Is anyone else not feeling even slightly festive?

[Alittlebitfluffy]

I'm in quite the funk and need to find the Christmas spirit fast!

We don't have kids so I think that does make it harder to feel Christmassy, but I've got a horrible cold and been good for nothing for several days as well as got a lot of stress going on in my wider life at the minute.

House is a bomb site, I'm not as prepared as usual and feeling all round yuck and tense!

Anyone else in the same boat? Those who are in the merry festive spirit please do share any tips you have for me to get out of this mood and become more optimistic!

I've got the tree lights on, been making festive meals and still nothing! I feel a right scrooge 🫣

I'm not really feeling it this year. We have a 15 year old, which is a bloody awkward age. Finished work yesterday, and it was all a bit miserable with just a mince pie (which I hate) and a thimbleful of cheap fizz.
And we're all full of a cold. But it could be worse, I suppose.

Honestly I'd be happy to have it every four years, like the Olympics. I'm a creature of routine and habit and Christmas does me no favours!

We've all got flu.

I doubt Christmas will be happening if it's all left to me.

I’ve had a horrible virus the past two weeks and only now I’m feeling better, finally I feel a bit Christmassyz

I recommend:

• light a candle and tell Alexa to play jazzy Christmas carols.
• turn the Tv off and play a board game. Or put Die Hard on.
• wrap some presents and put them under the tree
• phone and old friend or two, or take a Christmassy gift to a neighbour.

we are only doing a small Christmas this year so I’m planning to go to church tomorrow - gonna see if grumpy teen dd feels like coming. Hope so. Christmas feels way more Christmassy if I spend a few hours actually reminding myself I’m not a pagan 🤣

I think the Christmas spirit is not about fairy lights or food as such but more about using next week as a time to indulge in ways you rarely do.

Be that out walking without rushing home, a tv marathon, cheese until you never want to see cheese again, closing the door and reading all day, even spending the time decorating a room or slowly doing DIY jobs, jigsaws, board games, murder mystery puzzles.

It's when the normal hustle bustle of shopping, chores, work, appointments, even news to sone degree just slows.

So whatever you desire a day or two to do in normal life but never have the time. Do that OP. It's not about chasing a John Lewis inspired magical moment.

Yeh I don't like being out of routine really. I hate feeling suffocated inside for days on end which is often what the festive period feels like that. Or going to very busy outdoor events or shops. My ideal Christmas would be escaping to the literal hills and walking up and down some for a few days, peacefully.

But. I have a small child and an over excited partner who adores Xmas. So no peace and lots of tinsel. My imperatives are to eat only as much as I need and to get out of the house by myself a bit to escape the fug. Bah humbug indeed.

I think, for me at least, Christmas has lost a bit of it's magic this year. Both ds and I have been seriously ill with flu (and ds seems to have picked up a second round of it) and Dh has majorly fucked up present wise (he's told me he's not got anything and will probably have to get me something after x-mas now) so I'm just fed up. Majorly.

Absolutely love this. You're so right.

I'm not very festive this year, partly because I'm on week 3 of a cold and sinus infection, I suppose. We've done lots of lovely Christmas stuff, but the weather has been damp and muddy and often gloomy. Hopefully flying to Ireland tomorrow will make Christmas feel a bit more real to me!

I honestly think part of the problem is that Christmas starts so early now that it loses meaning by the time it finally arrives.

I wasn't feeling it then last night I sucked it up, put on my happy face and spent the evening playing board games with my teenagers and dds boyfriend. It was dds suggestion because her boyfriends family is a bit grim and he has never had a family board game night(they aren't grim because of this, they are just generally neglectful arse holes) and he had said it sounded like fun. So I made way too much food and we all sat around and laughed and argued for the evening and it really was a tonic.

I don’t know that I feel ‘Christmassy’.

The day itself is massively over-hyped, but I’m happy to have some time off to do completely as I choose and I’m looking forward to Xmas lunch out at a pub.

I really enjoy December now.
I have lots of lots of lunches and get togethers with friends and I enjoy the excuse to do a lot of fun activities.
Just got home from the local independent cinema where I saw ‘It’s a wonderful life’ for the first time.

I think if you make an effort to do what you enjoy and not get carried away with what you’re told you ‘should’ be doing, buying and enjoying, it’s so much better.

I'm there with you.

I think it's because the baby is too young to get involved and the teenagers don't really care. I've done the food shop, wrapped all the presents, tree has been up all month etc but we're so tired and in the monotony of parenting a baby in the late autumn/winter while on maternity leave that it doesn't feel festive at all right now.

DH isn't into Christmas but does it for the kids and the meal so if I'm not Chief Elf, Christmas is just a Sunday roast with a tree up.

I’m 8 months pregnant with a blocked nose. Also have a toddler so im putting on a happy face and cracking on. Tidying up and getting last bits ready for both xmas and baby feel like a horrible
slog and I’d genuinely like to hide for the next 2 weeks just so I don’t have to socialise and have to “oh not long now” conversations. Scrooge bah humbug.
😆🧑🏻‍🎄

OP- are you my twin???
DH and I have no children too. My family live abroad and if we were there, we'd have a lovely time with all the family. I've also been ill for the past 2 weeks with an odd cold/cough thing (not covid).

In the UK, we are almost NC with DH's half sister, which means we won't be going to the 'family home' for Christmas- well we weren't even invited!
We lost family this year along with a close friend- both sudden, unexpected. I do have a few decorations up, sent cards abroad weeks ago but also doesn't feel very Christmassy at all.

If you are still recovering from a cold I think it's hard to feel anything but low. When I feel especially low I turn to old comedy. A series. Stand up on YouTube. The ones you watched years ago might bring a warm feeling. Just keep yourself warm and comfortable. Set low expectations and don't feel obliged to be happy. That's toxic positivity and it's not good for us.
Rely on preprepared food if you can.

The older we are the longer it takes to recover fully from a cold. Cut yourself some slack just as you probably would for anyone else.

DH and I utterly knackered due to work - 2 rounds of sickness but still resentfully typing away on our laptops.

We are due to leave for Xmas tomorrow, mad packing and.... the car is completely dead. Cue mad panic buying of 4 different legs of train journey 😩.

Then, the guy from the garage calls to say, I'll drive to your house (in a completely different town) after work and fit the battery for you. What a very festive thing to do 🎄🎄🎄 I had to restrain myself from hugging him and I'm feeling the Christmas spirit this evening.

I'm not feeling it at all this year. For lots of different reasons. Hopefully something will snap into place soon.

It gets harder every year to feel festive. But once the day arrives, I feel better. I think because the stress is over lol

TV adverts, shops and social media do not make things easy. The fact that the kids hadn't gone back to school from summer holidays and Christmas was already filling the shelves. Apparently, Easter Eggs are in the shop already. Shops do not let us enjoy one holiday before they're onto the next. I know it's income for them, but there should be ban on it. It's ridiculous

I agree with this. They’ve ruined the whole festive build up and Xmas feeling by having Xmas stuff on shelves in August, playing Xmas songs in shops as soon as Halloween/ bonfire night is over and people even wearing Xmas jumpers from November. Not to mention those who put up their Xmas trees straight after Halloween is finished. It just seems to start earlier and earlier every year to the point they’ll be planning for the next Xmas as soon as the one they have just had is over!

And where towns/ shopping centres used to be decorated so nicely with lots Xmas lovely decorations/ lights, we now see them decorated with much more watered down versions of lights and decorations that don’t look anywhere near as xmassy as they once did years ago.
I don’t think I’ve heard a single Xmas carol sang this year and all the original Xmas songs are being taken over by newer Xmas songs that just don’t do it for me.
Then you go on social media and see brrrr boxes and Xmas eve boxes and anything else all these ‘influencers’ can think of to make up a so-called ‘tradition’ just for the sake of views/ likes/ comments!
Kids wanting the latest piece of technology rather than just being happy with toys.
It’s all just become too commercialised and the real meaning of Christmas just seems to have been lost.

This is great advice thanks so much, a few things on here have inspired me 😊😊

Totally forgot I posted this before I zonked out from my lurgy 😅

I love this. We always play them on Boxing Day and it's one of the things I look forward to the most. No screens. Bliss.

Sorry to hear this and that you're feeling similar to me! I hope you're able to enjoy the next few days. I'm just making a G&T chaser to follow my cough medicine and hoping & praying I'll be back functioning tomorrow. So much cleaning and tidying to do now, but thinking of putting Christmas songs on to see if it helps lift my spirits..!

You're so right. I am not good at sitting and resting even when I feel rubbish, I just get anxious at what I'm behind on and haven't done on time! Old habits die hard. Day 6 now so it better bloody be gone tomorrow.

Trying to put my positive pants on now, could be worse if it was peaking over Christmas. Or worse - I have close friends with far worse illnesses so I need to put things into perspective really when I'm feeling like this.

I was in the spirit of the season about a week ago , but not now . I'm not feeling it at all at the moment.

Sticking a face on for everyone. Not feeling it at all.

We've had a horrible virus, has completely floored us, so a week behind. I only ever feel festive once December starts and then mixed with stress getting prepared. So many birthdays this month (12!) including Christmas eve and boxing day so it's always full on, especially with DC and both working FT. You've just got to do what you can when you feel up to it with illnesses.

Anyway, presents bought and wrapped while sipping lemsip, food bought and ready to prep tomorrow and Christmas day. A week ago this would'nt have been near impossible!

We just bugger on, slowly but surely, never easy. New house so upside down, just tidy away, make room, leave everything else to after Christmas is the motto. Xx