Christmas spirit

[PenforPrez]

I'm having trouble getting into the proverbial "Christmas spirit" this year. This year, I'm actually trying. The last few years, I was just the ultimate Scrooge. I was all: "Christmas?? Bah humbug! Go fuck yourself!" I hated the fake Chinese-made consumerist plastic piece of shit Christmas tree we have so much that I never even put it up for the holiday.

But this year, I wanted to try again. As much as I hate the fake Chinese-made consumerist plastic piece of shit Christmas tree, I've decided it's better than no tree at all. I'm really enjoying doing the QLC Secret Santa; did some serious looking last night. :) Just trying to be a part of the holiday and all.

Nonetheless, I'm still finding the bubbly, joyful Christmas optimism hard to find. I don't know if I'm too jaded or too depressed right now or what, but it's not there. I mean, I'm not purposely trying to be a misanthrope. I'm just not sure why it's not happening this year. :torn:

Paul

[cache]

I considered not going to see family for Christmas. I've posted a few things about my reasons before.

I decided to go, well, because what else am I going to do?

But hopefully all goes well. It might not take much to get me upset with one of them, though...and I rarely get upset.

[Bocheezu]

For me personally, the holiday is really a non-event. We were never big into exchanging presents growing up, and I'm certainly not into it now. I absolutely abhor buying...anything. My sister is a big spender and she buys gifts for everybody, and makes a point to chide me every year for not doing the same. "You make more money than me you Scrooge!"

I just don't see the value in it. "It's the thought that counts." Apperantly that thought is "buy some half ass gift to make it look like you gave a crap, when you really didn't." I don't see the point, people buy a bunch of junk nobody wants and end up wasting a ton of money. Great job. I'd rather pay down my house, thanks.

[old_school_soul]

I considered not going to see family for Christmas. I've posted a few things about my reasons before.

I decided to go, well, because what else am I going to do?

But hopefully all goes well. It might not take much to get me upset with one of them, though...and I rarely get upset.

Hah, I feel like this is me talking..

[PenforPrez]

For me personally, the holiday is really a non-event. We were never big into exchanging presents growing up, and I'm certainly not into it now. I absolutely abhor buying...anything.

That's half of the issue I have with the whole thing. Every year, it seems to become a more extravegant consumerist orgy, and that irritates me more and more as I get older.

Paul

[old_school_soul]

I'm having trouble trouble getting into the proverbial "Christmas spirit" this year. This year, I'm actually trying. The last few years, I was just the ultimate Scrooge. I was all: "Christmas?? Bah humbug! Go fuck yourself!" I hated the fake Chinese-made consumerist plastic piece of shit Christmas tree we have so much that I never even put it up for the holiday.
:torn:

Paul

It's ok. I feel the same way. Christmas is bullshit. It's for the kids. It's for Santa Claus. Jesus doesn't want you celebritating his birth. It's just the remnants of a Pagan holiday and a Roman Emperor's tactics to ease the transition to Christianity.

The fact that it has no real foundation is why the excitement fades. Just make it fun for the kids, because those are the times when you remember Christmas is great.

[PenforPrez]

The fact that it has no real foundation is why the excitement fades. Just make it fun for the kids, because those are the times when you remember Christmas is great.

Disney World is the same way. ;)

[MetFanL]

I ADORE Christmas. So much that I'm borderline annoying. Not as bad as my SIL, though. She greets EVERYONE with "Jingle Bells" this time of year. She even answers the phone "Jingle Bells!!" Anyway, Here is how you get in the Xmas spirit...

(1) Change the ringtone on your phone. I recommend All I Want for Christmas is You or Linus and Lucy. Both are wonderful.

(2) Make an Xmas playlist on your iPod. If you want music suggestions, I can give you my top 15 Xmas songs.

(3) Do a dinner/get together with your closest friends instead of exchanging gifts. Give each other ridiculous awards for things you've accomplished this year (my friends and I give each ot her awards for "Biggest Ho Ho Ho" and things like that).

(4) Send your friends funny Xmas cards. To my nearest and dearest, the cards said "Tis the Season for Giving.... Head." Anything that you find ridiculous and amusing and FUN.

In the end, whether its your friends or family who are the most important, you just have to make the holiday about enjoying the time with them and less about the shopping and things.

[cache]

It's ok. I feel the same way. Christmas is bullshit. It's for the kids. It's for Santa Claus. Jesus doesn't want you celebritating his birth. It's just the remnants of a Pagan holiday and a Roman Emperor's tactics to ease the transition to Christianity.

The fact that it has no real foundation is why the excitement fades. Just make it fun for the kids, because those are the times when you remember Christmas is great.

Yup. Yup. and Yup. I have tried to bring some of the "purity" back to Christmas, but my family will have none of it. They just want to go to WalMart and spend until the magnetic strip wears out. Because love comes in a box from Best Buy.:rolleyes:

[old_school_soul]

At least with St. Patricks day, we all know the real reason that we celebrate, to get wasted. There shouldn't be any time of the year that's a "giving season" or whatever. People have to bottle that shit up all year so they can buy someone a diamond tennis bracelet. It truly makes me want to put my hand down my throat and pump my stomach until all the vomit from this morning's mexican omelette dribbles off my chin.

[WorkInProgress]

Because love comes in a box from Best Buy.:rolleyes:

Hey, for some people, it does. Just like for some people, food=love. Maybe it's not the kind of love you're looking for, but it counts (unless, of course, it's all for the "I have more money than X" show, in which case, it's clearly not about love at all).

[old_school_soul]

Hey, for some people, it does. Just like for some people, food=love. Maybe it's not the kind of love you're looking for, but it counts (unless, of course, it's all for the "I have more money than X" show, in which case, it's clearly not about love at all).

And for some people, getting peed on equals love. Great, we all have opinions, this is news?!

[WorkInProgress]

And for some people, getting peed on equals love. Great, we all have opinions, this is news?!

Hey, save your sexual preferences for those you're sharing the experience with.

[cache]

Anyone catch that article yesterday, I think it was the USA Today. It mentioned that like 50 years ago, when companies started including Christmas in their advertisements and in store displays, the religious people objected, and created the "put the Christ back in Christmas" campaign. Now the religious people are objecting because stores are taking Christmas out, and replacing it with "Happy Holidays."

It is an interesting about-face...but just more of the absurdity of Christmas.

[Winter Storm]

I'm trying to, Paul, but having a hard time.

I put the tree up, not that anyone will see it. My damn window lights have decided to stop working. I've already started buying gifts for people I probably won't see this year and I can't even give the greeting cards away since no one will give up their addresses or answer emails. I don't yet know if the family is getting together of if I'll get dinner this year.

I'm sure I'll get in the spirit.....any moment now.

[PenforPrez]

And for some people, getting peed on equals love. Great, we all have opinions, this is news?!

That was better than what I was going to say! :p

Paul

[wordsmith]

We were never big into exchanging presents growing up, and I'm certainly not into it now. I absolutely abhor buying...anything.

We're the anti-consumerism family this year, and given that we don't ever have money, anyway, it's really not like it's ever been all about the gifts. My family's had a rough year, financially, and each of my siblings is on a tight budget, so we decided to shift the focus to just spending time together. Whatever we end up doing, we've taken the focus off massive presents for all, as a conscious choice. It feels pretty good. We're doing a low-cost exchange within the siblings (I'm making the gift for the name I drew), and my parents have instructed each of us that if we feel as if we MUST give them presents, only one apiece. Christmas being about spending depresses me, so I'm glad we're downplaying that.

Christmas isn't about gifts to me, and personally, though I'm religious, what it's mostly about to me is spending time with my family.

[Ciderhillnh]

This year its been really difficult toget into the spirit of Christmas. Usually I love making the gifts for my friends and picking out little things for them....this year its been NOTHING but a chore.

I finally started wrapping last night, 75 presents down, another 45 to go. 2.5 HOURS wrapping and my back hurt, and it was getting messy, because really I just dont care this year.

However.....the only people I buy 'real' gifts for are my parents, and my BF. Everyone else I make something for and pick up something small usually to do with some inside joke.

I wrapped and am sending out my secret santa gift today or tomorrow....just need one last touch and out the door it goes.....

I didnt get a real tree this year.....which I thought would be sad, and I havent decorated my house and probably wont. Over the weekend, I did find a neat black tree (its done in tinsel) and I put that up last night, tonight Im going to put the technicolor bulbs on it and maybe some white lights.....should at least be a good place to stack all the gifts.......

I honestly just want the holidays to be over.

[mishl982]

I was really into the CHristmas spirit, I had most of my presents ready, got a free tree from mom, wanted to decorate ornaments and as of the weekend before this last one, it all went away. I didn't want to decorate the tree, I still have to wrap my presents. Right now I'm just focused on filling up my evenings and weekends with friends and family to keep my mind off of some things that have been stressing me out as of late.

However tonight I'm going to spend the night doing laundry, finishing up buying presents, wrapping them, writing cards, and sending out my Secret Santa gift!

[meatwad]

I am soooooooo ready for Christmas. Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Bring it on!

[workaholic?]

i'm actually more in the Christmas spirit this year than I usually am....well...that's probably not true. One year in college I actually walked the two miles to the old, trendy part of town in the snow to buy gifts for my family, and despite carrying back all the bags (which were rather heavy) the two miles to campus, i was still in such a cheery mood...so i guess this year is not really moreso than that year, but still.

I'm probably more in the spirit than i should be, truthfully. i'm still at work, but believe me...i checked out last friday. i haven't actually done anything since then and whether or not I actually will before i leave for my little mini-vacation home to my parents' house is still up for question.

all i want is holiday parties, hot chocolate, ornament painting, and cuddling when it's cold outside...is that too much to ask??

[Skyblade]

Meh. I'm not a huge Christmas fanatic. So far I've only bought 3 gifts...2 for my boyfriend and 1 for my secret santa (which I sent out on Saturday).

I always thought it would be cool to have Christmas in a place where you actually have a Winter season. Living in California all my life, I've never had a white christmas.

[Winter Storm]

I always thought it would be cool to have Christmas in a place where you actually have a Winter season. Living in California all my life, I've never had a white christmas.

You're not missing anything. Usually on Xmas, its so damn cold, its hard to even brace the wind chills outside and its all about how fast can you get in the car and get the heat going, or how fast can you make it back into the house, while completely bundled up on hat, scarf and gloves and carrying tons of bags. Not to mention, if your car will start once it gets below 20 degrees, how long will it take to heat up, de-icing the car if you're lucky enough to have picked up a good ice scraper, and having to wear weather-appropriate boots in snow, which will track ice and snow inside the house. Then there are the hassles of traffic after a snow fall which usually backs things up a minimum of 25 minutes and the reduced parking most places cause the entire lot couldn't get plowed completely.

I've never had a Xmas with warm, sunny, nice weather. If you ever feel like coming over to the bleak side of gray skies, runny noses and icy winds stinging your face, we could always house swap for the season. I'd kiss winter goodbye in a heartbeat.:rolleyes:

[cache]

My first Christmas back after moving to CA, it was snowing the entire time. I spent the whole week shoveling, pushing cars out, and having wet, cold feet.

Reinforced one of the reasons I left.:D

[wordsmith]

A couple of years ago, an ex of mine spent his first Christmas home since he was 18 (he was early 30s), having been deployed abroad by the military most of the intervening years, typically in places with no snow. He rarely got holiday leave, so he'd just never been home for Christmas and snow since he was a kid. That year, it DUMPED snow, and he was like a kid in a candy store. He revised that opinion, though, when he couldn't remember how to drive in it.

[WorkInProgress]

A couple of years ago, an ex of mine spent his first Christmas home since he was 18 (he was early 30s), having been deployed abroad by the military most of the intervening years, typically in places with no snow. He rarely got holiday leave, so he'd just never been home for Christmas and snow since he was a kid. That year, it DUMPED snow, and he was like a kid in a candy store. He revised that opinion, though, when he couldn't remember how to drive in it.

Yeah, I like snow...to look at, from inside my snugly warm home, in my warmies, preferably with a mug of cocoa. Or, to ski in, before heading back to some place with warmth, warmies and cocoa. I don't really expect to like being out in it again until I have kids.

[Bocheezu]

I always thought it would be cool to have Christmas in a place where you actually have a Winter season. Living in California all my life, I've never had a white christmas.

This reminds me of someone I went to grad school with at the Univ. of Michigan -- she went to Cal Poly Pomona and had never seen snow and was so excited to see snow for the first time. We got some wimpy flurries and she went completely nuts. SNOW! LOOK! SNOW! It wasn't even a dusting.

I think we got a foot of snow like the next week, we took her sledding a few times, and about a week later she just basically said "OK, had enough." Sorry, you've got it for three months! Enjoy!

[CTGirl]

This thread is such a downer!

I love going home for christmas, even though I'm only a couple hours away from home, and we generally get a little bored (as mentioned in my other thread) we all still love it. My mom especially, she loves decorating, and having guests, and the whole bit. My siblings have a lot of friends with questionable home lives, so lately we've been taking them into our holiday celebrations as well, and so that's cool.

As for the "true meaning" of christmas - I like the modernized version better myself. I am not a religous persona at all (and Jesus wasnt born on christmas anyhow) so to me, I celebrate a holiday about santa claus and family and friends and getting together, eating special food and having a good time. The presents are an added bonus, but not really the focal point. For us, christmas is really a lot like thanksgiving, but with a different theme, lol.

[mishl982]

I've never had a Xmas with warm, sunny, nice weather. If you ever feel like coming over to the bleak side of gray skies, runny noses and icy winds stinging your face, we could always house swap for the season. I'd kiss winter goodbye in a heartbeat.:rolleyes:
You never know, with the way the weather has been, it could be 60 for all we know!

[wordsmith]

My Christmas spirit could be made a whole hell of a lot better if I got the day after it off, but my publisher refuses to bump our publication date back a day due to the holiday, and Tuesday is our regular deadline. It's going to put a damper on the holiday to know that not only do I have to come back to my deadline, having missed Monday, there will be double the work to be done. I'd be better off just WORKING on Christmas. There's seriously no reason we can't push the deadling back a day for the freaking holidays. But, no. :(

[Winter Storm]

You never know, with the way the weather has been, it could be 60 for all we know!
This is true, it has been nice outside. Let's cross our fingers!:)

[cache]

If it makes you feel any better, words, my plane leaves at 7:45am...Christmas morning. So, I'll spend Christmas in the air, on the road, and the next day working.

[wordsmith]

I just know that I'll once again be in the position, as I am on all Monday holidays, of spending the day stressing about the papers and how I only have one day to pull them off instead of two, and not enjoying the holiday at all.

[PenforPrez]

You never know, with the way the weather has been, it could be 60 for all we know!

It IS 60 here in Missouri at this exact moment. It's supposed to be 45. But it's 60, and we STILL have ice on the ground from two weeks ago. If we must have unseasonable warmth, dear God, make the ice go away! :p

Paul