Weirdest, least christmassy Christmas ever

Pretty shit christmas for me tbh, but I'm stuck in purgatory of being seperated from STBExH after he cheated with a random man he found online, but still living together for the sake of the kids.

So it was never going to be a good one. It was actually not as bad as I expected, I had extremely low expectations!! The kids seemed to have fun though so at least there's that

I don’t think Christmas per se is pointless, if did feel to me like this year a little if the shine has gone though. We are living through particularly economically and politically turbulent times, so it makes sense if people aren’t feeling it as much this year.

No, in my area there are streets where almost all the houses are decorated - this has been the case for all the 7 years we’ve lived here. My family have all commented separately on how few are decorated this year. I live in a deprived area so it would make sense that the cost of living is hitting people round here hard.

My Christmas has been lovely. First one in my new home. Family came to me. We out the decorations up mid December, did some festive crafts and went to a couple of Christmas's events in the week or two before hand. The weather was quite chilly for us and we are having a lovely festive break. Tree is still up, waiting for our next set of guests.

Not at all. We have a toddler so it feels so magical and special this year.

There were a lot of misery guts whinging threads on how pointless Christmas is on here. I enjoyed my time with friends and family, the annual Christmas cold notwithstanding. I’ve had quite serious depression this year and trying to turn things around.

I think you get random years like that and there will always be a proportion of people that feel the same way on any given year.

Mine has felt Christmassy. We did lots of fun things during in the run-up and Christmas Day and Boxing Day felt the same as ever. We're still in the Christmas bubble, but as the days go on, thoughts are starting to turn somewhat to normal life resuming. That's fairly typical for me, though and I'm seeking the Christmas feeling out for as long as possible!

I had a lovely Christmas with my family and did some nice festive stuff in the run up. But, we have been talking about going away next year or just going out for a meal, doing something new and mixing it up a bit.

No i don't agree, this Christmas has been lovely. The day itself was just the 4 of us but during the week before & few days after we saw extended family who we'd been reunited with after 10 years...and they've moved just down thd road from us. So it's been wonderful

Is there though? Or is that you've built up this image that "all" the houses decorate?

I’ve noticed that there is a marked reduction in the amount of houses with lights/decorations outside this year - I assume it’s the cost of living?

I agree with others that it starts way, way too early and when it’s just one day it’s always going to make it a massive anticlimax.

My mum does this too. We host her, buy her gifts, pay for Christmas dinner, cook it and serve it to her, clean up after her and all we hear is ‘I don’t feel Christmassy at all’ 🙄

Exactly how I felt

it’s been warm since April,
Hardly anyone sends Christmas cards anymore,
there doesn’t seem to be any joy out there,
people are angry,
the shopping centre near me didn’t even do a santas grotto this year!
aldi near me didn’t seem to have a lot of Christmas food this year,fozen turkeys weren’t restocked since November!
i love Christmas but is does feel like it’s not what is was,
there is just something in the air that I can’t put my finger on.

Half of you sound like my grandmother. Every Christmas she's start bleating "It just doesn't feel like Christmas...". After my poor mother had spent hours/days preparing dinner and the rest. So annoying. Wanted to tell her to grow up!

ETA - not saying posters here are annoying. It's only annoying if you do it on the day in front of the person who has just cooked dinner!

Ours was good. I think it helps that we don’t do or eat anything festive until Christmas Eve so it’s nicely compressed into 3 or 4 days until all the food and booze is gone.

No, not at all. Our Christmas looked and felt just like all the others. We dont change the formula much!

I enjoy it, but it does come round a little bit too often these days. Every other year would be great.

I had a lovely Xmas. I wasn’t hosting for the first year since time began so I gave it no prior consideration. Hosting gift bags and lots of nice grandkids’ gifts plus a slimmed down set of cards were my only jobs! No need to decorate the house as none of us was there. Brilliantly relaxing! Less is more. HNY.

This thread makes me so sad. I had a great Christmas and I am really enjoying the ‘middle bit’ now. I do have two young children so perhaps that’s why?

I agree, we no longer watch much terrestrial tv so we don't see Christmas programs much or any Christmas ads. We no longer bother with turkey or cards either. I can't say I miss all the fuss.

I kept trying to find my Christmas spirit in the run-up, but nothing was working for me. I tried my favourite Christmas music, films, food, going all-out with decorations, but it did nothing for me. I mostly just feel exhausted. I really hope that’s not it for me enjoying Christmas!

Christmas used to be short and special. I really miss shopping in town and all the department shops decorated and everyone would be in a good mood.
Now you get to drive to a retail park and everyone’s pissed off.
It’s weird how there are more decorations around now but it feels less because they used to be so special.
Christmas has been spoiled by stuff and curated ‘experiences’ for everything.

We had a nice Christmas and Boxing Day. Lovely presents, nice food -but I get what people are saying. It has seemed oddly un-Christmassy. It's also flown by -the actual day seemed about 5 minutes long.
I can't really put my finger on what was weird about it this year. I think it's because nothing we do at Christmas is particularly special now.
In the 80s when I was a child, Christmas was a time when we had all the things we never or very rarely had throughout the year. Special chocolate and sweets saved for the day, a side board full of treats like nuts and dates, baby cham, satsumas. The TV with it's 4 channels and circling what to watch in the Radio Times. Everything that was SPECIAL is so available all the time now.