by the non-availability of Christmas Cribs (Nativity scenes) and when they are available they are massively over-priced, even on online stores - living in the U.K. and having family in Rural Ireland, travelling home to Ireland on Christmas Eve is way too stressful and there are usually lots of travel disruptions whether by air or by overnight coach, train and/or by ferry, so I usually just wait until just after Christmas before attempting any travel in former years - however, this year, even in the post-Covid era, I’m considering travelling home to Ireland for Christmas, so I’m getting together all the advance information that I can, along with real time last minute updates instantly available - I’d considered travelling home for my birthday this year, but given the debacle of last year, I was far more cautious and lo and behold, a travel app alerted me to more train strikes in the U.K. and travel disruptions within Ireland (as I’m totally reliant on public transport) - issues around climate change and carbon footprint (which the Irish government are obsessed with) is set to make this ever more uncertain in the coming years  

For well over a decade, it became the tradition that my son and I would travel approximately 75 miles with my parents, to spend Christmas Day with members of my mother's family. It was the only time I got to see them, and I mostly enjoyed it because the atmosphere was relaxed. 

My aunt (who hosted) has always owned dogs, and I sort of took on the role of helping to keep them out of the kitchen whilst everyone else pitched in with the cooking. It was a role I thoroughly enjoyed. The dogs were always super-excited and friendly, and I loved lavishing them with my attention and enabling them to burn off some energy before we all sat down to eat.

Since my dad died a few years ago, my son and I have spent Christmas Day at home (just the two of us). It's very quiet and sometimes a bit TOO quiet for my liking, but we find it considerably less stress-inducing than attempting to spend the day with my mother.