Not looking forward to Christmas

413x

413x

413x

Caporegime
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Anyone else in similar boat?

After last year I thought I was looking forward to Christmas but as it approaches I am definitely feeling the dread.

Last year in hindsight was nice. No rushing around. Few presents. Generally felt like break in lockdown with my Gf in our new house.

This year my friendship group has fractured. And the state of my family isn't great.
This has lead me with having to see 4 sets of people in a short space of time.
To boot I don't have much holiday due to a job change

I'm not really an extroverted type so this rushing around in itself is stressful.

Im a bit disappointed in myself that I feel I have to see all these groups to maintain contact and not offend anyone.
You shouldn't feel this around friends.

It's even more stark as 2 years ago the group was together and I had more time.

Added its a lot of travelling and I have an old knee injury that's likely to flare up with all the driving.

Just a bit of a vent.
Trying to see this as a test and if I do hate it I'll have to chop events next year.



I've never thought of Christmas this early before. And never in such a scrouge way. Kind of caught me by surprise.
 
Time to stock up on some computer games and films to watch.

Last year turned into a decent holiday for me - we still had all the food that we ordered for 8 of us that I proceeded to mostly eat myself. Then we got away with a quick zoom family meet.

This year we are hosting most of the family. It’s going to be busy and disruptive.

My wife and I usually fall out over Christmas, so I’d really like to avoid that this year too.
 
413x said:
Anyone else in similar boat?

After last year I thought I was looking forward to Christmas but as it approaches I am definitely feeling the dread.

Last year in hindsight was nice. No rushing around. Few presents. Generally felt like break in lockdown with my Gf in our new house.

This year my friendship group has fractured. And the state of my family isn't great.
This has lead me with having to see 4 sets of people in a short space of time.
To boot I don't have much holiday due to a job change

I'm not really an extroverted type so this rushing around in itself is stressful.

Im a bit disappointed in myself that I feel I have to see all these groups to maintain contact and not offend anyone.
You shouldn't feel this around friends.

It's even more stark as 2 years ago the group was together and I had more time.

Added its a lot of travelling and I have an old knee injury that's likely to flare up with all the driving.

Just a bit of a vent.
Trying to see this as a test and if I do hate it I'll have to chop events next year.



I've never thought of Christmas this early before. And never in such a scrouge way. Kind of caught me by surprise.
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Pro tip, don't try and see them all. Both my parents and my other halfs parents are divorced, as well I have a few friend groups that don't really mix. I generally pick just 1 or 2 groups to spend time with then see the others in the new year and spend next christmas with them.

Its a time for enjoyment don't spread yourself thin and stress out in whats meant to be a relaxing time. Anyone who takes offense to you not seeing them due to being busy doesn't really deserve the time anyway
 
I rarely look forward to Christmas. The best ones recently are the ones I had on my own. I loved lockdown Christmas last year. Just me, some gin, some whisky, some food and some games.
 
Snookums said:
Pro tip, don't try and see them all. Both my parents and my other halfs parents are divorced, as well I have a few friend groups that don't really mix. I generally pick just 1 or 2 groups to spend time with then see the others in the new year and spend next christmas with them.

Its a time for enjoyment don't spread yourself thin and stress out in whats meant to be a relaxing time. Anyone who takes offense to you not seeing them due to being busy doesn't really deserve the time anyway
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Agreed. This is how I want to play it.
Annoyingly it's my family I really have to see and it's my family I want to see least.

If it wasn't for not seeing some people for so long I'd not be doing all this for sure.
 
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I really couldn't care less about Christmas anymore and if it wasn't for the wife wouldn't even be celebrating it. In the past year I have lost two of my beloved cats, my sister in law is in hospital with stage 3 brain cancer and we are not allowed to see her because of Covid rules, my family is at the other end of the country and most of the wifes family has passed away now so it will be just the wife, remaining cat and me, just like any other day. Shops have been pushing Christmas since September 1st and I am just fed up with it all.
 
pastymuncher said:
I really couldn't care less about Christmas anymore and if it wasn't for the wife wouldn't even be celebrating it. In the past year I have lost two of my beloved cats, my sister in law is in hospital with stage 3 brain cancer and we are not allowed to see her because of Covid rules, my family is at the other end of the country and most of the wifes family has passed away now so it will be just the wife, remaining cat and me, just like any other day. Shops have been pushing Christmas since September 1st and I am just fed up with it all.
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This is increasingly how I feel. Nothing but stress and commercialism. I would rather stay at home and do my own thing. Some food, some drink, raising a glass to the winter solstice, and that's it.
 
pastymuncher said:
I really couldn't care less about Christmas anymore and if it wasn't for the wife wouldn't even be celebrating it. In the past year I have lost two of my beloved cats, my sister in law is in hospital with stage 3 brain cancer and we are not allowed to see her because of Covid rules, my family is at the other end of the country and most of the wifes family has passed away now so it will be just the wife, remaining cat and me, just like any other day. Shops have been pushing Christmas since September 1st and I am just fed up with it all.
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Sorry to hear about this.

Yeah it seems to get worse as time goes on. Family rifts, age, just time.

I can see why people just end up spending it with thier very immediate family


I hate the commercial side too.
Navigating presents. I feel I managed to get the 'no presents for me or for you' message across before covid. But now people are askinge what I want. Nothing. I don't want more tat
 
Sorry for not really addressing your points, @413x, but having spent the last two Christmases on my own, I can see what an utter load of rubbish Christmas [in its current form] is. So I can only empathise.
 
Christmas will be quiet this year with just the mother in law coming round for dinner. I'm looking forward to Xmas as I've a fair few nice pressies to look forward to. Add in some champers, good food, a happy sprog and some mindless TV, it'll be great! Hogmanay will also be a blast as I'm visiting my parents as is my sister and family. Sister is dragging some friends along too. More good booze, more good food, blethering nonsense and then fireworks at midnight. What's not to look forward to?

Obviously not everyone will be in the Happy Boat with me...
 
If it were up to me we would go away and stay in a remote cottage for a week or two over Christmas, but having a partner tends to mean getting dragged round different peoples houses to 'visit' and give them presents, while they do the same back. It all feels so false and commercialised.
 
Wife finally cancelled her sister last xmas after over 70yrs of her nastyness - It's been a peacefull year so far and long my it continue - I want to cancel xmas but wife wants a tree. - Only the 2 of us - I have one brother I talk to but he is a hermit and cancelled younger brother years ago.
 
I like the idea of Christmas and loved it as a kid. But as an adult I hate the practicalities of it. Bah humbug.
 
I'm not sure if I'm noticing/imagining a pattern here but there's a distinct lack of references to kids in this discussion. For me, this is what Christmas all comes down to and of course, I am much more than excited about it now I have a young family than I was in my early 20s for example... I'll of course be even more in to it when they're old enough to be excited about it in advance, and I hope to be able to perform nearly as well as my parents did at delivering that ultimate Christmas wish fulfillment, something I consider to be a bit of a parental rite of passage.

Isn't this just natural? Adults getting excited about Christmas as if they're still a child is quite an odd and uncomfortable thing to witness IMO. Thankfully it's quite rare.
 
Practicalities - just remembered I'll have to get the lights up on the house. That's the worst part of Christmas. I hope it's a bit warmer this year than last as my fingers weren't half nippy once I was finished. And getting the four trees down from the loft... At least I don't have to decorate them! I think that this year I need to set up a sound system for 24/7 Christmas choons.
 
Zefan said:
I'm not sure if I'm noticing/imagining a pattern here but there's a distinct lack of references to kids in this discussion. For me, this is what Christmas all comes down to and of course, I am much more than excited about it now I have a young family than I was in my early 20s for example... I'll of course be even more in to it when they're old enough to be excited about it in advance, and I hope to be able to perform nearly as well as my parents did at delivering that ultimate Christmas wish fulfillment, something I consider to be a bit of a parental rite of passage.

Isn't this just natural? Adults getting excited about Christmas as if they're still a child is quite an odd and uncomfortable thing to witness IMO. Thankfully it's quite rare.
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Think you might be on to something. Loved it as a kid, made a real effort when my own kid was young, now, meh.
 
I'll be alone again like last year.
probably no presents to open and nothing new.

pretty much just becomes another day of the year for me.

There are people I could visit if I really wanted too though. so it's self imposed at the end of the day.

in 40 years of living I've probably spent 5-10 Christmas alone, sometimes would cook a Christmas dinner and live on it for a week... last year I didn't bother and this year I probably won't either.

I might actually go for a walk on Christmas day and see if I can spot anyone else with no life
 
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