Why do you look forward to Christmas?

[MoonshineandMagic]

I hear (or see on here) many people talking about starting to get excited for Xmas at this time of year and I don’t really understand it.

I find Xmas quite stressful - juggling all the family, pressure to overspend, too much food and drink and then just the winter to look forward to when it’s all over. I don’t get why other people enjoy it so much - I like the break from work but other than that it’s always a bit of an anti-climax.

I’m sure some smartarse will be along to say ‘surprise - people like different things’ but I’m well aware of that. I just can’t work out why they don’t find it as stressful and depressing as I do.

That's lovely and exactly how I like my house to be. People are welcome to relax, get cosy and help themselves to whatever they like. No stuffiness or formality here!

The kids are happy.
The fairy lights make the house pretty.
The cooking is done in between mulled wines with the radio on.
It's simple, cosy, warm, pretty, happy.
We play a board game or seven.
Everyone is home.

It's just time together at the darkest time of the year.

If it wasn't for the kids we would eat toast in bed and go to the pub for an afternoon g&t.

Or get on plane for sunshine.

I'm not religious at all and Christmas for me, has nothing to do with religion. I celebrate a midwinter festival which predates the Christian hijacking of the season.

I adore so much of it. It's wrapped up in nostalgia and memories, joy in the crispness of the season, appreciation of the stories, sharing of magic and myth, the sheer unadulterated pleasure of seeing those I love and sharing time, food and reflection.

I have the fondest memories of grandparents and safety, lights in the dark, the rustling of wrapping paper, the shared experience of a cultural and familial traditions.

The moment on Christmas Eve when the DC are asleep and everything is done and ready to go, is my favourite of the year. I stand in my garden and I close my eyes. I think of the children asleep and dreaming, grandparents ready to travel to see family, presents wrapped, food awaiting cooking. I think about people who are gone, people who gave me my love of Christmas. All of the shitty, trite sentimental memes on Facebook, the odes to gratitude and living in the moment, touch me but once a year. And it's on the 24th of December as the world takes a breath.

And I still believe in Father Christmas. You won't convince me that there is no magic infused in the season.

There is no stress for me. Only joy.

I don't find Christmas stressful because I choose for it not to be, Winter for me is long so it brings fun and something to look forward to.
I start planning presents and some fun stuff to do during the month of December now so that when December comes , I can enjoy sitting with the the Christmas Tree lights on while watching a Christmas movie.
I've kept the present buying to immediate family only.
We don't try to book to many activities, ie, a trip to Santa and one other Christmssy day out is enough for us and we look forward to down time where we don't need to go anywhere or do anything. I don't go out of my way to see people we don't see through the year or spend only what we can afford.

Family time.
No busy rushing around.
And the joy on my child's face as she opens her presents 🤷‍♀️

The things you don't enjoy are things I do enjoy. I like my extended family and enjoy seeing them. I love eating and drinking. I enjoy buying gifts for others. I love having the log burner going on cold, dark nights. I don't enjoy things like Xmas markets or light shows, but love being at home with family and enjoy doing my own decorations.

@ShowOfHands your post brought a tear to my eye. You’ve really encapsulated the joy of Christmas so perfectly. Thank you.

I love bringing out the decorations that i have collected over the years and decorating the house. I don't do coordinating, stylish stuff. I love the twinkly lights.
I absolutely love getting together with my extended family, playing board games etc
I love carols and choral music and enjoy carol services and go to midnight Mass on Christmas eve.
I really enjoy traditional Christmas food like turkey!

I love driving a long way to visit family , knowing nearly everyone else on the road is doing the same thing and being greeted at the door with beaming smiles and open arms .

This year I will picking up my son from the airport as he is working abroad and I am already planning the santa hat snd silly banner combo I will take!

I could do without the presents tbh.

Boxing Day!

I love the feeling of being at home with loads of really nice food and booze in the fridge and no need to go anywhere. I love seeing my kids faces on Xmas morning. The way the tree looks in the evening. Laying under a blanket watching films or reading books with the tree lights twinkling. I think it's just the Christmassy festive feeling I get from drinking mulled wine, or watching certain films or hearing certain songs. I don't find it stressful at all because if I found something stressful I wouldn't do it (unless I was getting paid). So I don't entertain loads of people or whatever.

We celebrate Jul. Our family has various religious leanings, and church does feature although primarily in relation to music (4 musicians of various competence levels). I most look forward to the vibe / mood. The buildup through advent (lots of concerts), the food we only eat once a year, the time spent with family, the traditions like the tree. After we have cleaned madly, brought he tree in and decorated it (usually on 23rd), the food is all in the house, and if we have guests they are settled in,the fire is lit and I open a nice bottle of wine on the evening of the 23rd and just soak up the feeling. 24th is spent gently cooking food (we share the cooking with my inlaws and between us we have 2 and a half kitchens in action but plenty of oven space means less stress). At 5pm on the 24th we "ring Christmas in" and that marks the start of the celebrstion proper.

Honestly I think it’s essentially a hangover from childhood 🤣🤣 Somehow I still find it a magical time! It helps that I usually go to my parents house so don’t have to do a lot of the actual hard work in terms of preparation, I just show up! Also obviously I enjoy spending time with extended family spread across the U.K. and a decent bit of time off work.

I don't personally find it stressful at all.
Children are excited and high as kites.
Time off work.
Loads of nice food and booze.
Seeing family.
What's not to like?*

Me and both our children have birthdays in December. We have a 2 week long celebration covering all 3 birthdays and Christmas. It's the most fun time of year for our family. I haven't started actively preparing yet, just making a note when I see a present idea etc. I have booked a trip to the pantomime.

*I realise if you have a difficult relationship with family members or struggle financially there would be added pressures.

I would assume they are non-practicing Christians rather than non-believers, given I haven't yet met an atheist who would choose to go to church unless it was to support a Christian friend on a notable occasion (wedding or funeral only really) or a gun was held to their head. What a great opportunity for the people of your faith to welcome those non-practicing back into church going... Oh, hang on, you'd prefer to keep it as an exclusive club of The Worthy... 🙄

Christmas makes me happy but in a very low-key way really. I like all the lights and voices/music in the soft darkness, I like connecting with traditions whether they're Victorian cards or medieval carols or Edwardian puddings. I like the message of 'goodwill to all men' and find it funny that it's a mistranslation. I'm not a Christian but Christians aren't wrong that the idea of God born as a human baby and the centring of birth is a lovely and radical idea. The idea of love spilling over as presents to people is beautiful. I love the smell of a Christmas tree and the cinnamon and ginger in the air [happy sigh]

I'm just not interested in Christmas. Of course we did it when the children were small but largely ignore it now. Sometimes we are at home, sometimes we go away.

I am not a Christian so the religious aspect is irrelevant. I don't want to eat more than normal, all extended family are too far away, we give each other small presents during the year if we see something not on a particular day.

The solstice is more important to me and I celebrate that quietly.

I love christmas, I decorate the whole house inside and out(for halloween too). I get to a christmas event every weekend I can find one. I love buying gifts, seeing family and watch christmas films every day in december. I like it more now than when I was a kid. Having kids makes it so much more special. I find non of it stressful and I cook for about 12 every christmas.

I love it! DH and 2 older DS usually go away on holiday. We don't do presents or traditional Xmas food though, just enjoy what's there.

I suppose for me it makes me feel nostalgic and I reminisce about Christmases as a child. We still meet with family. Now I have my own child I get excited to see him be excited by all the lights, decorations, and of course the gifts. We used to get a lot of practical gifts, things that we needed, so weren't spoilt (we did get things we wanted too but not a crazy amount!). Even things like toothbrushes- because it was from Father Christmas, it was exciting!

We have always had very untraditional Xmases....no turkey or dinner, no mince pies/cake, no extended family really.
But I always did great ones for my dcs. Simple but fun. No multiple visits to Santa, or "experiences". They are adults now and live 300 miles away...this year will see them.the week before Xmas. Xmas eve is my favourite day.. take gifts to Dh's gc, then day drinking with friends. No idea what we will do on the day.....just the 2 of us, which suits us this year. Good walking, maybe a cheese board and gifts. Lots of music.
Dh is back at work on 27th so we don't have 10 days of " what shall we do now".
My philosophy is have fun all year round, not just December...which we do!

My business goes quiet over Christmas and New Year so I have a bit more time than I normally do.

Either we go away or get on with some DIY, decorating a couple of bedrooms this year.

I like twinkly lights and a bit of pagan greenery, the rest holds no interest for me. Adult DC and partners might come to stay but are of largely the same views. We have a big family get together at a better time of year - when it is lighter, people are not so likely to be ill and travelling is easier. We sometimes exchange small presents then.

This will be my first Christmas in ages and I'm looking forward to it.

I love Christmas. My house decor is ugly because we can only afford to improve it bit by bit, so I love being able to surround myself with greenery and fairy lights and candles in the dark.

I enjoy cooking, and really like the comfort and familiarity of traditional food.

I get to hear great music in churches FOR FREE rather than for the £30 I'd have to pay to hear the same thing in a concert hall, and I get to go carol singing.

I get to see family.

I really love the ritual and celebration of advent and Yule and Christmas and the New Year Epiphany. It's such a dark and cold time of year, but the time is measured out between the cosy cocooned preparation of advent and the shiny celebrations of Christmas, so there's always something nice to anticipate or do.

So from a different POV - the reasons I don't find it stressful is ..

We are a family of 3. So just a 3 year old to buy for, so no that releases the financial pressure a lot.

We either go for Christmas dinner at my parents house (partners family live abroad) or we go out for Christmas dinner - so I don't have the stress of making Christmas dinner.

I don't see the family I don't like! It's bliss. I see my immediate family and my two great-uncles and that is it!

We have a holiday to look forward to in January to break up the dreaded winter. I too find january and february so depressing!

So without these added stresses, I love the Christmas season and find immense joy watching my little boy love it too.

I look forward to it being over