Struggling to get in the festive spirit

[musicaljojo]

Is anyone else just really struggling at the moment?
I was ok till the weekend and we went to a socially distanced Santa’s grotto and it just made feel incredibly sad.
We had booked to go to Alton Towers on a Santa sleepover and that’s been cancelled.
My little boy is 3 so is I think finally understanding what this Christmas business is all about and I’m really trying but with this constant tiers changing and hardly seeing anyone over the Christmas period.
I just feel so sad for him and it’s really knocking my mental health down, I’m really trying for him by doing lots of nice things with him at home and Christmas baking.
Also got the OH’s family wanting us over (he’s from a big family) but they are 3 hours away and they don’t seem to understand the situation, I’m just feeling really fed up of it all!!

I haven't even got a tree up in the house yet. DH and DS did the outside lights last weekend, and only because most of the neighbours have, but none of us have been bothered with anything inside.

Just not feeling festive at all this year.

I'm with you girl! My little ones are also starting to understand properly and every single thing has been cancelled due to being in tier 3. If I'm honest, if I wanted to go to the in laws 3 hours away then I would go. Sick to shit of Boris and his tribe making this bullshit up as he goes along. However it is a good excuse if you don't want to spend christmas with the in laws...like me

Same we were meant to be moving house so never put the tree up. Then we all got covid and the thought of putting it up makes me weep.

Roll on 2021 hopefully for a better year.

It’s utterly shit we have been to two festive events and they were more depressing than just staying at home. I m not even bothering to book anything else I have no motivation for shopping, not bought the kids a single thing yet and all DS wants is a PS5 and obviously we can’t get hold of one. It all just feels so utterly bleak with nothing to look forward to. We had our Alton towers sleepover on Friday cancelled to and our New Years break at butlins, we ve been every year for the last decade. All I have to look forward to this festive season is watching DH get pissed out of his head every single night. Deepest joy.

I out my tree up last weekend of November but haven't had lights on as usual.

Said the other day it doesn't feel like Christmas - and that's even working in a school and doing Christmassy things the past week!

I think having lockdown and not just trawling shops and seeing things and thinking of people and having to be organised and order online has felt so clinical.

I wanna be in the spirit but I'm just not

One day these days will be the good old days.

I promise at 3, although he know knows what Xmas is, he doesn’t have any expectations. Do anything you do will be fun and magical to him. Honestly, the excitement for Xmas in our house is an old Xmas jelly bean tin I had when I was a child. We hang it on the tree and in the lead up to Xmas jelly beans magically appear in it, randomly. They look in this tin on and off all day. Waiting. And these are two fairly high maintenance children!! You have a little one that you can make some lovey Xmas traditions with like your are already

I'm tired of it all. Having worked through all lock downs as a Care assistant and caring for covid residents for 12 hours a day. All I want to do is sleep. But my dd is older so will just chill out on my only day off over Xmas

I agree. We as a family, DH, myself and 2 adult DS’s decided not to bother with cards or presents, which although we agreed, I feel it’s so sad. My DS’s don’t want us going in shops at all. I’ve managed to get a few silly small items to wrap up, but feel so let down that I can’t do what I normally do.

But I am so grateful to have my family. My fit and usually healthy husband had a heart attack in April and needed urgent surgery in May, which he has fully recovered from, but it was so stressful at the time. We also lost our last surviving parent in February, so all round this year has been really awful, but will make the most of Christmas as we can.

You just have to make the best of it, but agree with a PP that at 3, he doesn't have any expectations and therefore no notion of missing out if you don't have/do X, Y or Z.

Anything you do is more about giving you the feeling that you're giving him a nice Christmas, rather than doing it because he wants it IYSWIM?

You can go for walks to look at lights on other people's houses in the early evening, maybe drive to any really over the top decorated houses that are around, see if there's anything more low key than Alton Towers available, eg we have a local small stately home that's put lighted trails up in the parkland around the house, and they also have deer, so you could tell him that's where Santa's reindeer live, let him help you decorate the tree if its not up yet, put on Christmassy films to watch together.

Same here. Haven't seen parents for a year as DM has had cancer and chemo. Have 3 little ones and am making a big effort for them. The school has been great and they have loved the activities there. Even having a bit of yule log is exciting for them! I just feel down about missing seeing the 3 of them in the infants nativity play which I was really looking forward to. In a tier 3 area which has been since July and looks like we will stay in there so center Parcs etc cancelled. What I am trying to do is write down everything I have to be grateful for which is quite a lot, really, and Tey and focus on that. Sounds a bit pollyannaish but it does seem to help. What I have noticed is that the DC seem to enjoy the small Christmas things such as the elf/school Christmas lunch etc so much that I suspect they are not really missing the annual santa trip etc rather it is my expectations and feeling that I have let them down which isn't really the case at all