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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wish people would drop that annoying question are you ready for Christmas?

58 replies

Netcurtainnelly · 12/12/2025 21:05

Are you ready for Christmas?
No. Please dont.. Im never ready for Christmas. I loathe and detest it. Stop being so boring and asking that.

Im ready for a holiday though or the Spring.
Funny how that never gets asked.🤔🙄😱

OP posts:
Mandarinaduck · 12/12/2025 21:07

It's just small talk. It's the normal thing to ask about at this time of year.
Deflect it if you don't have anything to say about it.

Arlanymor · 12/12/2025 21:09

People do ask about holidays - it's a common piece of small talk: 'where are you going on your holidays'. I've not been on holiday since 2019 and none planned, doesn't bother me when people ask because it's just small talk. The topic is inconsequential, it's just a way of initiating light conversation.

Littletreefrog · 12/12/2025 21:10

Heaven forbid people are friendly and attempt to engage with you.

Squirrelblanket · 12/12/2025 21:14

Just say, 'yeah, are you?'

Berlinlover · 12/12/2025 21:16

I work on a supermarket checkout and customers ask me this all day long. It doesn’t bother me at all, they’re only making conversation.

Netcurtainnelly · 12/12/2025 21:18

Berlinlover · 12/12/2025 21:16

I work on a supermarket checkout and customers ask me this all day long. It doesn’t bother me at all, they’re only making conversation.

Isn't there something better one voukd think of to say though?

OP posts:
Littlejellyuk · 12/12/2025 21:18

You loathe and detest christmas?
Okay. Tell them that then 😆
I had a pal who would say no, I am a grinch and it made her feel better 🙂
Most people, when they ask if you're ready for it, are just being friendly with small talk. 😇
It's not that deep 🙃

Yourlifeinyourhands · 12/12/2025 21:18

This is a ‘you’ issue!

pilates · 12/12/2025 21:20

Yeah it’s a boring question.

PollyBell · 12/12/2025 21:22

Yeah much safer to never talk to anyone

TheTecknician · 12/12/2025 21:22

I don't do Christmas and I haven't for many years. To begin with I was quite militant and arsey about it but age has mellowed me and I've learned to politely and patiently handle Christmassy enquiries. As PPs have said, it's just small talk, an icebreaker, if you will.

LilyCanna · 12/12/2025 21:28

For me, the usual small talk question is ‘“What are you doing for Christmas?” i.e. going away to see family or staying home. “Are you ready for Christmas?” makes me feel a bit weird, like there’s an expectation that I should have been working hard on loads of prep and general domesticity. We don’t host, so all I have to do is buy a few presents (and have mixed feelings about Christmas), so I just kind of mumble something. No big deal though. I expect there are people who don’t like ‘“What are you doing for Christmas?” either.

chattyness · 12/12/2025 21:28

Don't forget that lovely old favourite "have you got your tree up yet ? " 😂

It is just seasonal small talk, people passing the time of day & it's not for much longer now.

BringBackCatsEyes · 12/12/2025 21:32

No one’s asked me!

GooseyGandalf · 12/12/2025 21:35

It hurts my brain.
What does being ready for Christmas mean two weeks before Christmas? I have a fuck ton of cooking to do, before that veg to peel and chop, before that groceries up buy, a house to clean, gifts to wrap, a few still to buy, a school fair to bake for. Ready to do all that? Ready if I’ve had the gifts wrapped since September and the Brussels sprouts on a slow boil?

What I’m ready for is that lovely Boxing Day feeling when whatever I couldn’t do or forgot to do won’t matter again for a whole year.

Allthesnowallthetime · 12/12/2025 21:37

I don't recall ever being asked this question. Maybe I've forgotten!

It does sound annoying though.

Mistyglade · 12/12/2025 21:46

I just smile and say yeh. Can’t be arsed with it all.

Lurkingandlearning · 12/12/2025 22:08

Netcurtainnelly · 12/12/2025 21:18

Isn't there something better one voukd think of to say though?

What would you like people to ask you?

Jollyjoy · 12/12/2025 22:19

I hate it too. Because I’m never ready when they ask, and they often respond with ‘I’m almost done, just a chocolate orange to buy’ or the like. And I feel a little more stressed than before. I’m all for small talk but I’d never ask this question and make someone feel pressure to be ‘ready’.

Ime people say all kinds of thoughtless things and it’s not til it makes you feel shit that you realise. Like when you are pregnant, a whole world of stupid ‘small talk’ opens up that you didn’t realise was tedious and/or offensive.

Jollyjoy · 12/12/2025 22:20

Lurkingandlearning · 12/12/2025 22:08

What would you like people to ask you?

Even ‘how’s the Christmas prep going for you?’ Would be better somehow, without the sense ‘you should be ready now’.

HeddaGarbled · 12/12/2025 22:23

It’s just friendly chit chat 🤷‍♀️

I’m surprised anyone dares open their mouths these days, the amount of seemingly innocuous things some miserable gits get in a snit about.

DanielaHobbs · 12/12/2025 22:27

Oh I hear you . I detest Christmas and ignore it. Regardless, I ask other people the question “are you ready for Christmas “ out of courtesy. It s an attempt to make polite , superficial conversation when anything meaningful would be inappropriate.

soundsys · 12/12/2025 22:34

Oh God don't be such a misery! Just say "yeah, just about, how about you?" and move on!

Screamingabdabz · 12/12/2025 22:44

Just say in a really really bored voice “No. Not really.” And they won’t give a shiny shit. It’s just pointless chit chat that people do to oil the wheels of society. It’s not a psychoanalytical exercise. Surely you know this?

Driftingawaynow · 12/12/2025 22:51

Small talk is so tedious