Not looking forward to Christmas

[413x]

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.

 

[413x]

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

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.

 

[413x]

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.

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

 

[413x]

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.

I agree.
I also think there's an assumption if you don't have kids you go to others. If you have kids you can get away with not. Or people coming to you.

I loved Christmas as a kid. In fact I loved it until my extended family fell apart. Over inheritance. Now it's just some hollow thing with memories of good times.

Glad I'm not only one! .. I think

 

[413x]

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

Hope you're OK.
It's hard being at Christmas on your own. Even if it doesn't matter. It's still thrust in your face.
Going out for a walk is a good shout.

Even the old religious connotations I do not like. Commercialism.. Do not like. People put themselves in debt. For months over Christmas.
I used to like it for family stuff but that's worse.


Thinking of booking a January holiday to look forward to.

 

[413x]

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.

It's OK. This was more of a vent. Signing this year off as a test year. If I genuinely hate it. I'll make changes going forward.

 

[413x]

Present buying for anyone other than your own kids I feel is just a faff these days. With consumerism where it is these days, people generally just already buy what they need/want. Gone are the days of buying physical media which made good presents, i.e. CD / DVD. Now it's like, what can I actually buy for £20 that someone won't already have that isn't tat.... This is why I tend to buy alcohol and food for people as you know it will be appreciated and used. I like buying fragrances as well as it's simple, small and no stock issues but again hard to keep the cost down.

I feel like it's all hyped to the point where I cba. I mean I like having the tree and decs and the food and the kids being happy, but if I could click my fingers and it all be done for me, that would be awesome. lol

I'm going with this.
Just gonna buy duplicate food things for people.
At least things like socks, toiletries, food will get used.

Anything else I can and have bought for myself. I'm 36 ffs.

My parents a few years ago got me a drone for some reason. They even asked my gf 'would he like a drone' and she said no. Get him a go pro. They got the drone.

Used 3 times. Bought myself a go pro that year.

 

[413x]

It's amazing how many people are starting to hate the consumerism part of it. Yet it still seems very much taboo to not buy presents.

 

[413x]

Started not buying presents in 2018. Never looked back. Once you stop doing it it removes a huge part of the stress of Christmas.

I had cracked it before covid. Now my sister insists on buying me a present.
Trying to just buy token alcohol/chocolate.

At least its consumable