Does anyone love/hate this time of year?

[missushbbb]

I like Christmas and love seeing the kids enjoy themselves, but I also feel quite down this time of year. Anyone else? I don't know if it's the weather, just needing a rest by this time of year, i just kinda hate it! The older I get the more I realise I'm quite an introvert, so i think that's part of it. I also lost a parent at Christmas a few years ago which has made it worse. I do make a big effort with the kids, I don't mope about, it's just a funny feeling. Anyone else? 😬

I struggled with it for many years after my mother died far too young and my in-laws never failed to use Christmas - the one time of year we felt duty-bound to see them - as an opportunity to put the boot in. I felt myself dreading it for weeks beforehand.

Now I just find it hard work: albeit the load falls equally to DH and me (DC and I do the food pre-prepararation - pudding, cakes, veg and stuffing for the freezer - I decorate the house, DH does the present-buying, I wrap, he cooks the turkey on the day. Even so, Christmas is very high maintenance. And it's dark. And damp. Christmas music is almost uniformly shit, and the whole 'build-up' (erk) goes on for far too long and makes me sick of the whole shebang.

I try to focus on what I do enjoy. I like the calming energy of the winter solstice and Yuletide, and the relaxed period between Christmas and the New Year. I love the comforting red glow and crackling flames of my wood burner. I enjoy crisp, cold evenings when I can go out into the darkened garden and star-gaze, and I enjoy the fairy lights. I prefer January to November, watching the nights draw out a little more each day.

But I will always love spring best. Springtime and the Easter holidays are easier work: lighter days, better weather, beautiful flowers springing into bloom and birdsong, and none of the conventional obligations associated with Christmas.

I love it but don't have young children anymore which helps! I've just got back from a weekend in the country with three friends and we had such a great time. It was so Christmassy we all loved it. Now it gets busy, I am going to panto with 20 year old DD because we both enjoy it, Seeing Donny Osmond, inviting friends and family round on a few days. Decorations started, tree coming tomorrow. The only bit that is shit for us is Christmas Day itself as it's just the three of us and DH and DD don't always get on and it's stressful. I love Christmastime rather than the day itself. This year I've decided we are going to the local pub for lunch and spend the rest of the day gorging and laying about

I hate it
Worst time of the year, compounded by Christmas, when everyone disappears into family and bangs on about making cake and stuff.

And wants to know what I'm doing for Christmas...waiting for longer days and normality, is what.

When you can meet up with people, it's also hard to avoid office parties and drunks on public transport.

I hate it more if it's really cold. Which it is right now.

i can sometimes get away but after dad died, I don't feel I can leave mum alone.

I love the weather and the nice cool dark nights, perfect for sleeping.
I hate Christmas though it is a bit better now my children are older and there's less pressure.

My least favourite time of the year.

I don't celebrate christmas, but avoiding it is impossible thanks to it having become an all-encompassing commercial enterprise. Shops full of xmas tat from October onwards, piped music everywhere, every spare inch of the highstreet has some sort of temporary stall on it punting over-priced food or drink, pubs full of staggering, vomiting lightweights who have two shandies at the works party and lose control of their bodily functions, constant quizzing from people who just assume you do celebrate and seem to take the hump for some reason when you explain for the umpteenth time that day that no, you aren't going anywhere, or planning to spend days on end in the kitchen, and have zero interest in being stuck in a boiling hot house full of god-awful family members etc.

Can't wait for the relative sanity and tranquillity of January.

imagine if we didnt have christmas in the middle of the gloomy weather?
january february are hard
i hate the christmas songs on the radio and in the shops though
christmas puts me in a panic mode

Not having Christmas would make it easier! I'm old enough to remember when xmas was just a day.

many businesses close for the whole period now, the worst time to waste annual leave for many of us, especially with shit weather.

I love it. We have 2 dcs aged 5 and 1and I like taking them to lots of events and attractions. We are big fans of theatre and concerts for children and there is so much to choose from. We are lucky to live in London where there are so many venues with excellent shows, and all the various light and window displays. We also have lots of indoor activities to go to - museums, soft plays, galleries, NT properties so the awful weather is not much of a problem.

As a previous pp says, the pressure to "do" Christmas is immense. I try to avoid saying I don't really do it as it is likely to be met with incredulity or a lecture on how lovely it all is. Saying you prefer to celebrate the solstice can easily get you labelled as a weirdo. I just smile and nod a lot.

Christmas is great for Chinese factories and people who run landfill sites though.

I love the snow and have really enjoyed this weekend running in the snow, taking a million photos and playing out with the kids.

But Christmas makes me anxious and I feel this pang of sadness at almost every Christmas song that comes on the radio. They're all about heartbreak or missing those you love, or over the top happy. Walked into Sainsbury's the other night and almost walked straight back out on hearing the bloody Hippopotamus song. Followed by bloody Santa Baby....... Those ones send me into a rage.

Christmas is great if you're happy, but if you're not, it just magnifies any unhappiness. My kids feel quite stressed at the change in routine, and worry about getting presents that might be expensive, or that fills the house with clutter. And that makes me sad.

On top of that, there's the family arrangements for the one day when everyone just acts different and weird. DH is not welcome at my mum's, and it's fully justified. But I'm left with having to tell him it's only me and the kids going to hers for dinner. It'll probably end up where he does go, and my mum will put up with him for my sake and to keep the peace.

I'll be pleased when it's over.

But I love the snow!

Just don't. Don't buy into it. Only see people you want to see. Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Then you may enjoy it.

I live in London too and really struggle with my kids (3+1) in the winter, all the museums & galleries & soft play are so busy, do you have any recommendations of quieter ones?

I love this time of year - the kids are at a prime age for the magic, decorations, cheer etc. I love making it special for them, the food, the activities.

But in some ways I don't like it. The waste, the tat etc. And I always feel bad for those who won't have a good Christmas like the homeless.

It's a mixed bag for me but I really do enjoy it overall.

@Hbh17 same. I dread the winter months and just try to get through it but you shouldn't just wish your life away, should you? Lost both parents to cancer at Christmas time so that tends to put the kibosh on things, plus horrible depression during lockdown where I literally just wanted to die. The enforced jollity just makes you feel worse.
I can get through it now but it's not really in the spirit, is it? 😄I focus on nice things, like going away with our friends and booking up fun things to do.

I do @baileybrosbuildingandloan, as much as I can. My ideal (and DH's) would be to just go away for Christmas and not bother with it, but we have kids and they love it, so we have to be here and have a tree and presents and all the crap I'd like to avoid. And I have a DM who starts her Christmas shopping in September and bangs on and on about it for months and has two trees and tons of decorations ....

So, I'd like to just bow out of the whole thing, but I can't. Yet ....

I dislike it a lot. I don’t mind the cold or the dark but I’m not a fan of Christmas. So much pressure financially and it often feels very fake to me. No family my side and we won’t see much, if any of dh’s side as they aren’t close.
I loved it when I was a kid but I find it a sad time of year now. This is the first year we are going on holiday for it, I’m hoping I’ll feel better about it all.

The Museum of the Home near Hoxton Station is lovely and has a play kitchen area and sensory space, and a lunch room so you can bring your own sandwiches so it can be a cheap day out. Museum of London in Docklands is nice too- it has a play area which is free but you have to book the night before. But numbers are controlled so it won't be crowded in the play bit. Tbh even the big museums tend to be quieter if you go at opening time. For soft play I've found the 9.30am sessions much quieter (for the big ones like Gambado or Clown Town that run 2 hour sessions).

This thread has made me feel less alone, thank you. I think it's the weather and actually good point re all the illnesses! Always something going about which is probably why I feel worse. I'm sure when I was little it all didn't kick off so early either- I was thinking last week I should do my last minute shopping- it was still November!!

I love the run up to Christmas in December when most people are in a good mood and everywhere looks so festive. My DC are teens and it's a lot more relaxed now I don't have to do the whole santa thing and attend numerous school functions plus they can be left alone if I want to go out and do what I want to do. The last few years I have cut down on what I attend and what I do so I'm way less stressed and busy and actually don't get to Christmas Day feeling run down and exhausted.

I can understand why some people don't enjoy it especially if you have financial, health or family stresses. I can't say I'm a fan of February - January is ok but by Feb I have had enough of the cold and grey.

My favourite time of the year is Spring!

That’s really helpful, thanks ever so much for taking the time to help out an internet stranger! I’ll try those, have a happy Christmas!

I love it once all preparations and present buying for Christmas are done. Up till then I find it stressful. I doing prefer the colder weather though. I hate the heat

I really love this time of year. When I was a child I grew up in a very abusive and neglectful home. I was cold, hungry and scared as we didn't even have electric most of the time and I hated the dark.

Then went straight into an abusive relationship as a teen. We had two children but I was miserable. Tried to make things nice for them but my ex would not allow me to be happy. Then I got out of it and spent a few Christmases just trying to hold things together for the kids.

Then I met my now DH. He changed everything. That first Christmas together was a year when my dc were to go to their dads and I would have been alone. My DH family welcomed me into their home on Christmas Day. It felt so good. Watching them eating, laughing and just loving the day and time together was amazing to me. That night DH stayed over at mine and I literally cried I was so content. He promised to make every Christmas special and he really has. This year is our 25th Christmas together. All the kiddies are now adults/teens and we have lots of grandkids. It's mayhem lol. I love it.

I always feel lost this time of year, like I am missing something in my life. The children are now older which changes things and the magic is no more. My dear sister is here this Xmas from oz and I’ve not seen her since 2019. It’s the one Time of year I feel I can burst in to tears at sound of a song

I don’t know really. I just sort of try and appreciate it for what it is I suppose.
just had 2 of my dc birthdays which has been nice to have the family round each time. I love lighting the fire of an evening as the dc tend to want to hang out more if there’s a fire. I like having candles lit all the time. Stodgy dinners. WFH meaning I’m not having to deice the car early in the morning. Lunchtime walks are often fresh but bright.
Christmas is still weeks away, it’s also just a day. Busy one for us but it doesn’t take my whole focus of life even with a big family to buy for.

i don’t like the mass consumerism that comes from that one Christmas Day though, 57 opportunities to ‘see Santa’ within about 1km, toiletry gift sets bought for the sake of it, so much other stuff targeted towards it.

I like the seasons though, and do make sure I get out in the fresh air every single day even though technically I don’t need to set foot out the door from one week to the next. I meet up with friends a lot and during the winter months we tend to gather at someone’s house, takeaway and cocktails. During the warmer weather we go out to eat more.

I don’t like to lean in to the thinking that winter is bleak, I prefer to find the fun and light in stuff.

Yes, I love spring! I actually quite like jan/feb too.