To really detest Christmas

[Kingoftheroad]

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like this? I go through the motions for the family but I loathe putting up the tree, decorating the house, wrapping, shopping. I listen to my friends talk about their decorating themes for this year, Christmas Day outfits etc etc and just can’t ever conjure up any excitement. I’m heading to the sun the week before Christmas to try to take the edge off but this is now adding to the stress having to think about finishing up my workload and packing.

Any tips to help me get through this

I hate Christmas now.
My dd died 4yrs ago she loved Christmas. Dd2 is 4 and getting excited about Santa. I learned to cope and put on a happy face for her. Inside I just want the day to be over. Hogmanay is even worse but I can go to bed for that.

YANBU.

I can’t stand Christmas, either. It’s right up there with January as my least favourite time of year.

I dislike the excess, the greed, the waste, the same cliched, repetitive crappy music every bloody year. I hate the way it intrudes on life for a quarter of every year. I hate the pressure to socialise with relatives you can’t stand colleagues who you spend all bloody day every bloody day with anyway. I hate the ghastly people who get pissed and make fools of themselves at Christmas parties because they never get out of the house for the rest of the year. But most of all I hate the appalling materialism and consumerism. The constant pressure to spend more money on more crap that nobody needs or wants and most of which will end up in landfill.

Christmas should be like the World Cup or the Olympics. Once every four years would be just about tolerable.

ParkheadParadise I’m so sorry to hear that: can’t imagine how difficult it must be for you

I loved Christmas until my husband left six years ago, just before Xmas. Our wedding anniversary was two weeks before. Every year for me is a huge pit of awful memories. One that sticks was him asking to have our lights and decs as him and OW were having a big Xmas introducing him to her family and ‘you’re not really going to be up for it this year so we could use them’. I had a two year old and we’d been married for 14 years and he thought I was being dramatic and unreasonable a few weeks after he walked out. I’ve never really recovered from that. However I paste a face on for the kids and family and do all the things that are expected and nobody is any the wiser but my mental health is fucked, it will never be the same for me and I can’t wait for it all to be over. I wish I could feel differently but I can’t escape it. NYE the same.

TheformidableMrsC my ex still messes about with my mental health when he can (4 years on), but I am determined to fight against it. When I read your post I was willing you some more fighting spirit to find your own happiness, but maybe not at Christmas time as it's a forced occasion.

Weegiemum - sounds lovely! Enjoy!

And parkhead, so sorry for your loss.

I loved Christmas as a child but as an adult with a history of anxiety and depression I've become more conscious of the environment and how wasteful it is to buy lots of things we don't need "just because".

Today I was in TK Maxx and I just pulled back and took in all the shoppers going crazy buying things and being around all those people makes my head spin. It's getting worse and worse. I would love to just forget about the spending part of Christmas and just enjoy being with family and friends reflecting on the year. It's difficult though because of expectations.

Same here, I'm counting the days until it's over. I'm like a new woman come boxing day when I know I have survived another one.

@AgeLikeWine
You sum it all up for me...

I worked in retail for two decades and hated Christmas then. It started in August (behind the scenes) and if you include the Boxing Day/January sales it would drag on until almost February. Basically months of being yelled at because we didn't have this, didn't have that, why is that not in the 3 for 2 etc (all stuff beyond my control). All to finish at about 10 o'clock on Xmas eve (setting up the Boxing Day Sale), getting the one day off and back at work 6 am Boxing Day where most of what I ended up doing was giving refunds on unwanted presents.
Now I am away from that and I do enjoy xmas. I like getting or making new decorations for the tree (tree is a basic re usable from Poundstretchers), I don't buy crazy amounts of presents so I don't find that too bad. We certainly never have a 'theme' or dress up on Xmas day. I have zero interest in a traditional xmas dinner so I leave that to my husband who basically cooks a regular roast and that's it (I zap something in the microwave for me as I don't like roast dinner).
There are no 'rules' about Christmas. Just find what bits you do enjoy and focus on them. And you definitely don't have to be the one who does it all.

YANBU
I suffered loss at Xmas too and it’s never the same.
I am also choosing to celebrate the winter solstice et al instead.
🌷🌷🌷@ParkheadParadise

I don't like Christmas. Glad kids are at their dad's this year. I have started calling it Winter Fun & that makes it easier.

Single parent and no / little / non celebrating family.

Also bereavement at Christmas time couple of years ago.

Haven't got a tree and not sure if I will. We did some winter crafts yesterday.

I don't do it.

I just ignore it, I buy precisely 3 presents, have no decorations, tree or cards.

I admit it would probably be different if I had children.

I once sent some veggie samosas to my brother and this has now become a tradition. My dad comes down a few days before, we buy samosas and have a nice meal then in the morning he goes off to my brother with a boot full of samosas.

I enjoy it but keep it really low key and just focus on the things that matter (to me). I dislike the commercialism and excessive waste of money but it’s easy to avoid that if you really want to and don’t do things ‘for the sake of it’ or to keep up with other people/Facebook expectations.

I hate the expression ‘Are you ready for Christmas?’, I was rather rude recently and answered ‘yes, it’s the 25th December every year, plenty of time to prepare’.

I don't like it. It goes on too long and the bloody Xmas songs are dreadful. I had some hideous Christmases as a child and I don't like the enforced jollity.

It’s just another holiday. Some time off school and possibly work.
Do a tree if you want or just put up an artificial easy one. Get out in nature instead of bringing it into the house.
Get some gifts and nice food.
Put some more meaning into it if it helps. Give some money to a charitable cause, Buy a gift for a needy person, volunteer some where.
Minimise it so it doesn’t feel overwhelming emotionally.

I'm with you OP. I hate it too and would quite happily veto the whole thing. Rest of the family have other ideas.

I hate the fact that it's all everyone talks about from Halloween onwards. I don;t see how anyone needs to spend 2 months of the year preparing for it, shopping for it. Christmas trees - just yuk. Not a fan. I cannot imagine anything worse than a tree in the corner of the room for over a month. Hate the cheesy songs which the radio started playing at the end of november - podcasts all the way from here on it. Same with the spend spend spend adverts on TV. I hate the waste and the plastic tat and the whole consumerist crap like secret santa, elf on his shelf and shite like christmas eve boxes and north pole breakfasts.

No bad experiences as a child. Never enjoyed it, always thought it was overblown and very overrated. Plus i'm late 40s and have done this too many times. It's like groundhog day. Although it's more like groundhog 2 months as the whole thing goes on too long. HATE IT.

Make it every four years like the Olympics.

Once you get on the plane, you will start to chill and enjoy it. We went to Centerparcs once the week before Christmas when the kids were little and escaping that last week of 'ooh what about' actually saved me a fortune.

I love Christmas now the kids are older (early '20s) and there is so much less expectation.

The next time I hear Noddy Holder yelling "It's CHRRRRIIIIISTMAS!" in a shop I'm going to punch whoever is standing next to me right in the face.

I hear you. I was last in a big shopping centre on 2nd November and as soon as I heard Elton telling me to step into christmas I felt murderous. I volunteer in a charity shop and have hidden all the C|hristmassy cds at the back of the cupboard. Hopefully they won't be unearthed for another three weeks.

I enjoy Christmas but I don't have any kids and so have the option of doing however much or little I like. We can decorate more or less, do home baking and fancy cooking or buy 'ready to cook' stuff, go to lots of parties or give my excuses.

I know there's a thousand valid reasons to detest xmas jumpers, but I think they're a great invention. No need to dress up if I don't feel like it - I can just replace my normal jumper with the same xmas jumper I've had for 5 years and done; I am 100% festive.

pineappledanish every 4 years !!! Sounds good to me

I hate it, I am normally broke, exhausted with work, living far away of people who are meaningful in my life, and those good friends I have around are ALL spending Christmas away visiting their relatives. Nothing brings up how lonely and far away we are than Christmas.

I hate it more with each year that passes. It is tacky and you cannot escape it even if you try. Even buying a loaf of bread has rebranded with some tenuous link to Christmas.

All those advent calendars full of stuff are increasing year on year. I saw one the other day that was countdown to New Year, I thought it was one that ran for 31 days in Dec, but no, it is for opening during the period between Christmas and NY. Look out for spate of copycats next year.

And the sheer gullibility. All the hoo ha about John Lewis ad. Last year John Lewis probably did not shift too much merchandise being as it was a Elton sat at a piano. This year, full in consumer mode with some dragon and a thread on here about how they were sold out, they were desperately trying to get little Johnny one.

The only things I like are the time off, and mince pies.