To be so f*cking over bloody Christmas.

[lifesabitchandthenyoudie]

Was already feeling like this, muting adverts etc; then yesterday I watched this: (Planet of the Humans by Jeff Gibbs) and I'm so done with the human race now I just want to hide in my little house and forget the world. I've been away from work and just know when I go back on Tuesday we'll already be overrun with fucking xmas music, decorations etc... I have gc and already feel angry about how much crap they have. I would buy them books but they literally don't even read or look after them. I get called scrooge because I only ever put up decorations (if I bother) in the week before, ffs! Is there anywhere on this planet that's xmas free, please?

I know someone who gives Easter eggs as gifts at Christmas as a joke .

The worst thing about UK type Xmas is the feelings of inadequacy if you don't have a huge family that gather with 'joy and delight', or don't have children or masses of friends parties to go to with twinkly lights and sparkly dresses.

It's never been my experience and you are left wondering what the fuck you did wrong in your life even if you are more than satisfied the rest of the year.

I'm not one to be swayed by advertising it it the whole reason why Xmas depresses me so much.

It's being ruined by those who just can't wait until December and have all their decorations out in November and have turned a beautiful and magical celebration into a tacky and manic spendfest defined by excess everything. Then spend January going around with long faces because it feels like such an anticlimax and they're broke and have put on a stone.
And they call other people grinches.

Single parent here, 2 children, very limited extended family.

and I bloody love it.

the time together with my children, the cosines, the crackers and stockings and decorating the tree, and ice skating….

it is simple here but I love every minute. I don’t relate to the darkness how some people receive it in the slightest

I love it but I'm so envious of those with big families to enjoy it with. We are tiny.

It's not Christmas.

It's what we turned Christmas into. It used to be a quiet time with family, now it's a spend spend spend orgy starting in September.

Not everyone

I would disagree, other festivals are just as loud.

I just spent weeks being woken up be fireworks for Diwali and Diwali being all over shops and SM.

No, not everyone, but what particularly gets my goat are the people who decorate in November and throw out their tree as soon as they have finished the AfterEights. Because apparently Christmas is over as soon as the turkey carcass has gone in the bin.

If doing that is making you unhappy then stop doing it.

It can be whatever you want it to be.

Exactly
Many a mumsnetter choose to make it stressful and shit

Exactly. We don't do much at Christmas except enjoy time off work, go out for walks, watch TV, have a basic tree, enjoy food and drink, see family etc.

I've never been 'looked at as if I've murdered Santa' because I don't do or buy X, Y or Z and I never feel the urge or the pressure to buy the 'tat in shops' any more than I do anything else that shops sell but I'm not interested in. I don't even look at it, so what if it's there? I don't want it so I don't buy it, end of.

I don't understand all the people who say that they feel overwhelming pressure to buy or do all these things against their will. Surely the only person who is putting the pressure on is yourself? So it's up to you to change your own mindset so you're not pressuring yourself to do things that you don't want to.

To me it's a completely bizarre thing to do to 'do Christmas' so far in advance but if that's what they want to do it that way, then it's up to them?

It's not like people are going house to house instructing people to put up decorations and buy trees before the bonfire is even cold.

Seriously, does no-one have a mind of their own these days?

Well yes, as this very thread demonstrates

@FelicityFlops

You lost me at 'so-called climate crisis'. Didn't bother reading the rest.

I have just had a friend round for coffee who was almost in tears at the stress of trying to please everyone while not being run ragged herself.

She says she absolutely hates Christmas Day but can't opt out without upsetting many members of her family.

Perfect example of overcomplicating something that unnecessary. Why can't you do online shopping? No need to do the whole shop to shop. Your kids have far to0 much - so why the need to go crazy overboard?? You only make it as hard and joyless as you want it to be.

She needs to stop being a people pleaser.

There also doesn't have to be all or nothing. This is martyrdom which doesn't really deserve that much sympathy, brutally said.

The reality is… she won’t please anyone. Because likelihood behaves like a martyr come Christmas Day and goes around with a cats bum expression on her face.

all the threads on Christmas Day from pissed off mumsnetters stomping around their homes whinging about this or that or this and that - I often think…. Bloody hell that must be shit for everyone!

BosaNova and Gumreduction my friend is absolutely not a martyr, nor will she have a cat's bum mouth. Only on MN can you get such an assumption.

@FourChimneys Of course she's being a martyr. You said so in your post - she's stressing about Christmas weeks in advance when you can guarantee most of those people she's trying to please and will be upset if she opts out won't have given it a moment's thought.

If they want certain things at Christmas, they organise them themselves. She should do Christmas how she wants to. Then she won't 'absolutely hate Christmas Day' because she'll be having a nice day doing whatever she wants to do.

Well it’s perfect for anyone without a garden, or who, like me, apparently has the thumb of death when it comes to plants! I tried having a tree in a pot and bringing it in each year, but they kept dying. I refuse to have a plastic tree, so for now this is good. Also I would have to hire someone to carry the tree in and out of the house anyway, so this isn’t THAT much more expensive. Essentially it’s a good solution for us city dwellers with no garden or a tiny garden and no gardening ability 😊
(PS thank you for clarifying what you meant, it’s hard to convey tone in the written word, and I appreciated you making it clear you weren’t being snarky. Can be hard to tell on here!)

Thank you all, for your input; some have been enlightening, helpful (probably best not try Somalia or Pakistan!), entertaining, and somewhat perplexing (what's wrong with Michael Moore?).

To those saying 'just don't do it', my whole intent was to rant (sorry) about how difficult it is to distance yourself from it, and how it (and all the other 'celebrations') are contributing to our collective culpability in the planet's demise (actually the planet will be fine, it's more the suffering and extinctions that I'm worried about). I did come across as a bit angry but it's not really directed at my gc, just at how much waste they seem to generate; I do love them, honest!

Hope you all have a very happy, peaceful and loving winter solstice... for those on their own, I hope you're ok.

Peace and Love

@MotherOfPuffling - I want to rent my tree but I can only find ones in London. I’m in the SE but not London. If you are SE who do you use?