Is it just me or is anyone else NOT feeling the Christmas spirit?

I don't know what it is this year, but I just have such a "bah humbug" attitude this year. They put up the Christmas decorations in our office yesterday and started playing carols. It was driving me crazy and I had to get up and shut my office door.

I have boxes of Christmas decorations sitting in the basement and I just don't feel like putting them up. Too much of a bother. I don't have a lot of people to buy for, but I don't feel like shopping.

I used to love Christmas and be seriously into the spirit, but I'm just not feeling the joy and love this year.

Is anyone else experiencing something similar? Do you think the excitement simply fades as you get older? Is it just a by-product of the times that we are living in? Should I try to snap out of it or simply sit back and accept my inner Scrooge?

But then again, I'm Jewish.

So I'm feelin' the Chanukah spirit --- "ooooh, let the power of the dradel overwhelm me"

:D

Didn't mean not to be totally inclusive, just looking at it from a personal perspective. Sorry. :spank:

So, let's try again. Whatever your faith tradition or belief system, are you feeling the spirit normally associated with this time of year.

Let me recommend this book:

It's called Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love & Joy Back into the Season, by Jo Robinson and Jean C. Staeheli. It's about not letting the crap in society ruin what ought to be a fun, relaxing, and revitalizing time of the year.

Warning: it recommends spending less money on gifts.

I want to enjoy the spirit of the season without getting caught up in all the phony "Hallmark-ness" and forced spending that normally goes along with it. I'm definitely going to check out this book.

It was a bad year for me and I could care less about Christmas.

Not a good year,no family around anymore...not really interested in Christmas this year....which is fine,really.

I never really cared for Christmas anyway, but this year has really sucked for me.

Christmas is concerned. We're not going to be able to see the grandkiddies, or for that matter, the rest of the family. My wife is only going to be able to come home for a little while, and we can't afford to go anywhere, even for a couple of days. Nuts!

twice since Thanksgiving.

Worse yet I took a part-time (32 hours a week) job in a mail order company call center. Dealing with issues of money and credit doesn't do much to boost any kind of good feelings about Christmas.

Mrs. ewagner wants to decorate the house next weekend. I think I'll volunteer for working this weekend.

~sigh~

and I tried to get out of there as quickly as I could. That's the one thing that ruins the holidays for me--having to listen to that crap starting right after Halloween.

and my name is Carol! I was supposed to be born Christmas day but I was typically late. Plus I will have a signicicant birthday this year.

Christmas in the South sucks because all the Baptist want to show how charitable they are and have countless food, clothing and toy drives.
Why can't they do this all year long? Double Bah Humbug

Why is it that we only do charitable things at Christmas?

ggggrrrrrr.....

I hate the promotions for the charitable drives that play on the "spirit" of the season.

btw...I haven't heard of one Christmas "collection" drive yet that isn't designed to exhalt the giver and humiliate the receiver. Baskets of food, clothing or even cash left quietly at a doorstep would be far better than some of these extravaganzas!

Well, I did buy a Sponge-Bob Barbie for my niece months ago. But I don't really think that counts. I don't feel the cheerie economic outlook that Wall Street keeps talking about. I sense it's a time to start saving for hardtimes ahead, because, even if there is a recovery, it's not going to cover us all. Even if my family does okay, chances are that someone in my extended family will be in great need, and I will have to be prepared to help them out. So, the Gucci days are over for this family.

x-mas should be a quadrennial event - every for years.

in the last 20 years it seems to become a slog that people have to work too hard to enjoy.

between my kid's troubles at school and my landlord raising our rent (and in effect forcing us to move).... I have no holiday cheer at all.

On the one hand, I'm not that excited about it. It's been a tough year looking for and not finding a job, having serious repair work done on the house (which I am grateful I can still afford). Wondering what I'm gonna do for xmas presents, because money is getting scarce now. Being single and having a job and friends is one thing. Being single and being unemployed is extremely lonely at times.

OTOH, I do enjoy the more mystical aspects of the season. I love the music. It's soul-soothing to me. I love the decorations, they cheer me too. Love all the colors. Though I don't adorn my yard with lights, I do enjoy driving by others that do. I enjoy religious services, and all the special foods.

*sigh* color me ambivilent for the moment.

Wonder why?

If I were an HMO, I'd certainly feel it.

Of course if you can afford it. I did it several years ago and adopted a mother with 3 kids. I think the Mom was a big 19 years old. You get the names and the size clothes they wear. I even got a thank you card from the Mom which I didn't expect.

Even if you're not the Christmas spirit doesn't mean you can't help some down on their luck family. Of course, you have to some money to do this. I think its does wonders for both of you.

So far we only have about 4 people out of 50 interested in helping out. Of course, they're all a bunch of selfish right-wingers.

if Jesus really loved "those" people they would be rich like them. :puke:

.

Christmas (and the other faith-based holidays) to me have all tuned into an excuse for people to go shopping and try to outdo each other at the mall.

I work with a woman whose every action is compared to her shopping experiences, i.e. "I did good shopping yesterday!"

Whatever.

You are not what you buy.

i have not had any 'holiday' spirit. but i have had a disdain for carols for many years before that.
BAH HUMBUG! indeed.

Then those 2 1/2 years (3 xmas seasons) working full time as a store manager in a mall turned me off for life.

The mall that I worked at actually stopped playing xmas carols after the first year it was open -- I think under pressure from the mall employees. I know I was ready to take a shotgun to the nearest speaker grille by the end of the first week they played (Thanksgiving, of course.)

Now I'm sitting in my little cublicle at work, and the woman in the cube next to me is one of those people who's whole life revolves around christmas shopping. She's got her decorations up all over the cube, goes shoppnig almost every day at lunch, spends hours on the phone discussing her purchases, is planning several xmas parties, and in general is driving me nuts. I drew the line at her playing xmas music on her computer, however (she keeps several CDs of xmas music handy all year.) I told her if she played them without headphones (which she won't wear because they "mess up her hair") that I would program her computer to spit out xmas CDs when she tried to play them. Fortunately, she hasn't tried it....

I don't like being surrounded by Christmas commercialism.

I'm trying to keep things simple.

I usually enjoy Christmas very much, but I do feel very dragged down by the disasters Bush is hellbent on forging, day after day after day. It cracks me up to see everyone singing about "Peace on Earth." So what I'm trying to do is act "as if." Sometimes if you act "as if" you are happy and peppy, something in you sort of kicks in and you actually start feeling genuinely so. Also, last night, my husband brought home the information about the child we're adopting for Christmas this year. It's something we've been doing each year and it's the most FUN thing to do. Suddenly, knowing that 3 1/2-year-old "Jeremiah" is depending on me to get him a coat, shoes, and clothes has given me a purpose, plus having my 4-year-old son help me shop for this child will really help teach my (already generous and liberal-hearted) son about the spirit of giving, so it's a win-win. (Don't worry, we always get a few toys for the child, too, because clothes just aren't much fun!) Anyone feeling grouchy and grinchy should consider adopting a child or a family for Christmas, you'll feel ten feet tall. Even though I am still jobless, it makes me feel worth a damn to be able to scrape up the money to buy a few things for a child that has far less than I do.

End of sermon.

and must admit it was rather fun filling up a huge box and trying to imagine the looks on their faces. Maybe I need to do that again. It certainly couldn't hurt. Thanks for the sermon! :-)

I don't like holidays at the best of times. Now I'm by myself in a house in a rural desert area. I'm about 15 miles from the nearest small town. My hubby is away working in another town (couldn't find any work in southern California at all). I'm just not in the mood to deal with this holiday crap.

I'm not sure why. If this is related to Thanksgiving, I'm a week behind. If I'm a week behind for Christmas, I wonder if that means I can buy my gifts a week late and hit all the post-season sales. Saving money would really make me jolly.

We lit a fire and made old-fashioned pomander ornaments for our live tree that we bought from a church (the profits go to charity).
We stuck oranges with cloves, popped popcorn and strung them into garlands, and just had a wonderful time with the TV off and just me, hubby, kitty and a bottle of wine in front of the fireplace.

It made me feel a lot better!

Personal issues are keeping me from really "getting it" although I have to try for the sake of 5 year old with stars in his eyes.

When our son was young, it was hard to keep the influences from school at check. Believe me, elementary students trulty appreciate greed! By the time high school rolled around, he was different and just about as sick of christmas commercialism as we were. He's about 1200 miles away now, in college, and told me when he was home for Thanksgiving that the most important thing about Christmas was being with the two of us and his uncles. (batchelors both) We'll do some minor decorating (a tree with his and my wife's childhood ornaments and some garland on the porch) and we'll give out gifts of socks and underwear but that's about it. The time together is becoming more important than anything else. That's good I think.

be applauded heartily. Hoping that I shall do as good a job...

Laura

then ad 9/11 the year after, and it's been hard not to see Christmas as a big commercial frenzy, knowing that the Repugs just want us to shop, shop, shop til we drop.

I've tried to find other ways to deal with it. Trying to support the "Angel Trees" that are around where you can buy something for a needy child, giving to our local Food Bank, and just trying to stay out of the hype and playing Renaisance Music from England with choirs and chants which are very restful.

Maybe it's the lousy December weather in Indiana.
Maybe it's the short days with very little sunlight.
Maybe it's the hypocrisy of the "christians" who sing about peace on earth while they support the murder of thousands of people.
Maybe it's the crass commercialization.
Maybe it's the psycho family members I have to deal with.

Never had the christmas spirit, never will.

knowing this is the last Christmas with her.

She has Alzheimer's, and she's at the point where she doesn't know anything is wrong, which is good, but is getting worse. It's weird knowing that something is the "last" of anything.

That said, I still think it's too early to tell if you're in the spirit. It doesn't hit me (when it does) until a week or so before.

My mother was never really into the holiday thing anyway, and I certainly haven't been since I was about 12. But last year I suspected that it would be the last xmas with her, she had almost stopped eating (and there is nothing you can do about that), and she was also senile. But I bought her a couple pairs of clip-on earrings, and she liked them. It was a sunny day, and I took her for a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and then back to assistd living. The best I could do.

She made it until April. I had hoped she would live to see the Spring, which she did sorta.

Just do the best you can. I do understand, completely.

Some of the hard part is that my father is in denial about how bad she is, so he gets upset when she can't do things anymore. She is very confused, but for the most part knows who we all are, so that's the good thing. She stopped eating once, but only once when she was in the hospital. But when that becomes permannet, it will be downhill pretty quick.

Thansk again.

As her only child (Dad died in 1998), I had sole power of attorney, including health decisions. As she got weaker, the senior staff member asked me what to do, concerning 'herioc measures'. I told them to keep her comfortable, but NO intrusive measures, period. I went to see her every day, and one afternoon she asked me if she could go 'home'. I said that it would be okay and smiled at her. That night, she simply turned loose, in her sleep. I got the phone call at 7:00 the next morning. I must admit, I was relieved, for her.

wonder if my father would do if faced with using artificial means. An aunt, who died last year, lived for 10 years basically as a vegetable after she stopped eating because her kids couldn't let go and had a feeding tube put in.

Very sad about your Mom, but you realize that it was her way of knwoing it was time.

Just not in the mood. For a number of reasons (financial being only one) we aren't making the long drive from GA to MN for Christmas this year. Which means it'll just be my lovely wife, the puppies, and me this Christmas.

A friend told me the key is to lower one's expectations. Haven't figured that out yet.

Oy to the World.

On edit: We do give gifts, but we don't max out the cards. We get together with another family for latkes and brisket one of the nights of Hanukkah, and we light candles. That's about it.

When I married a Jewish man I was only too happy to drop Christmas. The only exception is the tree--my parents had a lovely collection of ornaments, and I do miss them.

as the media's constant glorification of the huge retailer's bottom
line and increase in sales just lays me out. As if our quality of Christmas will be determined by Sprawl-Mart's sales.

The commercialization just doesn't sit well with me. The decorations are nice, but I rarely have the energy to do much myself. Certainly not this year. :-)

And, since we're long since no longer kids, the gift-giving seems superfluous and unnecessary. Several years ago, I reached the stage of my life where I'd rather get rid of stuff than get more of it. (EDIT: Ok, except books. I always like good books.)

My sister asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year and I said, "Donations to the Democratic candidate for President", whoever that turns out to be. Later she had to ask me, "Were you serious?".

:wow:

Was I serious?!?

Oh boy. Seems my family is a bit out of touch. I have some work to do. ;-)

Oh, to end this digression and respond to your post: Go ahead and accept that inner scrooge. I do think such feelings are a natural by-product of the times we are living in. Hopefully by next year at this time, we will have something to celebrate.

:-)

--Peter

we have something to celebrate next year as well. I think my mood might be indicative of the turmoil in which we live. As a poster mentioned above, it just hasn't been the same since the 2000 selection and the roller coaster ride that was with all of the legal maneuvering.

Books are among my favorite items to receive as well as give. The only presents I've bought so far are books for my two nieces and nephew. Two of them are books with a small puzzle on every other page — one on Monet for the older girl and one on sea creatures for the boy. For the youngest niece, it's a pop-up book with all sorts of flaps and pull tabs.

I always spend Christmas Eve with them and that definitely is enough to melt my inner Scrooge — for an evening at least. :D

that your nieces and nephew do that for you. :-)

I don't have any myself (yet). Maybe I'm just grumpy because I don't get to spend Christmas in Chicago with my family anymore. (Only twice in the last 12 years.) It always feels good to go back "home" again. :-)

On second thought, don't give in to that inner Scrooge after all.

:hi:

--Peter

"Joy to the world, the Shrub is pruned."

it's helped me a tremendous amount to throw myself into a charity project; to launch a toy drive, or volunteer for the food bank, or to prepare and serve hot soup to the homeless with a local agency. Maybe collect blankets and coats for one of the local missions.

I think the 'spirit' returns for me when I know I can make a difference, however small.

Christmas spirit? What's that?

It's gotten to the point that I refuse to decorate at home anymore. I hate most Christmas carols. I mute Christmas ads on TV. I like to think I'm a more generous version of Ebenezer Scrooge. BAH HUMBUG!!!

where I had grown up, and spent so many holidays, including last year's final go-round.

I'll need a break for a year or two before I get back in the swing.

I've lost my mother, who went truly crazy with Christmas, and a brother in the past four years. My dad's not doing that well right now either. I'll certainly be sharing the holidays with my family, especially since I don't know how many my dad has left.

I remember, though, that first year without my mother was the hardest. The only thing that got me through it were my nieces and nephew, who are all under 8 years old. Feel free to PM me if you want to talk. :hug:

:hug:

Read my post above, if you like.

Although my mom was 100% "there" with her mental faculties -- and that may be a curse in many ways.

She'd has a stroke in 1994, and recovered rather well after a long stay in a convalarium, but then the classic pattern of a series of falls set in, each one taking a little more wind out of her sails. (Fortunately, the stroke got her off the dime and she was able to arrange a living trust and durable power of attorney.)

She was so frail last Christmas, that I was pretty sure that it was going to be her last. Sure enough, the following January, she took another hard fall in her bathroom, and suffered a mild heart attack in the process. My wife and I went over to her house, got her up and convinced her to go to the hospital. She walked out of her house under her own power (barely), but the effects of the fall started a cascade of organ failures -- after two weeks of fighting valiantly, she emphatically wanted her feeding tube out, and she was gone by the next morning.

She was 90 years old, and had a good run, but it just seems so *strange* to have her gone. Especially at the holidays.

I'm so very sorry about your loss, and wish you all the best -- it's a process, and I guess that the best way through it is via the passage of time.

Hang in there --

Has a lot to do with my lack of a family, I guess.

As for the holiday itself, I signed up to do a fill-in at my college radio station on Christmas Day. And no, I won't be playing holiday music!

about Christmas. I don't really have any family to spend it with. My parents are deceased, one of my sisters became a Jehovah Witness, and the other one lives in Alaska. So I don't really do much of anything for Christmas any more.

:P

I have my last final on Dec. 22nd and most likely, as every other year, I will be responsible for every card and every gift (and 90% of the wrapping) except for the one or two last minute things my husband rushes to get for me on Dec. 24th at 8:00 pm.
Somehow, this year, I'm not in the mood for it all. :mad:

it's hard to get back once you lose it....I haven't felt like celebrating since Dec 2000.

And I love the whole getting the tree experience (we go to a farm to cut our own) and decorating the tree with the kids' decorations, (which were some of the only things saved from a house fire five years ago.) I love Christmas Eve mass and I love the anticipation of snow. I love buying the cats a tin of tuna and the dog a special collar and a bag of treats. I love hanging the stockings next to the fireplace. I love planning, buying and cooking the Christmas day dinner and the football on TV.
What I hate...THE GIFT THING!!! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. Plus anything I buy (excluding the treats for the pets and the tree) is going to pump up Bush's economy. I am not buying gifts this year, I am donating the money to charity in the recipient's name.
My suggestion, make a list of the things you love about Christmas and do that....If you don't like something, don't do it:)

Haven't decorated trees or anything like that.

Me too....total bah humbug.....I've decided not to do my annual letter to friends and family and we're thinking about skipping the tree and lights altogether. Too much time, energy and expense.

And I think for New Year's Eve we're finally going to do something meaningful and do a 4-hour Kundalini Yoga workshop. Should be fun! No party hats required and no hangover the morning after :)

What would that entail? Would you be participating or leading?

It's a very spiritual experience. Just the perfect thing to start the new year.

Love the songs and everything. My family was/are all Christmas people and so was I and I hope to be again some time.

This year has been total hell and I'm just not up for it right now.


"I wish I had a river,
I could skate away on."

Its been diminishing for me for a few years now (I guess I'm just gonna have to admit I'm OLD now) but I'm really struggling to care this year. I'm not religious at all so that side has always been meaningless but I did view it as a time to get together with friends/relatives etc and have fun but this year it seems to be a big lie that everyone's going along with, most people I know are dreading the big family get together because someone is always feuding with someone, they are terrified of the amount of cash it's gonna cost and the state of the world (although in reality I guess it's no different than it ever is) isn't making anyone feel too "goodwill to all men" like

people keep asking "what do you want for christmas" and although I'm not exactly loaded I can't really think of a thing (as above the exception of a good book) and I know I'm going to end up with another collection of crap I don't want/need from the distant rell's that barely know us

just call me Ebenezer I guess

I've long since abandoned any special feeling during this season with the idea that...why should there only be one time of year where you think and act a certain way?

baking holiday cookies. It's inexpensive and it's for my MoveOn House Party this weekend so it's for a good cause! Now *that* I can get excited about :-) We're even having cider and eggnog. So I guess I'm not completely all bah humbug (just when it comes to the pressure of gift-giving and the commercial saturation you have to experience whenever you leave the house).

all about money and greed.

it also *did* seem different somehow when my "purr monster" kitty was still alive and he had a liking for sitting under the Christmas tree for Midnight did know where the action is and considered it the ideal, "purr fect" spot for getting "purr sessions".


Think I am slow to thaw out as far as Christmas spirit this year ever since I would have to read those darned "Thomas Franks" posts about him and martial law (and btw the only real experience Canadians had with that was the FLQ October Crisis - War Measures Act incident of October 1970) and ever since became haunted by the "Spirit of Terrorist Incidents Yet To Be"


On edit I also momentarily lost it in 1980 too for though grade school kid in the 4th grade though I was at the time, the stuff happening at the time with the American nuns killed in El Salvador, John Lennon being murdered and the American captives in Iran celebrating their 2nd blasted Christmas there and the memories of Desert One strangely affected me as well in a way.

One, because times are hard and I know their money is tight, and two, I don't need stuff. Just some heartfelt emotion is enough for me.

http://www.literature.org/authors/dickens-charles/christmas-carol/

You can't always find Christmas in the office, or the basement. Keep looking! It's around somewhere. :)

bleh.

usually I can manage to dredge up a little but this year...NONE at all. It's been a really rotten year, I was backstabbed by friends I had had for almost 20 years and the last of my living relatives moved away without leaving a forwarding address, BAH HUMBUG! :argh:

that's as far into xmas as I can get now. I live with a buddhists who thinks attachment to material things is bad and uses "i'm a buddhist"as an excuse not to buy me a gift, the cheap bastard.

I'm guetting my revenge by making him take me to Thailand for our winter holiday this year. :)