Why I hate Christmas

[MobilityCat]

Christmas has become a highly commercialized holiday. While originally centered around religious and cultural traditions, modern Christmas has grown to include a significant focus on shopping, gift-giving, and consumerism.

The holiday season is now a major driver of retail sales, with businesses heavily promoting holiday deals, products, and themed marketing to encourage spending.

Bah Humbug!

Yeah I'm feeling a bit the same tbh

But at the same time, be grateful

I'm thankful that I'm out of it, I don't care what other people do, but everything in the run up, already begun, is annoying.

Everything from toys to potatoes is badged Christmas and the constant Christmas jingles drive me insane.

I understand what you mean however consumerism is what’s keeping me in a job. In our family Christmas has never been about religion as we are not religious, well this part of the family isn’t. We always seen it as a celebration of the end of the year, ours being based off of Santa rather than Jesus. It’s always been about family, traditions, memories. Yes there’s gift giving but it’s the lowest on the totem pole in our house.

I agree with the users above, if you don't want to celebrate it, you're free to do so. If you do but your idea of a perfect Christmas is different from what other people have planned, you're also free to celebrate it the way you like. I never cook a huge dinner of traditional foods, we order pizza instead. No big family gatherings, just a smartshow 3d christmas video for distant relatives, a phone call for closer relatives and a cozy night at home with movies. We aren't huge on gifts either, Birthdays are way more important and for Christmas we're doing Secret Santa with token gifts and call it a day.

I agree. I am obsessively shopping for tat so that my kids feel "wonder" on the big day. I have nowhere to store this new tat. And no time to declutter. And it will still not be enough. I agree Christmas can be what you make of it, but it is hard when you have wee ones with big expectations. I am looking forward to the day my youngest realises Santa is not real, and we can hopefully rethink what we want Christmas to be.

My, what an original insight, OP.

(seriously, are AI chatbots now a thing on MN? Fuckin'ell...)

I love Christmas so much but I don't disagree with you at all.

I'm of the opinion that I can't change it for everybody else but I can for my own family. I'm not saying I've been successful but I do think my kids get that it's not just about buying stuff.

Some of the things I do are

• having a real push on family time. Baking together, Christmas movie nights etc.
• The kids hand-make presents for adult relatives.
• some time in December I ask them to fill a carrier bag of (not broken) toys to donate.
• We always do a food bank shop with the kids in charge of what we buy.
• I'm also careful to go for sentimental stuff in my Christmas decorations and not switch stuff out every year depending on what's fashionable - I do struggle a bit with this when I see people with beautiful coordinates trees!

Why should we care?
We're all here because we love Christmas

You are in the wrong forum OP 😂
I love Christmas and I’m not ashamed to admit it!

I remember full shops and people buying when I grew up in the Eighties. Shopping is not a new invention.

I never went to Christmas Mass despite growing up next to a church.

For me Christmas is the cultural tradition which is based on religion. So we do celebrate the four Advent Sundays, we have a nativity set and I enjoy the traditional carols.

It's also spending time with people and having lights and warmth during the darkest time of the year, look up the history behind the Roman festival of Saturnalia, the Christen didn't invent a winter holiday, they just re-branded it.

Yes, I love buying presents and making people smile. I like eating food, chocolate and drinking. I even enjoy the cooking.

Gifting has been a major part of Christmas/Winter festivals in pretty much every culture that celebrates for centuries.

Nothing 'new'.

I read something the other day that said 'People who love Christmas do so because of the warm memories they carry of those people that loved them so much they went above and beyond to make it a 'magical' day' and now it just really just made me feel sad for those that 'hate Christmas' that they don't carry that love and joy every child should have felt.

Perhaps that's what I never had. From four years old, my father went to prison,my mum took my two sisters and left me with my nan. We lived dirt poor and Christmas and birthdays were just another day. Some have a shitty childhood experience to share and that's mine. I'm glad for those who make it a joyful experience, but on the whole I find it difficult,

I hate people moaning that they hate Christmas. I hate football too so avoid it. If you hate Christmas just don’t partake but a thread about it!? Really? There’s way more to Christmas than presents… for many the real meaning is to fight like fxxk with the family!

Seriously though I just think 💭 winter be bloody dire without it and whatever way it’s evolved families can celebrate it to any extent they want. Or don’t want to.

Like that we have a national tradition. It’s less religious for many these days but ending the year and having some great (or some years not so great) times for those who enjoy it harmless. Plus Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special!!

Ah. I’m really sorry that happened to you. In that case think you absolutely deserve to give the full monty a try. You’re right. For some it’s lousy. If you have friends or other family of your own why not set your own tradition. I volunteered few times to serve homeless people. You deserve to enjoy a bit of Christmas spirit. Happy early Christmas to a warrior who sounds like they’ve survived a lot.

Dickens ranted about commercialism and a loss of charity and spirituality at Christmas, it’s what prompted A Christmas Carol.

People have been complaining about Christmas being commercialised for nearly 200 years at least.

Thank you Red, my family's spread across the world, but I take your point about doing something for the homeless. Even Scrooge went to Bob Crattchet's home to help out on Christmas day. I hope that you and those you love have a very happy one!

True. You deserve a good day too even if it’s helping others. That a great way to survive it. ❤️

Many of the gifts I have bought have come from small sellers so whilst that's commercial it doesn't have to be big businesses.
Don't get involved in the rampant commercial side. Many people don't. There can be a balance between a bit of pleasure and exchanging a few well considered gifts and behavior like those YouTube videos of Black Fridays where customers trampled on people's heads to buy reduced televisions.
I don't know where you got the impression that most people are foaming at the mouth to buy piles of unwanted tat for the sake of it. Those people are thankfully in the minority.

I'm sorry that you had such a hard childhood but you can have a nice Christmas as an adult. What did you miss out on? Can you find a way of getting some of that now?

I find it such a lonely time of the year....but I don't know why. Every year it's the same, and it's been like this for years (at least from my early twenties, and I'm now in my late fifties). The closer it gets to December the worse it gets, with this month being the most emotional time. Most mornings when I'm on my own it just starts with sobbing, ugly tears and doesn't get much better.

I have a family, a partner, children (now adults) and I consider myself so lucky because I know a lot of people don't have that, but every year it happens, and I don't know why. As I'm getting older the sadness just gets worse.

Come January it all disappears.

If only I could fall asleep on 30th November and wake up on 2nd January life would be so much better.

You can make Christmas what you want. For me it's having a week off work and spending time with DH. We don't have gifts or a tree or anything as we're not bothered. We have a meal on Christmas day with my family and get them a few small gifts. It doesn't have to be manic and crazy.

• False joviality.
• Same old films and songs.
• Getting Fat.
• Holiday boredom and relatives.
• Spenders guilt and frantic shoppers with screaming kids.
• Not a good time for turkeys.

OP you can go to church
You could give to charity
You could book next year to visit family overseas

Life is what you make it OP Christmas time or not you didn't have a good time at Christmas when you were young, but you can, as an adult, make decisions to not carry that throughout your whole life. There are children today in temporary accommodation. You could be part of helping them have a better Christmas, donate to a toy bank, start a local collection on Facebook.

It's clearly up to you, you can choose to remain as you are disliking Christmas, or turn it around. I wouldn't just fester but that's me.

I don't hate Christmas but it's lost so much of its original charm for me that I don't enjoy it as much as I used to, even the weather is usually dull, dreary and wet. It's not even really cold any more.

I never buy presents for adults, the kids get money as they prefer it so I don't really spend huge amounts on useless presents and too much food.

I love the tree, decorations and seeing the houses all lit up but that's about it.