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Post by rachelcarson1953 on Dec 25, 2017 22:16:07 GMT
...Christmas! The 'holidays' make me crazy, for many reasons. One of the reasons is that my nice, even-keeled schedule gets all messed up with gatherings that I am obliged to attend and the extra cooking that is required. Another is the endless holiday-themed radio and television features. The classic rock station I count on to not play Christmas music was broadcasting a football game... gack! I had to dig out my iPod for some Rolling Stones and Jethro Tull. And this afternoon, I'll play my favorite 'christmas' movie, "Die Hard"... I do so enjoy Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" at the end. Then, of course, is the struggle to find gifts for people who do celebrate Christmas. And all the money spent on that. I now nominate Darwin's birthday for the day that atheists give each other absolutely nothing. On a positive note, I will wish everyone "Bon Hiver"; good winter in French. On a trip to a gathering, I actually saw treetops glisten, shafts of light through the clouds lighting up ice-covered branches like diamonds. Winter does have its beauties. And I do like holiday lights during the time of short days. Otherwise, Bah! Humbug! Feel free to add any of your holiday irritations  |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2017 22:44:19 GMT
I can't say that Christmas does all that much for me these days, except I do still enjoy marvelling at the beauty of the light displays. That's a nice tradition for the darkest time of the year, which would otherwise be very grim with nothing to look forward to, especially for a place like where I live where it doesn't snow and just remains grey and damp. I think that adults ought to agree not to indulge in the exchange of gifts, as it is an unnecessary inconvenience that probably makes the holiday more of a hassle for all concerned. There's a good Cracked article on this. |
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Post by general313 on Dec 25, 2017 23:05:57 GMT
...Christmas! The 'holidays' make me crazy, for many reasons. One of the reasons is that my nice, even-keeled schedule gets all messed up with gatherings that I am obliged to attend and the extra cooking that is required. Another is the endless holiday-themed radio and television features. The classic rock station I count on to not play Christmas music was broadcasting a football game... gack! I had to dig out my iPod for some Rolling Stones and Jethro Tull. And this afternoon, I'll play my favorite 'christmas' movie, "Die Hard"... I do so enjoy Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" at the end. Then, of course, is the struggle to find gifts for people who do celebrate Christmas. And all the money spent on that. I now nominate Darwin's birthday for the day that atheists give each other absolutely nothing. On a positive note, I will wish everyone "Bon Hiver"; good winter in French. On a trip to a gathering, I actually saw treetops glisten, shafts of light through the clouds lighting up ice-covered branches like diamonds. Winter does have its beauties. And I do like holiday lights during the time of short days. Otherwise, Bah! Humbug! Feel free to add any of your holiday irritations Bah Humbug indeed! Christmas has been so overmarketed every year of the multiple decades that I've lived that I'm plain sick of it. I do have fond memories of childhood Christmases though, and I suppose if I had kids I might have a slightly different attitude about it all. I just wish that all the Christmas promoting was confined to the week before the actual holiday, not for one or two months. I look forward to December 26, when all the Christmas carolling will be put to rest until next November! |
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Post by rachelcarson1953 on Dec 25, 2017 23:48:45 GMT
I can't say that Christmas does all that much for me these days, except I do still enjoy marvelling at the beauty of the light displays. That's a nice tradition for the darkest time of the year, which would otherwise be very grim with nothing to look forward to, especially for a place like where I live where it doesn't snow and just remains grey and damp. I think that adults ought to agree not to indulge in the exchange of gifts, as it is an unnecessary inconvenience that probably makes the holiday more of a hassle for all concerned. There's a good Cracked article on this. I enjoyed the article, thanks for posting the link! My late husband was an exception to the 'guy' section... all my life I was accustomed to parental gifts of socks, underwear, stuff they wanted me to have, practical stuff. But my husband to be, on our first Christmas together, spent extra time on finding gifts that were significant to me. My birthstone is opal, so he bought a gorgeous opal ring, and a luxuriant pure cotton robe in pastel (opal) colors. He delighted every year in finding just the right thing that I would love; an unusual jade necklace from the Orient, my favorite movie from childhood on VHS tape (this was years ago when the technology was new). It hasn't been Christmas since he died - nine days before Christmas - but there was a diamond eternity ring in the safe-deposit box, already wrapped, waiting for me to find it, with a card saying "Just in case I don't make it to Christmas this year." |
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Post by rachelcarson1953 on Dec 26, 2017 0:03:29 GMT
...Christmas! The 'holidays' make me crazy, for many reasons. One of the reasons is that my nice, even-keeled schedule gets all messed up with gatherings that I am obliged to attend and the extra cooking that is required. Another is the endless holiday-themed radio and television features. The classic rock station I count on to not play Christmas music was broadcasting a football game... gack! I had to dig out my iPod for some Rolling Stones and Jethro Tull. And this afternoon, I'll play my favorite 'christmas' movie, "Die Hard"... I do so enjoy Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" at the end. Then, of course, is the struggle to find gifts for people who do celebrate Christmas. And all the money spent on that. I now nominate Darwin's birthday for the day that atheists give each other absolutely nothing. On a positive note, I will wish everyone "Bon Hiver"; good winter in French. On a trip to a gathering, I actually saw treetops glisten, shafts of light through the clouds lighting up ice-covered branches like diamonds. Winter does have its beauties. And I do like holiday lights during the time of short days. Otherwise, Bah! Humbug! Feel free to add any of your holiday irritations Bah Humbug indeed! Christmas has been so overmarketed every year of the multiple decades that I've lived that I'm plain sick of it. I do have fond memories of childhood Christmases though, and I suppose if I had kids I might have a slightly different attitude about it all. I just wish that all the Christmas promoting was confined to the week before the actual holiday, not for one or two months. I look forward to December 26, when all the Christmas carolling will be put to rest until next November!
Me, too, though where I live, the caroling and product display starts the day after Halloween!  |
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Post by Eva Yojimbo on Dec 26, 2017 6:21:00 GMT
This just ended up being an ordinary day for me since my family's usual reunion didn't happen (too many out of town, too many others sick with the flu, etc.) so I just stayed in, played some guitar, worked out, watched football with my dad, etc. I had to dig out my iPod for some...Jethro Tull. Ooh, what songs/albums? I've been on a Tull kick myself recently going through their whole discography. |
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Post by OpiateOfTheMasses on Dec 26, 2017 23:28:04 GMT
In theory Christmas should be fine. I like presents (both giving and receiving), I like eating and drinking too much and I'm happy to spend time with the family. But my wife loves Christmas. She really loves Christmas. And it has to be perfect in every way. So it kind of sucks the fun out of it. Because the two weeks leading up to Christmas are a stress-fest of running around making sure everything is "perfect" and when the day itself is here its even worse because she always comes up with impossible schedules so the two of us just spend the entire day trying to prepare more food than anyone wants to eat. And for what? So she can feel she's "done the perfect Christmas"?
Oh - and when it comes to opening presents everyone has to wait and watch while one person opens their present and then all "ooh" and "aah" at it, before we move onto the next one. It takes forever.
Everyone would be happy with half the food and we'd have a much more relaxed time of it. But she just won't listen. We didn't finish opening presents until 9pm yesterday because there was so much going on. We had to keep waking her dad up. I don't actually get to relax and properly enjoy Christmas until mid-afternoon Boxing Day when the in-laws finally leave and we stop playing host.
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Post by rachelcarson1953 on Dec 27, 2017 16:53:47 GMT
In theory Christmas should be fine. I like presents (both giving and receiving), I like eating and drinking too much and I'm happy to spend time with the family. But my wife loves Christmas. She really loves Christmas. And it has to be perfect in every way. So it kind of sucks the fun out of it. Because the two weeks leading up to Christmas are a stress-fest of running around making sure everything is "perfect" and when the day itself is here its even worse because she always comes up with impossible schedules so the two of us just spend the entire day trying to prepare more food than anyone wants to eat. And for what? So she can feel she's "done the perfect Christmas"? Oh - and when it comes to opening presents everyone has to wait and watch while one person opens their present and then all "ooh" and "aah" at it, before we move onto the next one. It takes forever. Everyone would be happy with half the food and we'd have a much more relaxed time of it. But she just won't listen. We didn't finish opening presents until 9pm yesterday because there was so much going on. We had to keep waking her dad up. I don't actually get to relax and properly enjoy Christmas until mid-afternoon Boxing Day when the in-laws finally leave and we stop playing host. Wow, what an exhausting process! Stress-fest is a good way to describe it. My deepest sympathies... |
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Post by Rodney Farber on Dec 28, 2017 22:56:04 GMT
My grandfather was a scrooge. I remember my mother telling me that Gramp's ideal story was "A Christmas Carol" as long as it was told in reverse. Then, it would have a happy ending.
He wasn't really that bad, and he was quite generous at Christmas time. It's just that the shopping and the parties were not his cup of tea. Now that I'm a grandfather, I heartily agree with him. Finding the right gift is a pain in the neck. I find it easiest to give cash to children over eight. And restaurant gift certificates to my sisters' favorite restaurant.
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islandmur
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All religions have messages of peace and love yet all religions are used for wars and hatred...
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Post by islandmur on Dec 28, 2017 23:13:39 GMT
When I was a child ordinary things like xmas, birthday parties and the likes were things I read about.
As an adult I thouroughly enjoy christmas... I shop all year long for kids and few select friends... when I see something that X will like I buy it even if it's february.
Since i live in haiti I also make sureto buy toys for the needy and Nate and I drive around on the 20th or the 21st giving them to street kids.
The only thing I hate about christmas is the traffic which in the 4 days before is hell on earth here.
On christmas eve my sister in law's family has a reveillon (11 kids their spouses, their children and grandkids). Everyone brings a dish so no one is stuck cooking too much. around 10 we eat... from 11 to midnight the kids put on a show each age group does its thing... at midnight santa comes to give the kids gifts (here again the adults pool the money and each kid gets 2 or 3 gifts) then we have dessert... and afterwards the teens and young adults go out.
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