Anyone else not into the holidays?
 

At the risk of sounding Scroogey, I don't love this time of year! It's been quite a few years since I was really into the holidays and I wonder what the heck is wrong with me!

I haven't decorated in years due to having pets who love to tear down everything. I used to enjoy buying for my nephew (he's the only kid in the family) but he's nearly 15 and no fun to buy for anymore. He likes gift cards and cash.

This year is especially bad because of all the sad stories on the news about people losing their jobs or homes. I always try to donate to the food pantry, but because of the economy I've had to cut back a bit too.

And I get so tired of the commercials saying basically that nobody will love you unless you get them the perfect gift (usually jewelry store commercials are the best at this).

Does anyone else feel like this? I'm so jealous of people who get all excited about the holidays. I wish I could again, but I'm afraid I've turned into Scrooge.

Yep, my DD is 15 and she is pretty much into cash. No Gift Cards please, she'll decide where to shop. She's not being ungrateful, it's just that see can't see people spending a bunch of money on things that she probably won't use. She'd rather get $20 than have someone spend $50 on something that is useless. See what happens when a pragmatist raises children. She breeds little pragmatists.;)

I also can't put up a tree this year due to a puppy in the house. I'm just gonna put up a few things (really high off the floor, ofcourse) and leave it at that. Plus, I'm working Xmas eve. We've always shuffled Xmas celebrations due to my X's shift work and now mine and due to the recent economic problems hitting close to home I went ahead and put in for OT on Xmas day. We can put off dinner for a day in exchange for 2 1/2 OT pay.:shrug:

I havent decorated in years. I dont mail out cards. I dont buy presents.
I like the holidays - on tv and looking at the outdoor decorations.
I am not a Scrooge!

I don't understand why people send out Christmas cards. Most of them come with simply a signature and maybe a generic note about the year. I don't send cards. It is so much work. If I get a card, I will call or write an e-mail to the person and use it to catch up personally. I'd much rather keep in touch with people that way.

no, it's hard to get into the holiday spirit. It's hard looking around at all the happy ppl, it's just a reminder to me that I don't have someone special to share them with.

Now, I will put on a happy face and hang with my family and friends, but generally, I just can't get into the holiday season.

I have never really been into the holidays. When I was a teenager, I decided I didn't care for all the commercialism and asked people to not give me gifts. I've never personally decorated and I've never sent out cards.

I do enjoy hanging out with my family and I enjoy that my neighbors decorate because they have kids and I know their kids enjoy the decorations. For me, I just want to hang out with my family.

I also hate going anywhere near a store this time of year. I may buy a present for my parents and the gifts to my husband's parents will be charity related this year.

Originally Posted by :
"I don't understand why people send out Christmas cards. Most of them come with simply a signature and maybe a generic note about the year"

And on that thought, dont you love the 2page letters re the family successes of the year? That's all well and good, but quite comical when you know juicy stuff is being omitted! And why the need to tell at all? Those who need to know good and/or bad - already know.

:hohoho: ............. See - Holiday Spirit!

I always start out loving it! I get all jazzed over the decorating and sending the cards. But then after it's all done, or almost done I think what is the point! It's just a bunch of work for sure.

This year is the first year I have not gotten my cards done and out by December 1. I finally just finished them last night, ugh! I always say too that I am not going to do it next year but then I do.

I agree with the generic messages in cards, but for me sending cards out is something I will always do. It lets the people I send cards to know that I am thinking of them this holiday season and they are special to me.

The only part of the holidays I think I really don't like is how commercial Chrismtas has become. People definitely forget the reason for the season and only look at it as what gifts am I going to get. And I HATE, HATE, HATE the shopping part...hate getting out with all the people being stupid because they think they are the only ones out there shopping!

And also the cooking...I have cooked Christmas dinner for the last, hmmm, 20 or so years and I am fed up with it. I work all day for two days cooking and cleaning up and this year I plan on relaxing and just having pizza or something, lol-serious!

I work two jobs, so its just hard to find time to enjoy the things about Christmas that make it special to me. I used to love making cookies with my mom or shopping for the perfect present, making the tree look really nice. Now, i'm just trying to find time to squeeze in the essentials (Finding something, anything to buy that isn't lame, putting up the tree and only 1/2 of the ornaments, writing a card to Grandma or she'll think i'm a terrible person, etc :p) and still have time to sleep and take care of my responsibilities.

It doesn't help working in retail this time of year, either lol. People get so rude and impatient. My part time job is in the mall so parking is terrible, the crowds I have to get through to get to the store are irritating, people are buying expensive stuff all around me and I can't afford any of it :P I just wanna fast forward to christmas eve so i can go hang out with the family. Cause that's the part I love, just being with everyone and enjoying ourselves.

Also, we had a terrible tragedy at the store I work at around this time last year. So I think as long as I'm working there, I'll always associate this time of year with a devestating and horrific event.

It really does make me sad cause I used to love Christmas, I'd look forward to it all year long.

I'm not at all this year, which is not normal for me. Usually I'm a Christmas freak. I don't know whats wrong with me, I'm not depressed at all. My birthday is tomorrow and my Mom asked me what I wanted to do, and I said nothing. And meant it. Because I honestly don't care. Such a weird feeling.

I never get into the holidays, mainly because I don't celebrate most of them (just Thanksgiving). It isn't that I'm particularily scroogie, but things can get pretty ridiculous.

Am I the only one, or is everyone sick to death of Christmas music by time the day actually arrives?

I hate the holidays. I am a total scrooge. There's so much pressure to buy this and that and get everyone a gift to be fair. I don't have the money to do all that crap. I'm not shelling out 2k in gifts and crap to keep up with the Jones's.

We don't own a single Christmas decoration except for the Christmas lights our neighbor gave us because he's too old to put them up anymore. Now I feel guilty because they're just sitting in the garage.

Next year I'll have to do something because my son will be 2 1/2 and much more aware of what it all means. I don't want him feeling left out of picked on. Other than that... bah humbug! :D

One of my favorite stories from a friend: her parents felt bad that they hadn't evenly spent on their 2 ADULT daughters. To keep my friend from being short-changed, they bought a jar of mustard to complete her presents.
All was well with the world that Christmas! It did make a memory though and that is better than any jar of mustard!

The commercialism of Christmas these days makes me sick to my stomach. I grew up in a small town where people went door-to-door with home-made cookies and caroled. I never appreciated how great it was until I moved and saw that that ISN'T how the rest of the world celebrates Christmas.

As I get older and our kids are nearly all grown, I find myself getting more involved in the spiritual aspects of the holidays and shutting out the commercial aspects. I spend more time reading Advent literature and less time in the mall.

i just wish the whole bit about peace on earth good will towards all would be more than a line in a Hallmark holiday card...

I got the Christmas message this year.

When our families asked us what we wanted, we felt really silly. We wanted to be married, which happened this year. We wanted to have a great wedding, which we had with our parent's help. We got everything we could have asked for on August 23rd.

This year his family is coming into town and we're doing stockings. But mostly we're doing things- Christmas Eve service, breakfasts, fun dinners out, concerts, tree-trimming, etc... THAT'S what Christmas has come to mean to me. I didn't have a great family Christmas growing up and I think that's why I get so much into the spirit now. I just love every minute of it because it's on my terms and I can be as happy as I want to be and there is no drama.

Now I have spent Christmas by myself and while all of my friends were fussing over me, worrying that was all alone on Christmas, I enjoyed that, too.

Maybe it is because I am older...

maybe because I am a Christian and worship my SAVIOR'S :bday2you:...

maybe it's because I have a very close family and friends to share Christmas with....

maybe it's because we have such a wonderful church that will give out around 100 baskets to those in need this year....

maybe it's because my wife's Christmas Day Mexican food feast tradition is incredible....

or her posole or tortilla soup on Christmas Eve is wonderful....

maybe it's because my family is buying all our gifts here http://www.worldvision.org/content.n...vision%20gifts this year....

or maybe it's because so many of my 3FC friends are in need of a great CHRISTMAS this year...

but I am looking forward to the holidays....I wish and pray that you all are!

I ditto the Christmas music...there are two local stations that normally start the music on Thanksgiving Day. This year...they started it about a week or so before, ugh! Not to count any store you go into. Not that I don't like Christmas music...because I LOVE it! But two weeks into December, ugh! I've had my fill.

I used to really love the holidays. My family always had such a great time together - my grandmother pretty much made the holidays what they were for us. When she passed away things just weren't quite the same.

Now that I'm married (to a mega grinch) and my family is all too far away to be with... the holidays mostly just make me sad. I used to try to decorate and do cards but the husband just poo-pooed it until I stopped.

I have a hard time this time of year- because I start thinking about the child I wish I could have and the magical holidays I'd make for them and it becomes unbearable.

So I'm working as much as I can. My husband worked on Thanksgiving and he's going to work on Christmas too. I'll spend xmas alone like I spent thanksgiving. So- to make a long post short - no, you're not the only one that isn't into the holidays.

After a long time I am on holidays (Christmas holidays). I and my family have planned to celebrate Christmas in Chicago this time. It will be very cold there, but we were all eager to see the place.

Chicago houses most of the best restaurants in the world. We have booked one of the best restaurants referring boorah.com, so hope our Christmas will be exciting...

I went through a phase where I didn't care much about Christmas. It's starting to come back to me now. But obviously, it's not about the commercialized Christmas. It's about the meaning of Christmas, about family, goodwill, and enjoying the rituals of decorations and food. I LOATHE seeing decorations and hearing Christmas music before Thanksgiving. But the day after ... bring it on!

I have a seething, loathing hatred for Christmas. 99% if it, that is. I love the 1% of Christmas that revolves around the birth of Christ and the significance of it. Its the ONLY part I like. I hate, hate, HATE HATE how much time effort and frikken MONEY it sucks out of me every single year. Its horrible. The ONLY comfort I get is on Christmas Eve when I get to go to church and remind myself of the real reason for the season.

It all sucks!! Except that its Jesus' Birthday.

A few years back, in the poor college years, I made a tradition of making Christmas presents...because I couldn't afford them. We recorded CDs of us singing Christmas carols, we knitted hats and scarves, we made baskets of baking mixes from cheap ingredients, molded soaps and scented cheap Jergens lotion base...and we noticed that the more -time- we put into gifts, the more we thought about the people we were giving them to and were filled with Christmas cheer.

I love the part of Christmas where I remember my grammy by baking brownies to give out in cookie baskets, in her brownie pan with her recipe, just like she used to do with my mom when she was a little kid. And when I make hedgehogs (another kind of cookie) for the baskets, I remember my mom telling the story of how she was always in charge of rolling them when she was a little girl.

I love when I'm working on the handmade ornaments I make every year, because I know that my parent's tree (and my tree, my sister's tree...) are filled with memories from each year - last year I made an ornament that had my wedding picture, my sister's wedding picture, my parent's wedding picture, and a photo of my grandpa...classic.

I love writing Christmas Cards, because for me, it isn't a chore - it's an opportunity to think about and remember all of the people that are important to me. I write a few paragraphs on each one and really THINK about the person, what they mean to me, and how fortunate I am to have them in my life. The moment I start resenting writing your Christmas card, you're off the list. It's my time to send love and blessings to all of my favorite people.

I love waking up Christmas morning to my grandfather cooking breakfast...the same breakfast he has cooked every year since I was 5 (eggs and kielbasa, fried potatoes, toasted sweet bread he bakes every year, and fruit salad). I love sitting with my entire family and eating and talking about how lucky we are.

I do NOT love people shoving in stores, the rudeness, the fighting, the lines, and the fact that Sesame Street changed the lyrics of "Feliz Navidad" from "I want to wish you a merry Christmas, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas" to "I want to wish you a merry Christmas, with lots of presents to make you happy". But I try to "check out" of that as much as I can...one trip to the craft store, another to buy cookie making groceries, and maybe a few online purchases for people, and I'm done.

Originally Posted by mandalinn82:
and the fact that Sesame Street changed the lyrics of "Feliz Navidad" from "I want to wish you a merry Christmas, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas" to "I want to wish you a merry Christmas, with lots of presents to make you happy".

They did not. But it's Sesame Street!

Once that darn Tickle Me Elmo took off, it was all dollar signs for them, apparently.

Originally Posted by mandalinn82:
The moment I start resenting writing your Christmas card, you're off the list. It's my time to send love and blessings to all of my favorite people.

I really like that, thanks! Gives it a new spin for me.

Originally Posted by mandalinn82:
and the fact that Sesame Street changed the lyrics of "Feliz Navidad" from "I want to wish you a merry Christmas, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas" to "I want to wish you a merry Christmas, with lots of presents to make you happy".

For real??? Wow. That is depressing as heck.

I forget what I was watching...it might have been Dora.

It's funny, last year when I weighed 333 pounds and could barely walk a block, I detested Christmas preperation , (shopping, decorating, even cooking). This year I am on fire with Christmas passion. I LOVE CHRISTMAS! What a difference a year makes. Thank you God!

word up, holiday-haters! i am one of you. i distinctly recall being in a women's room in a restaurant this time of year a couple years ago. that crappy christmas music was going non-stop, and the woman at the sink next to me started telling me (completely without provocation) that she was sick and tired of people saying "happy holidays" when they SHOULD be saying "merry christmas", and she didn't care if it wasn't PC, it was CHRISTMAS, and what kind of horrible person doesn't celebrate christmas? i said, "jews, like me." and walked out. didn't wait to hear a reply.

those with no spiritual connection with this particular holiday are STILL subject to the overcrowding, parking problems, stress, cheesy music, and the rest of the worst of the season. ugh.

I am so sorry some of you feel stressed over the birth of CHRIST...I don't think He would wish it that way.

I know the season can become overwhelming...with shopping and traffic...that is the time to sit back and remember why we are celebrating a birthday on Dec. 25th

Am I the only one that enjoys the "cheesy" Christmas music?

Alvin and the Chipmunks ~ Peanuts ~ The Carpenters or even Sawyer Brown or Third Day Offerings (Maybe the best ever Christmas CD)....

so many songs....so many-many memories....

cheesy?...maybe...but for me...I LOVE IT!!! :)

Christmas i my favorite time of the year, and with my children starting to get older i want instill in thier heads that christmas is a time of traditon, family, joy and giving! I hate comercial christmas, but i totally stand for the meaning of the season, where im not a church person, i dont focus so much on the fact that it is jesus's birthday but i remeber that hes a the main part, i hate how comercials are geared toward buying the best presents, i mean "buy your loved ones a car for christmas" are you freaking kidding me?? I love making gingerbread houses with my mom and aunt, and baking for baskets, and waking up christmas morning to my mother cooking breakfeast and a mug of hot choclate waiting for me, even at 23, holidays are time for family, my brother told me whatever money i would spend on presents for him, i was to buy soething for my kids instead. I dont blame people for not being in the spirit, i hear that two store employees were killed this black friday. That my friends in ridiculus! I wish you all a merry Christmas, and I hope that even though the thought of the holiday infurates you, i hope you all have a good spent with the people that matter to you most!

that's just it! it's supposed to be a religious holiday, the way i understand it, and i respect others' religious beliefs. unfortunately, this time of year, i am reminded over and over that not everyone respects mine, and if christmas is a christian holiday, and not an american holiday, i don't need to be told that i'm a "scrooge" or "too PC" or whatever. we're not all christian, even if we don't "look" jewish or hindu or muslim or whatever. i don't celebrate it but in this country i can't escape it either, and the parts i'm subjected to are, by and large, unpleasant.