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Honored Contributor
Posts: 32,482
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Does anyone else not like Christmas?


@chickenbutt wrote:

Hi Sooner!  Although I did express my dislike for christmas, I hope you didn't think that I had disdain for anybody else's experiences with it.    

 

I'm HUGELY a 'live and let live' person and I am all for people being happy and joyous in their lives.   It's just not for me, for a myriad of reasons that have to do with things in my past life.   I don't wish anybody else ill-will or wish that they wouldn't do anything just because I don't do it.  

 

I wish you all the best and I wish the best for everybody else as well.  Smiley Happy


OH no, I KNOW you!  I just get the drift that some people think you aren't Christians and somehow are disreputable if you have a big blow out at Christmas!  I just wanted to point out that you CAN have a "big time" (as we say where I grew  up) and be a devout person at the same time.  

 

Thanks for the sweet words! 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 65,680
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Does anyone else not like Christmas?


@151949 wrote:

@skuggles wrote:

I really hate the way it has morphed into such an incredibly artificial (yes even down to the trees) and commercially molded holiday of emptiness filled with frenzy. It feels like we are being herded by wall street, into the store corrals , both B&M and online,  to feed from the grain sent from China.  It has changed for the worse over the past 15-20 years. People everywhere feel obligated to produce gifts on their ever dwindling income relative to the costs of living. Black Friday became a comic display of the mindless obligatory shoppers that wall street has turned us into. Even though that seems to have taken a turn toward a less visible online activity it is no less profitable to the businesses. It demonstrates how commited we are to the "Wall Street" model of discretionary spending whether it truly makes sense or not.

 

I'm really not a scrooge and dont begrudge anyone their parties and gifting. But the magic of its message that long burned in innocent hearts has been puffed out.

 


I posted another thread about the excessiveness of the gifts now a days etc and Boy oh boy did they ever pile on me! I should have known better! Oh well, who cares. Your right - the real meaning is totally buried under that huge pile on of presents and food and parties etc.


I participated in that other thread and it's regrettable if there was the perception of being piled on, but in fairness, it might well have related to some pretty sweeping generalizations made... 


In my pantry with my cupcakes...
Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,833
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Does anyone else not like Christmas?

 


@Mom2Dogs wrote:

 We have 2 grandkids that we rarely see but we do see them at Christmas!  We love them but don't really have a special relationship with them....I find the evening awkward, they really have no idea how to have a conversation, keep it going, etc.  I feel like I am juggling balls all evening to keep things moving.  Maybe I just need an attitude adjustment.

 


I have lots of kids, grands and two great grands.  But I also have two very special great neices in another state that I have never met. Hope one day to feel well enough to visit with them. But we do have a very special relationshp.  I keep in touch with them as often as possible - birthday cards, small gifts, phone calls, emails, text messages.  They are 6 and 8, but we communicate very well at their ages.  They have a special nickname for me, which they made up. I love that. It's not just my giving them things - it's that we stay in touch. We "talk" in every possible way. We send photos and special thoughts back and forth, and we see each other face to face on our computers. I get email messages when they get good grades, when they have a new friend, all sorts of things.  When they are ill, I send them "Healing Hugs".  The six year old sent me a message last week when she had a sore throat. "Dear ____ I got your healing hugs and I feel better already." Childish printing, but beautiful. I send them cute things I find on the internet and I mail them things from magazines and newspapers I think they will have an interest in.  I truly love them both, and I think they also love me.  

 

Not to sound unkind, but maybe you need to step up your communication with your two grandchildren.  They deserve to know you and know that you love them, but if you rarely communicate, how can they?  You have to create some memories and some constant interchange  - not just on a holiday.  You're the adult, and you have to stop juggling and start being a real part of their lives.  It's really so very easy, and so much fun for all. Please try. And please don't let my words offend you. I really want to help.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 65,680
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Does anyone else not like Christmas?

[ Edited ]

Personally, I don't have a problem with the gifts, the parties, or any of the more secular aspects of the season. Let's face it, there's Christmas and there's the 'holiday season'... The lights, decorations, parties, food and yes, the gifts, are part of what historically have made the 'holiday season' the joyous season that it can be. If the season has grown a bit frayed around the edges for me, I will admit to growing increasingly weary of all the media hoopla surrounding the shopping aspect of it, but more central to me is the reality that having passed a number of life's milestones (childhood, the high school and college years, those first years as a young adult in my own home, serious relationships and so on), there's no longer any significant sense of anticipation related to the holiday season.  Added to that, as friends and family pass on and move on, the celebrations of yesteryear pass on with them and I think for many of us these transitions lead to a season that's more bittersweet than festive, as it once was... But ultimately, It is what it is...

 

Wishing everyone a fulfilling holiday season...

 

 


In my pantry with my cupcakes...
Valued Contributor
Posts: 947
Registered: ‎10-24-2015

Re: Does anyone else not like Christmas?


@stevieb wrote:

@151949 wrote:

@skuggles wrote:

I really hate the way it has morphed into such an incredibly artificial (yes even down to the trees) and commercially molded holiday of emptiness filled with frenzy. It feels like we are being herded by wall street, into the store corrals , both B&M and online,  to feed from the grain sent from China.  It has changed for the worse over the past 15-20 years. People everywhere feel obligated to produce gifts on their ever dwindling income relative to the costs of living. Black Friday became a comic display of the mindless obligatory shoppers that wall street has turned us into. Even though that seems to have taken a turn toward a less visible online activity it is no less profitable to the businesses. It demonstrates how commited we are to the "Wall Street" model of discretionary spending whether it truly makes sense or not.

 

I'm really not a scrooge and dont begrudge anyone their parties and gifting. But the magic of its message that long burned in innocent hearts has been puffed out.

 


I posted another thread about the excessiveness of the gifts now a days etc and Boy oh boy did they ever pile on me! I should have known better! Oh well, who cares. Your right - the real meaning is totally buried under that huge pile on of presents and food and parties etc.


I participated in that other thread and it's regrettable if there was the perception of being piled on, but in fairness, it might well have related to some pretty sweeping generalizations made... 


As always.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,144
Registered: ‎09-14-2010

Re: Does anyone else not like Christmas?

I am or always will be a Christmas girl! 

 

Yes, I wish some of my family was still alive - but, I think of the good times we had over the past holidays together and  whisper them a Merry Christmas and hope they hear me.

 

But, Christmas  is always fun. The shopping and the wrapping, the tree and the lights. The cocoa and the cookies. Love it all. I could probably be completely by myself and live in a cave and still make it into  a special holiday for myself, somehow, someway.

 

I hope each of us can enjoy it just a bit, it only comes around once a year and is gone before we know it. 

-Texas Hill Country-
Valued Contributor
Posts: 951
Registered: ‎08-23-2011

Re: Does anyone else not like Christmas?

We don't have any family around us tho we have 5 kids, 10 grands.  Christmas doesn't amount to much for the 2 of us.  I wouldn't even decorate but DH insists on it.  The only part of Christmas I like is the music, the cookies and memories of when it used to feel special.  It's been ruined by retailers and greed.

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,873
Registered: ‎07-03-2014

Re: Does anyone else not like Christmas?

I just came across this thread and thought whoa! seriously?? I'm not the only one who can't stand Christmas ?! what a relief! 

i hate the commercialism of it, and how people go crazy stupid about buying gifts (even for people they feel forced to give. how dumb is that?) and decorating, and all the stress that comes with the holiday. it's ridiculous. 

for the special people in our lives, staying in touch, sending  little thoughtful gifts just because, and letting them know you're thinking about them, should be a year round thing. it doesn't have to be big and stressful and materialistic. 

charitable donations and volunteering to help worthy causes, aren't exclusive to this holiday either. 

Contributor
Posts: 61
Registered: ‎08-19-2010

Re: Does anyone else not like Christmas?

It is not that I don't like Christmas but as I got older well I won't go into all that but.....

Buying gifts even if you draw names for people you only see once a year I might have better luck buying for someone I haven't met  and I am old enough I don't need anymore stuff.......I am at the age where I want to de-stuff.....lol

Anyway some years ago as my Dad and Mother-in-law were getting older and not wanting to travel I suggested that we have a summer get togather and call it our Christmas.......no gifts just a big picnic......I has worked out so great because ...more people can get there, don't have to worry about people driving in bad weather, some couldn't afford gifts or like me stressed about what to get someone.....We get a shelter house at the park in my home town, you can be outside playing volleyball or whatever or just sit around and talke (my fave) 

I am a crafty person and do miss that end of Christmas but I got over it......But sometimes get a grandchild that will call on how to make this or that........

My mother-in-law told me one time she has earned the right for everyone else to have the family parties she put in her years......that is kind of my thinking too......

 

Super Contributor
Posts: 468
Registered: ‎07-07-2012

Re: Does anyone else not like Christmas?

I don't like Christmas since my divorce.  Husband left in the month of October and the holidays that followed just were so very painful... He has no idea how much he hurt me and took away my self-esteem... I have moved on but Christmas and all the preparations  are just not the same.