Am I the only one here that hates Xmas?

[HipChick]

[LiberalEsto]

1. I'm with you

It's become a festival of mass consumption. I find it tremendously depressing, particularly when there are so many people in need, both in our country and around the world.

[ailsagirl]

2. Nope!!

I don't actually hate it as much as dread it. Let's just say I'm relieved when it (and my LEAST favorite holiday, New Years) are over.

[Chan790]

3. "Maybe Christmas...doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps...means a little bit more!"

C'mon now. Sing along!

Fahoo Fores Dahoo Dores
Welcome Christmas Come this way
Fahoo Fores Dahoo Dores
Welcome Christmas, Christmas day
Welcome, welcome fahoo ramus
Welcome, welcome dahoo damus
Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp
Fahoo fores dahoo dores
Welcome Christmas bring your cheer
Fahoo fores dahoo dores
Welcome all Whos far and near

[UTUSN]

4. Nope, you're not. I detest all holidays. Kids out of school under clothes racks.

And I go like, "Get out of there - your mother is calling you!1" -

Those mothers WISH their men would CARE

[bamademo]

5. Since I became an adult, I've hated without exception.

False charity, jolly commercials, foul weather and quarreling parents over the erection of the tree.

I am a Christmas orphan now and perfectly ok with that.

[madinmaryland]

6. I hate the commercialization of Christmas. Spending time with friends and family

is refreshing.

[femmocrat]

7. No, you are not.

I hate all of it.

[Locut0s]

8. I don't usually. But I'm kind of dreading this one...

Christmas dinners with the extended family when I'm in such a state of failure

In the past though when things have been going well I have rather liked Christmas.

BUT I can understand why many don't. It's a shallow consumer driven holiday easily made devoid of the things that it should be about, love, family, friends, etc.

[Kali]

9. I hate winter in general,

don't mind x-mas traditions, but too lazy to really do them

[GoCubsGo]

10. Looks like I'm in good company here.

I can't stand it, especially the fact that all the Xmas shit starts coming out before Halloween is even finished. Then there is the incessant "War on Xmas" bullshit. The funny thing is, back when I used to tolerate it, I really hated all of the tacky light displays. Now, I think that is the only good part about this time of year. I love the lights, and it's kind of depressing when they're all taken down after the holidays.

[rrneck]

11. Nope. I'm no fan either nt

[OffWithTheirHeads]

12. Fuck X-mas and all the capitalist bullshit!

Celebrate the winter Solstice and the return of the Sun. I have a huge dinner planned for it. X-mas, not so much. The return of the Sun is a big deal in my house!

[Arugula Latte]

33. That's the real Reason for the Season.

[BlueJazz]

13. Every Piss begins with Kay.

[Xyzse]

38. Have to admit... Those Kay commercials tick me off.

Just about as bad as the ones from Jared.

I feel like thwapping them upside the head.

[applegrove]

14. I used to spend a lot of time thinking of gifts for others. I liked that.

[HipChick]

15. I feel I want to hibernate till at least Jan 1st

[bamademo]

16. Till about Feb 15 for me then N. Alabama starts warming up and things start blooming.

Dec and Jan are miserable. February is only made tolerable by college FB.

[HipChick]

18. I'm a part time snow bird..

Already left for warmer climes...the winter already depresses me as is..

[Joe Shlabotnik]

17. Can't stand it.

I could do without winter too.

[onestepforward]

19. I don't hate it, but it's a depressing time of year for me.

I had so much fun in childhood and early adulthood gathering with family, but they are all gone now and I really miss the love and laughter.

[HipChick]

20. That's what makes it depressing for me..not being around family

[PassingFair]

31. I'm the opposite. I absolutely love Christmas....

but I have somehow become the sole purveyor of it for my extended family.

My mother lives ACROSS THE STREET from me and wants the entire family (five siblings
plus spouses and children and (soon) grandchildren all together on Christmas day.

My house is bigger, so every year, I have all of them over for dinner and then we
troop across the street for dessert, coffee and present opening at my Mom's.

19 people this year (one sibling is out-of-state)! I would really prefer NOT to have
everyone together. It is so much trouble cleaning, cooking, buying all the food...
all to have it consumed and over with in about 1/2 hour!

We have tried to pawn the dinner off on other sibs....but NO TAKERS.
It makes my mother happy, though, and she's 78 this year, so my sainted husband
will play host to my unruly, ungrateful, preposterous family once again.

When we were kids, it was just the nuclear family at dinner and in the morning.
We would see other relatives over the course of the week. This BIG DEAL family
"gathering" is what depresses me!

I ain't gonna lie....once my mother is gone, that will be IT for me and Xmas dinner!
I don't mind seeing my siblings one at a time and have no desire to have everybody
together at once. I don't really understand it. No one has a decent conversation, no
REAL sharing, just loud craziness with everyone running around and shouting at the
top of their (and their kids) lungs. Bits and pieces of conversations. Wrapping paper
everywhere.

[mnhtnbb]

21. No...I have struggled through Christmas ever since

the meaning turned from a joyful celebration to the sense of false promise 24 years ago.
I was pregnant with our daughter...and having complications (I think she was a twin and
I lost the twin) then, in December believing everything would be ok, only to
have her stillborn in January. Since then, I've faked Christmas for the rest of the family while
her brothers were growing up.

Now, I just learned that my dear uncle died last night. He was almost 95--had a full life,
was a wonderful man, so his passing really was a great release as his health had
deteriorated to the point where he couldn't even have a phone conversation.
RIP, Uncle Harry.

[1monster]

22. I don't hate it. I'm weary of it. I never have the time or energy to do it right

any more and I hate feeling so tired and overwhelmed and disappointed by my inability to get done what I want done.

When I was younger and had more time, I loved decorating and baking. Now, it's just another chore that doesn't get done.

[bif]

23. I don't hate it, but it's not my favorite holiday.

Expectations are set way to high. I can't stand the commercialization of it. Hate most Christmas music. And my mom passed away at this time of the year. So I'm pretty much with you.

[B Calm]

24. I liked it when I was a little kid, but I've grown up since then.

[IrishAyes]

25. I love winter and Christmas most of all.

Contrarian that I am, cold cheers me up. I put daylight cfl's in all my light fixtures and enjoy doing things I have no time or energy for in hot weather. Properly wrapped, there's no problem going out in 2 feet of snow; I don't do so after dark because sometimes people living alone have been found frozen when they fell outdoors and no one knew about it in time. But the idea of falling in the daytime doesn't bother me because I expect the snow would cushion the impact.

Of course blessed retirement puts a whole new glow on the season. I keep enough food in the house for at least a month if not longer in case of emergency. The only thing that concerns me a little for my own sake is the rare occasion when we lose electrical power. But at least this tiny town has its own electrical plant and the guys who run it are extremely good. Underground utilities help a lot.

In fact, I enjoy my situation so much it means I have a little energy left over for thinking and caring about more than my own hide. Maybe that's the greatest blessing of all. My own problems pale by comparison with those of many people.

[BlueStreak]

26. Yes and no

Full disclosure: I'm an atheist.

I enjoy the music.

I am glad the season gives so many people a reason to get together and a reason to greet one another with a smile.

I hate the commercialism.

I can't stand how predictably Faux uses this as a time to whip up anger that has no place in this season.

It saddens me that the season exaggerates depression in so many, leading many to take their lives. I wish those Christian bullies (at Faux and elsewhere) would put their energies toward that instead of whipping up manufactured outrage.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. I'm with you.

I'm not into the religious part (which is really what the holiday is supposed to be about anyhow), but I do enjoy the music, at least most of it, and the decorations and the lights and the food. But I quickly get sick of the incessant, greed-inducing TV ads and the assumption that everybody is supposed to be happy, which many people are not. And, of course, the ridiculous annual nonexistent War On Christmas.

There are fun things about the holiday, and there are some really stupid, irritating things as well. But I don't hate it.

[hunter]

27. No.

As I've said in other threads, I'd rather be sitting in the shade on a tropical beach somewhere in a place no one's ever heard of Christmas.

[patricia92243]

29. I don't hate it, I am simply not interested in it. I find it a chore, not fun. Example: I need to

go to our mall to buy sheets, but I can't bear all the traffic and crowds. I even dread going to my favorite grocery store - the traffic is a killer over that way.

[FatBuddy]

30. fuck xmas with a rusty tuba

[Populist_Prole]

32. Yes, Not really hate though, but more like disgust

So many others in this thread hit the nail on the head on my reasons why, but what burns my ass the most is the forced hubbub it produces. The crass commercialism is just a symptom of that.

All my friends seem to embrace this all the more as time goes on. Or at least it seems so because I'm moving in the opposite direction of them at supersonic speed. ( As a side note, they're also moving sharply to the right politically ) It really disgusts me since it used to be an enjoyable holiday, and not just as a kid, but a young adult.

I just can't stand the way it's pushed:

Them sending cards early, like December 1st

I bit my tongue when I'm over their houses and see them now putting up trees the very next day after thanksgiving

Hearing of all the stuff they gotta,hafta, need to do.

At least within my immediate family, we've come to some kind of moratorium to scale back the bullshit. No there was no organized sit-down to do/not do this or that. It's like we all simultaneously gravitated to it at around the same time.

[Sherman A1]

34. Working in Retail for 40 years

tends to make one more than a little jaded at the Holidays.

No real fan of Christmas and find New Years to be a real let-down holiday.

Thanksgiving is my favorite of the three, but mostly they are all just a pain in the .............

Today is Baked Cookie Day, so that might be worth celebrating!

[Callalily]

35. There are several things

I like about Christmas.

Spending time with family and friends, and of course time off from work!

[riderinthestorm]

36. Used to hate it but I've made peace with it over the years

Everyone comes to my house so it can get crazy but for now I just roll with it and laugh. I don't have teevee so I never get exposed to the hype. Haven't been to a mall in years. I've gotten over having any anxiety about whether anyone will like what I've gotten them.

Now its about the music, laughs, the after dinner card games... as I've gotten older it's become a much more enjoyable event since I've shed the commercialization.

[magical thyme]

37. I hated it until I disconnected from my crazy family

I hate the commercialization, the demands at work that we participate in whatever lunacy they foist upon us (thank you, but I really don't want to waste $10 on a generic gift for a stranger and I have enough beige scarves to last a few lifetimes), the crazy people stampeding each other and fighting over stupid black Friday sales, and the decorations and music and advertising now starting before Samhain. I don't mind venturing into the crowds because it's purely voluntary and very temporary.

Now I simply refuse to participate with that side. It's time off from work spent honoring the winter solstice, listening to Windham Hill, eating some special meal or other and being with my fur- and feather-family. Or not, if I'm scheduled at the hospital. It got so much beter after I stopped giving a shit.

For several years, when I reached a small degree of prosperity after years of poverty, I made a practice of giving myself a nice sweater each year as a gift. I now have a humongous collection of sweaters, so gave that up more or less. Nothing can top my hand knit Irish purple sweater with green trees and little white sheep! Then I was able to bring Algiers home on Christmas Eve 10 years ago, and that was HUGE. 2 years later, I got Jakey, my week before Christmas puppy, so it's also our anniversary and that was HUGE. Then I got Dahli, who arrived at 10pm on Christmas eve 7 years ago, and that was HUGE. And I adopted Luna shortly after Christmas, and that was HUGE.

I had actually decided to take the plunge and get my 2nd horse this year, and had found a ride ,weather permitting, between Christmas and New Years. The decision against it was made for me when this week's prediction 8-10" of snow has turned into well over 2 feet, to be followed by days of freezing rain, mixed precip starting on the weekend. Weather is not permitting.

Instead, I'll get some nice things for the dogs, and special treats for all the fur-and-feather family. And celebrate the solstice with Windham Hill.