Do You Hate Christmas And All The Fuss That Goes With It?

kingtut

Sick of it already! There has been xmas stuff in some shops since August

Down hill spiral since then! It's purely a money making racket these days and less about spending time with loved ones.

I absolutely love Christmas, it's my favourite time of the year by a long way. I'd be all day listing reasons were I to start.

freshpopcorn

pilly wrote: »

You love Christmas, off you go and enjoy it your way. Just don't try to make everyone feel they should enjoy it the same way.

TI really agree with this but to add if you hate Christmas and give off this vibe don't visit people who enjoy Christmas you really bring down the mood.

pilly

freshpopcorn wrote: »

TI really agree with this but to add if you hate Christmas and give off this vibe don't visit people who enjoy Christmas you really bring down the mood.

Thanks for the tip, I won't be visiting many people in Tenerife, don't worry.

whisky_galore

Going out was fine until the 12 pubs jumper-wearing 'fun' came into vogue.

freshpopcorn

pilly wrote: »

Thanks for the tip, I won't be visiting many people in Tenerife, don't worry.

That wasn't really aimed at you encase you think it was.

castletownman

I hate how it's almost "forced" on you to love everything about it.

Or how you are called a grinch if you have the audacity to criticise even one aspect of it.

In reality, it's lost its mojo on me years ago. I mentioned it on the "things that are over-rated" thread last week, but when you think about it, it really is ridiculous how overblown it has become.

Adults looking forward to the Late Late Toy Show. I mean, come on......

whisky_galore

splinter65 wrote: »

Old Catholic Ireland had it going on I must admit.
November was the month of the holy souls. We remembered our dead and your dad swore off the demon drink for the whole month to get plenary indulgences for his dead dad who was languishing in purgatory.
If you remember Ireland in the 70s there wasn’t a word about Christmas in November, except maybe towards the end you would get the smell of it if your mother was mixing a cake and a pudding.
Christmas shopping started in the shops on the Feast if the Immaculate Conception 8 December a holy day of obligation . All the schools, all the civil service and slot of private industries closed that day and the country people went to town preferably Dublin to get shopping and see Santa etc.
It was Advent though not Christmas.
4 Sunday’s at mass getting more and more tense as another candle was lit on the wreath on the altar .
Would the 4 candles ever be lit???Would we ever get to midnight mass?
Primary school was all about the flight into Egypt the Star Herod the baby Jesus the Innkeeper.
The rehearsals for the Nativity play. Making paper decorations.
Drawing holly.
Everyone can draw holly and berries.
Then Christmas Eve . The big build up to going to midnight mass.
Every bloody one went.
So we threw all that out the window and now we’re trying to replace the feeling with the John Lewis ad.
Not working really.

Perhaps if Old Catholic Ireland didn't try to brush things under the carpet it wouldn't have changed so much?

You reap what you sow.

razorblunt

Love Xmas but M&S and John Lewis definitely peak too early.
I saw the John Lewis advert last night and had forgotten it was out, it already feels like ages ago it was launched.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

I usually plan a few big nights out in the run up to Christmas, one with work, 2 or 3 with friends and family and a few beers Christmas eve too. However, this year, myself and the OH are going to New Zealand on St Stephen's Day for a few weeks, so I'm trying to keep pre-Christmas spending to an absolute minimum, so apart from the work night, I'm hiding. No random nights out, even agreed with the OH not to bother exchanging gifts.

It probably sounds a little dry, but it's making me realise how much I don't care about any of it. I'm not arsed. My favourite part of Christmas was always Christmas eve, where I'd get together with loads of my friends and we'd head to the pub for a few hours, but things change and lads are living in different areas, married or working abroad, so that's a tradition that is more or less finished.

Spudmonkey

I like Christmas as a time of year and as a holiday. I like the excuse of sitting down watching/eating more ****e than normal and being back home with the family. I suppose being comfortable and not having negative associations with the time of year gives it that association of hygge that was doing the rounds last year.

What I can't stand is the commercial side, it's madness. Ads on the radio for stuff you don't need, loans that allow you to tide yourself over till the new year and allow you to pay it back over 12 months. What's it all about, seriously?

We've decided to buy a book for one other person in the family, it's a useful present, it doesn't cost much and it's not really a waste. We've slowly being paring it back year on year and now it seems like a good compromise.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

I agree OP. I like all the old fashioned traditions that go with Christmas - Carol singing, nativity plays, Sales of Work, etc etc but all that's being drowned out by big spending, consumerist crap.

And some people really go way OTT with everything. Decorations up in November, gardens lit up like the Blackpool illuminations, crazy spending on stuff people don't need or want, buying Christmas plates, towels, mugs and bedlinen and dragging their kids around every single over priced Christmas fair/Winter wonderland/Santa Land/Meet Rudolph/Santa Train in town so they have loads of stuff to post on Facebook.

Christmas is nice - in December, not the minute Hallowe'en is over.
But no need for a six foot mountain of presents under the tree, or to meet every friend you've ever had in the two weeks before Christmas for an overpriced 'Christmas Menu', or all that stuff.

I think we could do with going back to basics where Christmas is concerned and stop allowing ourselves to be conned into spending a fortune on food we won't get around to eating and expensive presents that will end up in charity shops or sitting unused at the back of a wardrobe.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

andekwarhola wrote: »

Everybody has an annoying friend that bores the tits off all and sundry about the 'commercialism' (and other perennial student nuggets) of Christmas and their own strict timeline as to when it's allowed to begin.

It's a pity they all seem to converge on Boards every year.

If people feel that Christmas is being ruined or compromised by the overly commercialised parts of it, that's a valid view whether you like it or not. You're perfectly entitled to put your decorations up in mid November and I'm perfectly entitled to think that's daft.

freshpopcorn

Hector Some Chemist wrote: »

I agree OP. I like all the old fashioned traditions that go with Christmas - Carol singing, nativity plays, Sales of Work, etc etc but all that's being drowned out by big spending, consumerist crap.

All these old fashioned traditions you mentioned are happening in every town/village in my area!

c68zapdsm5i1ru

freshpopcorn wrote: »

All these old fashioned traditions you mentioned are happening in every town/village in my area!

Yes, and I still like them. But they've become less central to Christmas now amidst all the tack and crap and hassle.

freshpopcorn

Hector Some Chemist wrote: »

Yes, and I still like them. But they've become less central to Christmas now amidst all the tack and crap and hassle.

But if you want your Christmas to be surrounded by these things/events. It's fair easy to do it in my opinion. Nobody is forcing people to buy stuff/etc but they choose to.

pilly

Just a couple of examples where people are FORCED to buy stuff.

1. Kris Kindle in work
2. Colleague just said to me "we'd better get something for the bosses kids, I'll pick up something at the weekend and you can give me the money"
3. Christmas Parties. Despite me saying "no, not going" about 10 times now, I know I will be pushed into in the end.

_Dara_

castletownman wrote: »

I hate how it's almost "forced" on you to love everything about it.

Or how you are called a grinch if you have the audacity to criticise even one aspect of it.

So true. Huz said that happened in work last year when he tentatively suggested that he was a tad sick of constant Christmas FM being played in the office. My own recollection of Christmas FM is that they only play a small pool of songs and omit some really good ones. Of course you’d get sick of it. And my huz LOVES Christmas.

There are genuinely people who subtly browbeat people into jollity! They can’t accept that people celebrate it in different ways.

freshpopcorn

pilly wrote: »

Just a couple of examples where people are FORCED to buy stuff.

1. Kris Kindle in work
2. Colleague just said to me "we'd better get something for the bosses kids, I'll pick up something at the weekend and you can give me the money"
3. Christmas Parties. Despite me saying "no, not going" about 10 times now, I know I will be pushed into in the end.

We had a Kris kindle at work and college and only does who wanted to do it did it.
If you wanted to be included you put you name in the hat.
Don't know much about buying a gift for the bosses kids for Christmas. I never heard of this to be honest.
I didn't go to Christmas parties I didn't want to in the past. I just said no and stuck to my guns.

quickbeam

pilly wrote: »

2. Colleague just said to me "we'd better get something for the bosses kids, I'll pick up something at the weekend and you can give me the money"

Is that a "thing" now????? :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

pilly

_Dara_ wrote: »

So true. Huz said that happened in work last year when he tentatively suggested that he was a tad sick of constant Christmas FM being played in the office. My own recollection of Christmas FM is that they only play a small pool of songs and omit some really good ones. Of course you’d get sick of it. And my huz LOVES Christmas.

There are genuinely people who subtly browbeat people into jollity! They can’t accept that people celebrate it in different ways.

I'd have to take a months leave if Christmas FM was played in the office. :mad:

c68zapdsm5i1ru

freshpopcorn wrote: »

But if you want your Christmas to be surrounded by these things/events. It's fair easy to do it in my opinion. Nobody is forcing people to buy stuff/etc but they choose to.

No, but people can feel very pressurised, particularly if they have kids who want what all the other children on the road are getting etc.

No man is an Island and all that. We are all affected by general trends and changes.

pilly

quickbeam wrote: »

Is that a "thing" now????? :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

It is around here, we did the same last year. Tbf he is very good to us and the kids are cute but it's just the fact that it's presumed you can afford it.

Same with Christmas do "are sure he's paying". Yeah but you still have to get something to wear, get a taxi and pretend you're fcuking enjoying yourself. :D

I know, I really am the Grinch.

quickbeam

freshpopcorn wrote: »

We had a Kris kindle at work and college and only does who wanted to do it did it.

Some workplaces are more forgiving of people who don't want to partake in KK than others. I guess "force" in a literal sense doesn't happen, but it is very much peer pressured in to it in some places, in my experience.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

quickbeam wrote: »

Some workplaces are more forgiving of people who don't want to partake in KK than others. I guess "force" in a literal sense doesn't happen, but it is very much peer pressured in to it in some places, in my experience.

We had a KK last year. It was low key, fun and had a strict and small limit on what you could spend. Then someone suggested that we should up the spending limit and buy 'proper' presents for each other. That is how nice, cheap and fun things end up becoming stressful and expensive. Some people can't just leave things as they are, but are constantly trying to 'better' them and make them flashier and tackier and more competitive.

freshpopcorn

Hector Some Chemist wrote: »

No, but people can feel very pressurised, particularly if they have kids who want what all the other children on the road are getting etc.

No man is an Island and all that. We are all affected by general trends and changes.

I still think it's sort of your own choice tough. I was always told that Santa can only bring you a few things because he has to get stuff for all the other boys/girls as were most people.
I remember seeing a woman giving out last year that her kid looked at the smyths catalogue and they said they wanted €1000's worth of gifts and it was all the shops/marketing's/etc fault.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I still think it's sort of your own choice tough. I was always told that Santa can only bring you a few things because he has to get stuff for all the other boys/girls as were most people.
I remember seeing a woman giving out last year that her kid looked at the smyths catalogue and they said they wanted €1000's worth of gifts and it was all the shops/marketing's/etc fault.

Oh I agree and I've really taken a step back from a lot of the crap I used to go along with. But when you're surrounded by so much greed and manic buying and stressed and hassled people it's difficult to totally ignore the crasser side of Christmas or to not find it a bit depressing.

I used to absolutely love Christmas. The magic of Santy had a huge impact on me as a child and I got really caught up in it all. I still have precious books I received filled with Christmas stories of victorian families sitting around a tree as high as the ceiling. The dinner was special with all the bells and whistles. We had a big cake and crackers and sat around the table wearing paper crowns. As I got older the magic faded but it was still a nice time.

These days however it is a struggle. The busyness of the shops drain me. I'm not able for all the people and the rush. Meeting friends is something I do throughout the year, eating far too much is another thing I don't need a special reason to do. The whole thing passes me by.

freshpopcorn

Hector Some Chemist wrote: »

Oh I agree and I've really taken a step back from a lot of the crap I used to go along with. But when you're surrounded by so much greed and manic buying and stressed and hassled people it's difficult to totally ignore the crasser side of Christmas or to not find it a bit depressing.

I understand you. I like Christmas and in my experience does who don't like it always seem to have an excuse. They can't afford it, family away, to much food, not enough food, same with presents, family are away and when there at home their fighting, no matter what style of Christmas they have they don't seem to like it. My aunts always say it was so much better back in the old days and ask anybody who knows her. She wasn't happy then either she just wants a excuse.

freshpopcorn

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I understand you. I like Christmas and in my experience does who don't like it always seem to have an excuse. They can't afford it, family away, to much food, not enough food, same with presents, family are away and when there at home their fighting, no matter what style of Christmas they have they don't seem to like it. My aunts always say it was so much better back in the old days and ask anybody who knows her. She wasn't happy then either she just wants a excuse.

Or maybe those who don't like it are grieving or alone or a million other things that matter to them and are not just "an excuse".