Is it Christmas yet?

[MagicThanks]

I know I need to appreciate the summer! I’ll miss it when it’s cold and dark!
But I just feel so ready for the -ber months. I want ghost stories and blankets on the sofa.
Anyone else?

Cosy is UK English, cozy is US English.

I’m not picky though. Means the same thing however people choose to spell it.

I love sunshine and all the best bits of summer, but I’m a little bit excited that by the end of August the nights really start drawing in again.

The nights are drawing in here as we are having to put our rabbit in earlier. I love the ber months. Our son loves Harry Potter and our daughter is just getting into the films so I have booked to go and see Hogwarts in the snow at Harry Potter studios. Looking forward to that in November.

no

Thanks , a thoughtful and kind comment. You name it, I've tried it! Last year booked a couple of nights away. I can honestly say I felt suicidal.
I think the best idea is to dial down the booze and just stick it out. I might book a show at the theatre or a film.

OK, no problem, I'll button it.

Could be better to make a new thread if you need support. I expect you will find company x

I adore Christmas. Autumn into Winter is my absolute favourite time of the year.

However, I have over the years found ways of enjoying all the other seasons. I am not good in the sun and it makes me feel so very unwell. However, I appreciate the changing seasons, the different flowers and fauna, the long summer off work, the local activities available in the summer months and so on. I'm so careful not to wish away any time. But I do like the delightful anticipation of summer ending and autumn queuing up to take over. I note the earlier setting of the sun and the going of my poppies with growing satisfaction that my favourite bit is on its way.

And while I make Christmas a large affair in some respects, I'm not at all commercial about it. It isn't about "stuff". I like tradition and am a student of Christmas I suppose. So I incorporate different traditions, bake, craft, read, cook, entertain, tell stories and celebrate in all manner of simple ways which aren't the things you detail @bafta16. I appreciate the sentiment of course. I'm worried year round about the things you describe but as I don't naturally enjoy the summer months, I think I'm more acutely aware of it now: the heat waves and fires, air con, people jetting off on fuel guzzling planes etc. Our own discomfort throws certain things into a sharper relief I suppose.

Yes! I'm so over the summer months already it's getting boring now. I love Autumn and Christmas time.

Imo, Summer wouldn't be too bad if we were eased into it. It seems like you never know what you're going to wake up, weeks of rain or weeks of intense heat (which I hate... Except for the odd occasion I can just sunbathe and enjoy it!)
I could enjoy summer if it was a warm, warmer, hot, kind of build up followed by a cooler, cooling, cold pattern but it's just the flick of a switch change that bothers me, I don't know why! Does that even make sense?! 🤣

I love the 'ber' months. I miss planning huge Halloween parties during the summer holidays. (Selfish children growing up and not wanting me to throw their parties anymore 🤣😅) I usually sicken myself planning Christmas too early since losing the Halloween planning, then running out of steam by the time Christmas comes! But yes, darker nights, warm lighting, cosy clothes, quieter outdoors, crisp leaves... Can't come quick enough!

You could always have a determination to spend the time actively doing other things - for example a lot of years the BBC do an article about the number of tax returns submitted on Christmas Day, and the number is rising. Some reasons given were too much going on in the house so the person retreated to a quiet room to concentrate on something else, and people deliberately saving it for Christmas Day to finish.

Someone near me was mowing the lawn one year. I’ve heard of people painting the bedrooms (not so popular as it involves opening the window), doing that house ‘thing’ that they keep putting off eg paperwork, clearing the cupboard of doom etc. You can have a really productive day in ways that will really benefit you without having to acknowledge Christmas at all.

Just avoid live tv and radio, it would take me weeks to plough through just the radio programmes I have saved on the Sounds app.

It’s your day just as much as today is also your day.

This is honestly my favourite weather ❤️.

I love autumn. I love winter. I love Christmas! I tolerate summer - too much daylight, sweatiness, flies and hayfever.

THIS

I actually do love all the seasons as well, but I think it’s all the heatwaves starting so early, I’m just a bit summered out.

I won’t! I love it when the nights draw in! I like summer but when I moved to England I thought getting above 24 would be a rare thing now it’s regularly above 30!

@NoCommentingFromNowOn and @ShowOfHands , really helpful thoughts , Thanks.

Once the damn SAD takes hold I struggle and then drink to escape. Duh....like that's going to help.

I don’t know what that particular poster had in mind but going big doesn’t necessarily mean stuff. It can mean doing lots of hosting/big parties, crafts, baking, walks, films, visiting themed places etc.

It does, it means 'funmaxxing' through the season! 😄

Dd has been out of school since april! She is SICK of it all 😄

Roll on september

I’d happily swap Xmas for the heat right now I can’t take anymore the house is like an oven

Have you tried a SAD light? DH always struggles and by February was always rock bottom. A light helped. Plus being outside as much as feasibly possible. We have decent cold weather gear and hike and walk, sometimes camping as much as possible. Making the most of even dull, grey light can help.

I'm really sorry the past affects you so much. Please ignore me if I'm overstepping but if you need permission to make winter and Christmas whatever you need it to be to feel safer, then do it. You don't have to endure it or join in or actively avoid it. You can make any choices which are right for you. My dad lived some of his life, a lot of it really, under the cloud of his childhood and drink was a way to numb it. It took him a lot of time to let it go, even in a small way.

Is she Year 11? That is a long summer!!

No 😄, Shes 7 and autistic

We moved so I pulled her out of her school and waited for a place at one closer (which we got, thank god!)

Its a long summer and we are tired honestly!

Ah bless her and it’s been so hot this year. Roll on September! And that’s a teacher saying it!

Agree! For me, “going big” for Halloween means organising multiple trips to pumpkin patches, Gilmore Girls, craft afternoons carving pumpkins, nights in with the girls watching spooky films, bake off afternoons with my boyfriend making apple cake and cinnamon buns, going to a local Spookfest thing with some friends etc etc. And “going big” for Christmas is evening walks looking at the lights, Christmas markets in nearby cities, Christmas movie nights, Christmas baking, cosy catch ups with the girls with hot chocolate and marshmallows, the Carol concert at my local church, going to the garden centres to see all their festive displays…. It’s not about “stuff” at all.