Is anyone else NOT in the holiday spirit?

[Matata]

Whelp -- I bought a pretty, fake garland decorated with cherries, berries, apples & pine cones and strung it on the fireplace with glee. The cats decided to imbibe of aforementioned fakey stuff and throw it up in nice neat piles on the hearth. Note to self: buy metal decor.

 

[partgypsy]

Matata maybe you can make a mini wreath for the cats made of catnip Then they would probably leave the rest alone!

 

[kenny]

Who says anyone has to be "in the holiday spirit"?, whatever that means.

Every December there's so much whining about the holidays.
Just do as much or as little holiday stuff as you like. Easy Peasy.
Nobody's holding a gun to your head.

 

[isaku5]

My DH has NEVER been in the Christmas spirit since we married. Before the marriage, he pretended to like it as much as I did

I guess the statute of limitations on misrepresentation has run out by now

 

[zoebartlett]

Who says anyone has to be "in the holiday spirit"?, whatever that means.

Every December there's so much whining about the holidays.
Just do as much or as little holiday stuff as you like. Easy Peasy.
Nobody's holding a gun to your head.

I'm usually not one to "whine" about the holidays. I LOVE this time of year usually. It just seemed to come on full force this year and I wasn't prepared.

 

[HollyS]

Who says anyone has to be "in the holiday spirit"?, whatever that means.

Every December there's so much whining about the holidays.
Just do as much or as little holiday stuff as you like. Easy Peasy.
Nobody's holding a gun to your head.

Kenny, sometimes you miss the point. Maybe it's a guy thing.

Women like to kvetch. We talk about everything. The stuff we do, the stuff we don't want to do, the stuff we dream of doing, the stuff we would never, ever do.

We don't consider it whining. We think of it as 'sharing'.

 

[tuffyluvr]

I am never in the "holiday spirit" really. I like to get the items for our adopted families and know that they're taken care of but otherwise...eh. I am not religious at all, and I despise christmas music and decor.

I'm with you I do Christmas for FI, but if it were up to me I would be perfectly happy to run away to Mexico or Hawaii every year and pretend like it doesn't exist. I *love* giving gifts when I've put thought into them, but I hate all the pressure to "buy $h!t". I would love to buy a handful of really meaningful gifts rather than buying everyone gifts cuz I feel obligated. The holidays are too much about material things and not enough about what they should be.

 

[tuffyluvr]

Whelp -- I bought a pretty, fake garland decorated with cherries, berries, apples & pine cones and strung it on the fireplace with glee. The cats decided to imbibe of aforementioned fakey stuff and throw it up in nice neat piles on the hearth. Note to self: buy metal decor.

This is amazing!!! I totally LOL'd

 

[MichelleCarmen]

maybe I should start drinking wine since it is recommended here for the adults. lol! A wine mini-bottle-of-the-day of Christmas advent calendar!

OH MY GAWD!!! This is brilliant!!! MARKET IT QUICK! And I'll order about 50 on the spot!! MC - you are a visionary!!!

I totally approve! Wait... are there rules with this? like with the kids, its only 1 per day... can adults play the calendar a bit differently? as in - can I wait until Friday then open up the past week?

mmmm, I'm not sure. It would depend upon the other adult in your household... For example, my rule here is my son can eat his chocolate after breakfast, HOWEVER, if he forgets to eat it and heads off to school and I see that it's still there, I have the option to eat it! lol So, basically, if you don't drink one mini-bottle, your DH may have the option to sneak and run off with the wine and enjoy!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

My DH has NEVER been in the Christmas spirit since we married. Before the marriage, he pretended to like it as much as I did

I guess the statute of limitations on misrepresentation has run out by now

My dh is the same way. He isn't into it AT ALL! He brought the tree home while I was cooking dinner and left a bunch of pine needles on the floor and while cleaning them up asked why he was cleaning them up. I'm thinking DUDE, I am making dinner for everyone here... him bringing home a tree and sticking it in the stand is the extent of his holiday effort. After that, he watched a football game. I always decorate the tree by myself...this year, both boys helped for a bit and the cat went nuts and attacked all the tissue, but then they all lost interest and my son spent most of the time lining up the little ornament hooks just in case we needed extras rather than doing any of the decorating. Ugh!

 

[kenny]

Who says anyone has to be "in the holiday spirit"?, whatever that means.

Every December there's so much whining about the holidays.
Just do as much or as little holiday stuff as you like. Easy Peasy.
Nobody's holding a gun to your head.

Kenny, sometimes you miss the point. Maybe it's a guy thing.

Women like to kvetch. We talk about everything. The stuff we do, the stuff we don't want to do, the stuff we dream of doing, the stuff we would never, ever do.

We don't consider it whining. We think of it as 'sharing'.

I hear ya, but I could say bring up misogyny ("Maybe it's a guy thing") is misandry.
Women vary.

But I'm addressing a larger point.
Each of us is responsible for our life experience, at least our reaction to what's going on.
Blaming others, family and the world is kind of a waste of the afternoon IMHO.

I'm not being sexist.
I know plenty of men who are complainers too.
One neighbor walks his dog and stops to complain about 10 or 20 things to whomever will listen.

About the holiday spirit thing ... one day I hope I get up the nerve to put a Christmas tree in our front window decorated only with credit cards.
But there I go complaining about what this holiday has devolved into.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

But I'm addressing a larger point.
Each of us is responsible for our life experience, at least our reaction to what's going on.
Blaming others, family and the world is kind of a waste of the afternoon IMHO.
:

Dude, you've complained too! If you don't like the 7 hour old turkey, bring your own turkey from home all packaged in an ice pack!

 

[Enerchi]

maybe I should start drinking wine since it is recommended here for the adults. lol! A wine mini-bottle-of-the-day of Christmas advent calendar!

OH MY GAWD!!! This is brilliant!!! MARKET IT QUICK! And I'll order about 50 on the spot!! MC - you are a visionary!!!

I totally approve! Wait... are there rules with this? like with the kids, its only 1 per day... can adults play the calendar a bit differently? as in - can I wait until Friday then open up the past week?

mmmm, I'm not sure. It would depend upon the other adult in your household... For example, my rule here is my son can eat his chocolate after breakfast, HOWEVER, if he forgets to eat it and heads off to school and I see that it's still there, I have the option to eat it! lol So, basically, if you don't drink one mini-bottle, your DH may have the option to sneak and run off with the wine and enjoy!

Ok - good to know --- I guess when I leave for work at 630am, I better just crack that mini bottle before I get going, huh??? LOL!!!

Awesome idea tho - advent calendar for adults - wine in a window!! PERFECT!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

maybe I should start drinking wine since it is recommended here for the adults. lol! A wine mini-bottle-of-the-day of Christmas advent calendar!

OH MY GAWD!!! This is brilliant!!! MARKET IT QUICK! And I'll order about 50 on the spot!! MC - you are a visionary!!!

I totally approve! Wait... are there rules with this? like with the kids, its only 1 per day... can adults play the calendar a bit differently? as in - can I wait until Friday then open up the past week?

mmmm, I'm not sure. It would depend upon the other adult in your household... For example, my rule here is my son can eat his chocolate after breakfast, HOWEVER, if he forgets to eat it and heads off to school and I see that it's still there, I have the option to eat it! lol So, basically, if you don't drink one mini-bottle, your DH may have the option to sneak and run off with the wine and enjoy!

Ok - good to know --- I guess when I leave for work at 630am, I better just crack that mini bottle before I get going, huh??? LOL!!!

Awesome idea tho - advent calendar for adults - wine in a window!! PERFECT!

hahaha Totally. There is NOTHING wrong with a little taster before going to work! lol OR you can stick it in your purse for right after...or lunch break. With 24 bottles, you can even have the first one on midnight of the 1st of Dec, the second at 1 am on the 2nd of Dec, the 3rd at 2:00 am on the 3rd, and so forth... lol

Guess I just need to figure out how to make wine! hahaha Can't be too difficult, right?

 

[tuffyluvr]

Y'alls are on to something with the mini bottle advent calendar! I think that some cardboard, a glue gun and paint/embellishments would make an adorable mini bottle Christmas tree to be cherished for holiday seasons to come!

 

[zoebartlett]

But I'm addressing a larger point.
Each of us is responsible for our life experience, at least our reaction to what's going on.
Blaming others, family and the world is kind of a waste of the afternoon IMHO.
:

Dude, you've complained too! If you don't like the 7 hour old turkey, bring your own turkey from home all packaged in an ice pack!

Just go with it, Kenny. I agree with Holly's post.

 

[justginger]

Who says anyone has to be "in the holiday spirit"?, whatever that means.

Every December there's so much whining about the holidays.
Just do as much or as little holiday stuff as you like. Easy Peasy.
Nobody's holding a gun to your head.

Kenny, sometimes you miss the point. Maybe it's a guy thing.

Women like to kvetch. We talk about everything. The stuff we do, the stuff we don't want to do, the stuff we dream of doing, the stuff we would never, ever do.

We don't consider it whining. We think of it as 'sharing'.

I hear ya, but I could say bring up misogyny ("Maybe it's a guy thing") is misandry.
Women vary.

But I'm addressing a larger point.
Each of us is responsible for our life experience, at least our reaction to what's going on.
Blaming others, family and the world is kind of a waste of the afternoon IMHO.

I'm not being sexist.
I know plenty of men who are complainers too.
One neighbor walks his dog and stops to complain about 10 or 20 things to whomever will listen.

About the holiday spirit thing ... one day I hope I get up the nerve to put a Christmas tree in our front window decorated only with credit cards.
But there I go complaining about what this holiday has devolved into.

I must start filling out all of the credit card applications that get sent to me, remembering to order the cards in a variety of colors and patterns. I think it would make quite an artistic statement.

 

[TooPatient]

maybe I should start drinking wine since it is recommended here for the adults. lol! A wine mini-bottle-of-the-day of Christmas advent calendar!

OH MY GAWD!!! This is brilliant!!! MARKET IT QUICK! And I'll order about 50 on the spot!! MC - you are a visionary!!!

I totally approve! Wait... are there rules with this? like with the kids, its only 1 per day... can adults play the calendar a bit differently? as in - can I wait until Friday then open up the past week?

I think they've already got these in Whole Foods!
I'm not sure if it is mini-bottles or just filled chocolates?

 

[Phoenix]

But I'm addressing a larger point.
Each of us is responsible for our life experience, at least our reaction to what's going on.
Blaming others, family and the world is kind of a waste of the afternoon IMHO.
:

Dude, you've complained too! If you don't like the 7 hour old turkey, bring your own turkey from home all packaged in an ice pack!

Kenny, I luv ya, but I have to say MC's post made me spit my wine through my nostrils!

 

[HopeDream]

I'm not really in the Christmas spirit - Christmas is really close to my birthday - so as a child, my birthday was always kind of a non-event .

I'm not religeous, but my family always celebrates christmas and goes to church for the Christmas Eve service etc. I think I'd like christmas if it only happened once every 5 years and everyone really made a big to-do of it.

I'm super excited for the winter solstice lantern festival though: http://www.secretlantern.org/index.html

Beautiful Lanterns and Twilight Parades and carnival band music - It's festive and feels exciting and different.

 

[Circe]

It is 93 degrees outside, the sun is BLAZING, not a cloud in sight. Southern hemisphere Christmases suck. Couldn't be less "in the spirit" if I were possessed by Scrooge himself.

Oi! So Hem christmases are awesome! Beautiful sunny skies, champagne and strawberries with breakfast, opening presents and racing outside to play (without the 10 minute dressing ritual to prevent death by freezing), visiting friends, going to the beach with the family and having a big christmas picnic lunch and seeing everyone else at the beach happy and laughing. Fantastic!

Tell me about a New Years tree. Never heard of one.

I'm not Jewish, nor am I answering for Circe, but my guess would be a Rosh Hashanah tree for a Jewish new year, or it's a way of having a christmas tree without calling it that.



Anyone not in the spirit of christmas, just put some of that liquid spirit in, you'll warm up in no time. Glug glug!

Heh - it's a Soviet thing. Since the nation technically eschewed religion but the tradition was strong, they just modified the reasoning a little. Hey, it's happened before (Yule into Christmas).

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I'm not really in the Christmas spirit - Christmas is really close to my birthday - so as a child, my birthday was always kind of a non-event .

I'm not religeous, but my family always celebrates christmas and goes to church for the Christmas Eve service etc. I think I'd like christmas if it only happened once every 5 years and everyone really made a big to-do of it.

I'm super excited for the winter solstice lantern festival though: http://www.secretlantern.org/index.html

Beautiful Lanterns and Twilight Parades and carnival band music - It's festive and feels exciting and different.

The labyrinth is really cool!

 

[LittleRiver]

I love Christmas, but I haven't been able to get in the spirit this year. With Thanksgiving falling on the 22nd, maybe it's still too early?

I put up a wreath, stockings, and switched out my kitchen and hand towels....nothing.
I did most of my Christmas shopping....nothing.
I am playing Pandora's Folk Holidays station now, and even that isn't working!

Oh well, I am planning to send out cards this weekend.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I love Christmas, but I haven't been able to get in the spirit this year. With Thanksgiving falling on the 22nd, maybe it's still too early?

I put up a wreath, stockings, and switched out my kitchen and hand towels....nothing.
I did most of my Christmas shopping....nothing.
I am playing Pandora's Folk Holidays station now, and even that isn't working!

Oh well, I am planning to send out cards this weekend.

Maybe that is it...having Thanksgiving early? I sent my cards out yesterday. We did get one Holiday card in the mail the other day and now rarely anyone is sending cards and I was so thrilled, I even thanked the person. Hopefully, a couple more relatives are still sending cards. Luckily, my grandmother sends cards for everything. We even get Halloween cards! lol My kids LOVE IT! They are really excited about Christmas. I wish that I could have that same innocent excitment they have...no baggage over the over the meaning of Christmas being lost. They don't even think about that. Just super excited!

 

[audball]

I hope you're all able to find your inner child and begin to get in the spirit! This is my absolutely favorite time of the year. It helps that I get several weeks off work! (LOVE working for a university!).

I just hope we get a little cold weather the week of. It's depressing in Florida for Christmas when it's shorts and t-shirt weather.

 

[movie zombie]

i am not a "holiday" person.
yet i insist on lights on the house the weekend after thanksgiving.
i do send holiday cards.
and then i'm done!
i do wish sales people and others a happy holiday when ending a conversation or leaving.
i've identified what it is i like and enjoy and have a vested interest in doing to please myself.
and that is all i do. nothing more.
KISS works very very well.
hubby is even less into the holidays.........

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I hope you're all able to find your inner child and begin to get in the spirit! This is my absolutely favorite time of the year. It helps that I get several weeks off work! (LOVE working for a university!).

I just hope we get a little cold weather the week of. It's depressing in Florida for Christmas when it's shorts and t-shirt weather.

That is EXACTLY what we all need...to find our inner child!

I did run errands yesterday and people seemed kind of stressed and we still have quite a few days left until Christmas!

 

[audball]

The only part of Christmas I get scroogey about is the gifts. I'm just not a gift person. My SO and I get the things we want when we want them. OR if they're pricier, we save up and get them (and wouldn't ever ask for extravagant gifts anyway). When it comes to it, there's not usually anything we really *want* OR *need*. I just assume scrap the gifts for all adults and just buy for the kiddos.

I love everything about the season except the commercial part. I love the lights, cocoa, music, decorations, weather, cheery people, time off, togetherness, . I just wish people could get over the STUFF part.

 

[purplesparklies]

Me! Really struggling this year and can't seem to snap out of it! I'd better figure out a way soon!

 

[ksinger]

Well, I'm not in the mood. And you know what? I blame YOU! Yes YOU! I blame ALL Y'ALL for my holiday mood. Espcecially Kenny.



Seriously, lot's of reasons. I no longer like to shop. I'm tired and my house is really too small to decorate without having to put half of it AWAY to get room for decorations. Most of my family is dead or gone from here. It looks like Oklahoma - which is experiencing drought that puts the dustbowl rainfall levels to shame - isn't going to get anything resembling winter AGAIN this year: it's bloody hot for December. I really haven't been able to even get out a sweater. My husband's job is killing him and HE isn't a Christmas guy, and I find the whole thing just a bit depressing.

I used to enjoy this time of year, but situations and people change, and I don't see any reason to force a cheerfulness I simply don't feel. I read once that it was odd that in western culture, we pressure, if not insist, that people be OUT there and being frantically family and party and gift-y and decorate-y, when the natural world (and probably our own rhythms) make it the quietest, most introspective and inward time of the year. I think I'm going to go with the flow and not fight the power-down.