To already be hating this Christmas

[barbie007]

I have no family around, they all live abroad and we couldn't afford to visit this year. I have plenty of 'friends' I chat to during school runs and have coffee with but no more than that, even though I've tried. I keep seeing on fb how people are having fun at Christmas parties, or having friends for dinner and we haven't been invited to anything.When I invited a friend and her family for mince pies next week she said that it would be nice, but to play it by ear and see how things are going.....:(

Aww we are antisocial gits here. Plan on spending Christmas day in pjs. Just us and kids. Could you plan a couple of days out over break, maybe panto? X

Oh love ım sorry you dont thınk you'll enjoy yourself. Due to work DP and I once had a chrıstmas just the 2 of us wasnt lookıng forward to ıt but ıt ended up beıng great.

Thıs may be a bıt of a statement but ı thınk ıt wıll only be what you make ıt and you are lucky to have DC's and ı thınk a DH/P.

No ıdea what happened to that

don't look at facebook!

i skipped my one and only christmas night out for various reasons and now i feel like a grumpy old git too. i just want to stay at home and do my usual thing with the kids but keep thinking about all our family and friends we don't see often, and how we are supposed to be spending time with them at christmas.

i'm not looking forward to sitting round listening to small talk or running round after my boisterous kids in someone else un-child proofed house.

Don't worry not everyone is having fun. I'm sat here gazing at the xmas cake on my own. DS with XP and DD out with friends for days/nights on end (19yo).
For the first time in 19yrs there is noone here getting excited about xmas. I also have no parties or drinkies to go to with 'friends' - maybe people like us just don't feature in their plans huh?

I was really ill last Christmas, hospital ill. Christmas was a complete wash out, I never even saw a decoration in the shops. No parties, gatherings nothing. This year I was going to pull out all the stops to make it up to DD. Except...am 38 weeks pregnant so, no parties, gatherings, shopping, nothing.

Will struggle to in laws on The Day and my parents' on Boxing Day, that's it.

Sorry, the point of that waffling was that not everyone is having a storybook Christmas, even if it feels like they all are :)

Our christmases are always devoid of company. We don't have family to see, and the few friends we have are all busy with family stuff.

DS2 is ASD and not keen anyway and so the tree doesn't make an appearance till christmas eve and is gone before new year, so if is always very un-christmassy here.

We usually go for days out on christmas eve and boxing day (museums, zoo etc) as they are really quiet so better for us. On the day itself, we have a PJ day just me and the DC.

We watch DVDs and go to the park, and count down the days (well me anyway) till school starts

I feel like that at the minute as well- I have had a sick toddler for a week so any of the few events we have been invited to we've had to miss - I doubt we'll even make it to the pantomime tomorrow. Everyone is avoiding us due to the lurgy even the grandparents cancelled their visit. I've ending up pulling a muscle in my neck as I was so knackered I slept funny and now I've got what ds has.
My house is a tip and I am bickering with dh all the time.
Facebook is the work of the devil - don't look at it.
However, I have a bottle of Aldi's cream liqueur (known in our house as Baldis) and a copy of Downtown Abbey in the cupboard. So they can stuff their fancy frocks and festive get togethers.
Merry Christmas- ho,ho, bloody ho.

grinchy here too. dd has health "issues" which are getting worse and she and i seem to have had germs constantly for the last few months. have had to cancel all our activities this week. dh keeps telling us to "chill out and relax" but we are both mentally bored stiff and ready to punch something (if only our bodies weren't so knackered). it's allright for him, swanning off to work to drink coffee and have a conversation with real people, he should try staying in the house with a sick preteen with nothing to do but be sent stupid snowmen pictures on facebook (gaah facebook) - i'm even bored with playing the games on fb!!!!.....and breathe.....

sorry to rant.

merry grinchmas

Having the Christmas of your dreams is unbelievably hard work. You can never please all the people all the time. We are not helped by images of what we 'should' aspire to in adverts, magazines etc. I would take the facebook boasts as just that, you never know what will happen to turn Christmas of dreams to Christmas from hell. Mutt is right, struggling to get everything done, simmering resentment and family feuds, money and job worries, health issues, relationship breakdowns etc etc everything is magnified.

I am happy to have a 'good enough for me' Christmas. DH and I are on our own on Christmas day. We will go to the pub with whoever is around on the evening of the 23rd, but won't be going to any parties or work do's.

Friends up the road have decided to stay at home this year, as a couple with no kids they are expected to drive around the country to family and friends and she is exhausted this year because of her job and put her foot down. I may invite them for Christmas supper if they would like to come but if they want to stay put that's fine.

Agree with Turtles; dont' look at Facebook!
I can't get into the spirit, either. We have done nothing, not even a tree. No time, pretty skint. I've been working 7 days a week as can't get cover at work. Today is my first day off so will be my first day to buy a few (very few!) presents!
I get two days off for Christmas and have decided to do nothing. After 7 day weeks am just too knackered. Fed up of people I know who CHOOSE to work part time, or not work, constantly moaning that they have no time and are not organised. Not saying they are not busy..but try combining all that with working long hours and no days off for weeks.
Also my partner's ex won't 'release' their son to us for Christmas.
So, am just looking forward to relaxing for two days but still feel a bit of a Grinch. No energy to change it, though! Working right up till Christmas Eve night so not a lot I can do about it.
Last Christmas was dreadful so I feel a bit have not made this year's better although in many ways it will be, just not in a festive way!
Also...I've got to lend my partner the money to buy my presents! Which makes me feel a bit I'd rather go without, but then he'd feel bad. I do mean lend though...not buy my own! He will pay me back! Oh yes, he will!!! I'm not feeling that giving!
Hate seeing facebook and all the photos already up - eg 'Christmas arrives at the Bloggs household' that kind of thing..smugness reigns! Equivalent of the Round Robin, i feel...

Barbie YANBU!
There is so much pressure to have an amazing time over Christmas but do what suits you. We wont be having a table groaning with food as the DCs wont eat the traditional stuff. They will probably have chicken dippers as a treat! There will never be a mountain of beautifully wrapped presents here cos I cant be arsed am not artistic.
Ignore Facebook -people like to make out their lives are fabulous and a whirlwind of social engagements - they wont be!
Happy Christmas

Thank you so much for all your words of wisdom! I agree/sympathise with all of you. I definitely won't be looking at fb and I'll just have to remind myself that we're all healthy and we have a roof over our heads so there's no point in wanting to have the perfect Christmas or the perfect life. I just wish people were more sensitive and not exclude others from their perfect little lives as some people round here do

BTW the friend I invited for mince pies who didn't accept the invite and said that 'she'd play it by ear and see if she could make it'...well, I dis-invited her morning...and I feel great! She's obviously not much of a friend anyway as she's made me feel terrible about myself a few times. Can't believe how good that's made me feel...

Oh Barbie, that sucks.
Is there a free carol service near you? You don't have to be religious, but it can be very festive to join in the singing and gets you into the Xmas mood. Maybe buy some roast chestnuts on the way home? Or watch a really cheesy Christmas movie with the dc and DH, bake some cookies, play some songs. Wear silly hats... You make it whatever you want it to be.

Have a lovely day on Sunday. I'm sure youll enjoy it!

Well I've just had a blow out yell at my children in front of my parents. Not realy surprising as I have been working like a maniac cooking, DIY, making presents, cleaning the house while DS (10) couldn't be bothered to get off his bum and leave the game he was playing to come to the table for the lunch I'v cooked. I have an uncle for supper today (not yet cooked) the huge supermarket shopping to unpack, my daughter's present to finish making, all the stocking presents to wrap, 12 for lunch on Christmas day and 20 adukts nd 20 children coming for mulled wine and nibbles tomorrow evening. And I'm coming down with something and haven't been to bed before midnight all week. Ready to cancel the whole stuffing lot of it. And we agreed no presents this year, which I am really quite happy with but it does mean I'm not even going to get so much as a bottle of bubble bath

Just wanted to let you know - no such thing as perfect!! :o And no Christmas parties for me either - although DH enjoyed his as he rolled home last night at 11.45 to find me still up and doing the household paperwork....

barbie, you wanna come here for mince pies on Christmas eve?

We're also having Christmas as a four - me, dh and dcs. Its the start of a new set of traditions for us and hopefully it will be a good one.

better, remove all games and means of playing them, DS will have to do as you ask and help with all the jobs until you are satisfied and he can have them back. My friend used to remove the lead from the TV as well! Remind him that gifts can be returned for refunds, for those who are undeserving.

betterwhenthesunshines, re : uncooked uncle...hope he is not too chewy!