Why is everyone so obsessed?

[zbw565]

I don’t celebrate Christmas but I really don’t understand the appeal. Is it because most people celebrated it as children so it’s nostalgic? You got toys and spends some time with family member you rarely see otherwise?

I don’t get how you can do things with zero meaning behind any of it except “it’s tradition”. Yes but what’s the significance of any of it? All I see is pure commercialism.

The majority of people who celebrate are not religious at all. Some agnostic, some atheists. Yet they still insist on celebrating Christmas. They will put a tree up and tinsel and lights and make up some story about Santa - what’s the significance of any of it? Aren’t these pagan rituals? What do they have to do with Jesus? Just doing it because the adverts on tv tell you it’s time to?

I could just never live my life this way. Doing things like a sheep with no idea why I am even doing it. When I read some posts some people honestly seem to revolve their whole lives around it. I have no idea how much money they end up spending.

How people just rinse and repeat the same crap every year. No wonder most people are miserable and depressed.

Of course after Christmas we are told we have to get excited about New Year, then Valentine’s Day, then Easter, then summer holidays, then Halloween, bonfire night and Christmas again. They’ve added some more gems along the way - Mother’s Day, st Patrick’s day- you get the jist. It’s all load of commercial crap and I can’t stand this time table the west has made up that we all seem to be obsessed with living our lives by with zero meaning behind any of it.

rant over

This, for me. Many cultures have a mid winter festival to break up the long, dark, dreary months.
I do it because I enjoy it. Nice food, giving gifts to my family, catching up with friends etc. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it.

It's poignant, remembering Christmas past and people who are no longer with us. Memories and marks the passing of time.

I love it because it's time to just be with family; no work, no school, just days of fun and games. Long walks in the snow (we'll be at our home in Norway, DH is Norwegian so we go back for holiday periods), seeing people we don't get to see often. Amazing food (we don't bother with a roast and make a buffet), the kids faces in the morning when they get their gifts. DH's face when he sees his!

The decorations! Lovely lights, trees, big fires, warm jumpers. Just everything! The bustle in the build up - Christmas markets, last minute dashes out to grab stuff. Christmas parties, festive clothes and pyjamas.

It amuses me when people say they can't understand why people might want to spend time with their family, make their house look pretty, and celebrate good cheer. We don't do massive Christmases so there's no stress on the day, just us and MIL pops around for a bit. No excessive gift buying, just...relaxing together. Why is that such a strange concept? 😂 Even if those people don't like it because they have no loved ones nearby for example, do they really genuinely not understand why other people might?

I don't celebrate Diwali but I understand why those who do love it.

I like the decorations
i like looking at houses all lit up
i like the carols and music
i like choosing or making gifts for my loved ones
i like sewing Christmas bits and bobs
i like cooking special foods that I only make at Christmas. Lychee & rose jam, mincemeat, nougat, lebkuchen, Swedish meatballs, gravadlax
i like the ritual of seeing my Christmas jumper, our festive hats, the story books, the tablecloth etc every year
and most of all I love creating a lovely festive home

I don't really know why this bothers you though. I don't think it bothers you though, I think you think you sound superior to other people with your comments about "sheep". You don't, btw. You just sound a bit silly.

I love Christmas 🎄 I'm not hugely religious although I do keep a Christian faith.

I love that I have time off work, seeing friends and family, nice food, playing with my son, watching Christmas films etc. Love the tree and lights when it's so gloomy out.

We enjoy it but we don't over spend beyond what we can afford.

Winter can be so dark and the weather is miserable so it's nice to have something special.

So? I hate Christmas too. Does that make me miserable?

It's very lonely for many many people. It's forced fun which is shoved down your throat every minute of every day.

Do you celebrate birthdays or anniversaries? Why? What is so special about it being the same day umpteen years after an event? Do you just do it because society tells you you should?

I'm atheist and I still mostly celebrate Christmas. It's pretty low key as I cba to decorate on my own most years, but I do love Christmas Dec's because its all Wark and twinkly as associations on being tucked up indoors with my family.
I will eat dinner with parents on Christmas and have 2 separate meals with family groups over the next few days. Why? Because it is one of the few times we are all simultaneously off work gor a few days!

I came on to say something like this but @SugarCookieMonster said it better.

Exactly this.

Because people enjoy it, OP. It doesn't have to be any deeper than that really.

Well at least we all gave the OP the attention they so dearly crave.

I'm sure they're off to stomp on some mince pies to ease their mind, as we speak. 😁

I wonder if the Christmas haters make and are drawn to these threads to gear themselves up into more snarling. Like a toddler who keeps stomping his feet when he's not getting attention, and as soon as they do...BOOM! "It's not faaaaaaiiiirrr!"

Or the silly blokes who post on women's forums just so they can complain about women even more.

I do see what you mean - Christmas tends to be a very boring celebration, at least done in the traditional sense - where it's just a day of lazing about and overeating. But provided it's done with some level of creativity and excitement, a celebration is always nice.

I think this is Colin the energy vampire gleefully typing in stuff to make people troll him back with incensed replies.
You go, Colin!!

Presumably no-one has a gun to your head forcing you to celebrate any of the things you mention, so why are you so annoyed by what others like to do? You can sit at home and do whatever it is you like to do, surely?

I personally enjoy Christmas, especially now I have DC. I also love Potato Night, Halloween, Bonfire Night and Burns Night - it's great to have things to brighten up the cold, dark times of the year. I like seeing family and friends, celebrating together.

You do you, and let everyone else do them.

"Of course after Christmas we are told we have to get excited about New Year, then Valentine’s Day, then Easter, then summer holidays, then Halloween, bonfire night and Christmas again. They’ve added some more gems along the way - Mother’s Day, st Patrick’s day- you get the jist. It’s all load of commercial crap and I can’t stand this time table the west has made up that we all seem to be obsessed with living our lives by with zero meaning behind any of it."

Are you very young, @zbw565?

I am old enough to remember less commercialised versions of all these celebrations. If anything, they were more important then. Ah, you call it a "time table"? No, it's a rhythm, the rhythm of the seasons of the year, coming around, going around, being marked by Festivals and Holy Days to help us keep tempo with the passage of time.

Of course, you can choose to exempt yourself from all that; to deny that society is shaped by its history, that all our festivals hark back to something pre-commercialised. To deny the cycle of planting and harvesting, the grafting of Christmas onto Yule, the plenty of summer and the longing for light and warmth of winter. You can pooh-pooh it all, safe in your modern self-righteousness.

Yes, it has become over-commercialised. But the roots are still there, if you care to look. Oh, and you forgot to criticise Hogmanay, a celebration particularly relevant to me. Like Christmas it serves to chase away the cold and the dark, plus looking to a better future. But no, no meaning behind it at all to those who don't look past the surface.

"On every world, wherever people are, in the deepest part of the winter, at the exact midpoint, everybody stops, and turns, and hugs, as if to say "Well done. Well done, everyone! We're halfway out of the dark." Back on Earth, we called this Christmas, or the Winter Solstice. On this world, the first settlers called it the Crystal Feast. "
....but you do you OP

I would say that for people years ago, especially poor people, Christmas was a ray of light in the middle of winter. An excuse to make merry, even if you were on the bones of your arse, a time to spread goodwill, which costs nothing, and for many a rare chance for a little time off work with everyone else off too so families could get together, and perhaps the chance of a little extra money from your employers, or in the form of charity donations. Yes it's commercialised now, yes it's all about money, but most people still use Christmas as an excuse to catch up with family and friends, and spread a little cheer, and if there is a little too much turkey, tinsel and twinkle, sure what harm is it?

Lots of lovely food, the joy of giving a gift, family time, playing silly games, drinking wine at 11am without judgement, being cosy indoors when it is dreary outside. I don't get excited for it but I do enjoy it when it is here.

I don't buy into all the commercial stuff around christmas, easter birthdays and all the rest of it but if people enjoy these things then why not?
It's mostly tat that ends up in landfill but things won't change anyway.
It's great having the lights and colours this time of year, even as a pagan I still enjoy those even if we don't do presents and enforced family fun. Hate most of my dh's family as does he anyway, such a toxic bunch of knobs.😀

It’s about time off to spend with family and friends, special food, giving gifts - which can be fun! And the kids get excited.

Before it was Christmas it was a pagan tradition of celebration made to help endure the long, dark winters - dancing, drinking and feasting - something to look forward to. And that's basically the reason people still do it.

I personally was brought up as a Christian and although lapsed now I still go to midnight mass and enjoy all the religious aspects of it. Watching the nativity at school was always one of my favourite bits and now they're grown I really miss it.

I’m not a sheep. I celebrate Christmas as I enjoy the time as a family, I like decorating for Christmas, I enjoy buying gifts for my child. Enjoyment is why we celebrate Christmas.

Tbh you sound a bit miserable and bitter.

Oh, and a tip for you OP - why not go and volunteer at a homeless shelter on Christmas Day if you're not bothered about celebrating? They'll be really grateful of the help and it might make you feel better and melt some of that ice in your heart!

Ooh aren’t you special and interesting?!

I get 2 weeks off work over Xmas. Lovely winter break at home. I love it. 🎅🏽