I Don't Like Christmas...

[Franko47]

I dread it, I hate the preparation, but once it's showtime I try and have a good time. I'm kind of relieved by Xmas night, though, cuz it's OVER.

 

Like Gwen said, though, I like the colored lights. I've always gotten a kick out of this sort of "psychedelic" angle to Xmas.

[Mike D]

I used to love Christmas for the family aspect and the tradition and I love the lights.

 

But now that my family has more or less disintegrated into nothing, I could pretty much care less.

 

At least I live in LA where odds are that in any given year on 12/25 it will be a bright sunny day with temps anywhere from the 60's to 80's so I can be outdoors doing something, maybe at the beach. This year looks like maybe 65 degrees which is a little bit too much on the cold side for me, but I guess it beats being in North Dakota or some place like that.

 

This year I think maybe me and a friend of mine are going to go to a movie and probably eat a bunch of crap since my gym is closed so might as well eat drink and be merry.

 

Oh joy.

[ClaraOlive]

Since the last time this thread was up, I am happy to tell you that I moved thousands of miles away from my family.

 

If I had to reconvert, I'd be a JW just to get out of celebrating holidays

[belladonna]

Add me to the "Hate it!" crowd. I could just easily do without.

[trashy]

The Christmas Resistance Movement

[Animania]

I hate Christmas. I hated it when I was a Christian, horrid amounts of consumerism and over-hype. I hate it now since it's one of the few times that I can't escape up in my face Christianity from my family. I'm just glad it's not on Sunday or Monday this year so I don't have to deal with invites to go to church with family on Christmas or Christmas eve.

[wt-hell?!]

I don't hate Christmas, I just hate what everybody says during this season. "Are you ready for Christmas?" "Don't forget the real reason for the season!" blah blah a bunch of other stupid stuff you never say to people, etc. I hate the Christiany Christmas music. I'm tired of hearing baby jesus songs on commercials while some little girl sets out cookies and looks at the fireplace waiting for Santa. Either way she's not getting what she asked for, whether it was through a prayer or a wish list. Same mindless nonsense. But I'm a big fan of the decorations and lights! We never really decorated much in my house growing up. Our tree this year is about 1 foot tall and looks like a charlie brown Christmas tree. It stays decorated all the time even in storage. This year my brother and I decided to take some time to add color to our boring colorless house. So now we've got red, gold and green running through a couple of tables downstairs. We never really (overly) celebrated Christmas when I was growing up, minimal gifts, minimal time spent with people, we were just minimalist in that area. My mom always wanted to reintroduce what Christmas "really" meant but she hasn't tried that much this year since I told her I wasn't christian anymore and I'm sure she's unknowingly moving in that direction too. One thing I'm looking forward to this year is the fact that my brother and I are overthrowing our 'traditional/boring' Christmas dinner with family. I hate the same ol' same ol'. So we're doing a lot of the cooking. And since my family is obligated to be at my house this year, and will be hungry, they will end up being our guinea pigs for new recipes!

Honestly, I hate New Year's more than Christmas. Always have, but I think it's because christians claim it's gonna be God's year and your year to get [insert what you really want here]. That was one of my most hated parts of the sect of christian cult I was a part of for a bit. Anyways, we'll see how new year's will be handled this year sans christianity and friends.

[HRDWarrior]

I'm a mixture on this one - I enjoy portions of Christmas - I enjoy decorating the house, seeing all the lights, some of the music, and enjoy a lot of the movies (in limited quantities) - however, the whole idea that you are supposed to spend money you don't have to buy more crap for people who don't need it just makes me downright cranky. A few years ago, despite the pissing and moaning from family, my husband and I started donating to Heifer International instead of buying gifts.

 

As for volunteering, I do that year round, but looks like we'll be having a 4-month old foster puppy spending the holiday with us! Granted, she may be here for awhile, and most of the time we have a foster dog, but we don't take off just because it's "the holidays."

 

Christmas really never did have much religious meaning for me even when I was a christian, so losing that aspect of the holiday I didn't even really notice other than some of the songs now annoy me and they never did before....the crazy shoppers, commercialization, family feuds - never did like that aspect, still don't.

[mwc]

My mom always wanted to reintroduce what Christmas "really" meant but she hasn't tried that much

Giving birth in a barn? I can understand why she hasn't put a lot of effort into it.

 

mwc

[R. S. Martin]

Sorry this may be a bit late but possibly it's still somewhat fitting....from about a year ago....The Twelve Days of Solstice aka A Christian Asking For Proof From Others....posted by our very own Robbobrob....and evolved into a fun thread about the FSM on the model of....youknowwhat.

 

Have we got a music director on board...

[noob]

Sorry this may be a bit late but possibly it's still somewhat fitting....from about a year ago....The Twelve Days of Solstice aka A Christian Asking For Proof From Others....posted by our very own Robbobrob....and evolved into a fun thread about the FSM on the model of....youknowwhat.

 

Have we got a music director on board...

 

Thanks for the link Ruby! That thread was another favorite of mine last year!

[Deva]

Well I already feel much better since the obligatory gift exchange thing and Christmas luncheon at the office is over. It is always a major source of stress for me.

[Vigile]

Guess I'm in the minority. When I was growing up mom would go all out and decorate the house. She has Norwegian roots so she and her sister and my grandma would make Fattigmandbakkelse. My family are all fundies but xmas was just a cultural holiday for us and hardly had anything to do with religion at all. When you spend your entire youth having good, warm feelings attached to a celebration you don't really lose those warm feelings when the holiday rolls around later in life even if it's somewhat attached to a belief system you hold abhorrent.

 

But then, since I live in Russia I don't get overwhelmed with commercialization like most of you folks.

 

BTW, we're getting a very white xmas this year. Let it snow!

[george caitlin]

I can agree with what someone said on an earlier post - I don't hate Christmas, I just hate the simplistic attitude most Christians exude, assuming that everyone is the same religion as they are. I find it very tiresome when some store clerk chirps "Merry Christmas!" at me while I am at the checkout counter. In the past I used to say "Oh, ah, thanks". Then I realized that by going along I was reinforcing the assumption that everyone, everywhere was Christian and celebrated Christmas. Now, I quietly say, "I'm not a Christian".

 

 

I especially dislike the inane Christmas chatter that one is forced to engage in just to conduct your daily business.

 

The lady barber said to me as I was getting my hair cut, "So, got your Christmas shopping done?"

{Awkward pause.} Me: "Well, I don't shop since I'm not a Christian."

(Another awkward pause} Her: "Well, I guess you save a lot of money then, don't you - ha ha!"

 

Yuk, yuk.

[noob]

Once again I am reviving this thread. I truly dislike this time of year and I find myself struggling to maintain my usual cheery disposition.

[Deva]

I'm not crazy about it. I'm tired of hearing "I'm not ready for Christmas." I like the lights, that's about it.

 

I really hate most Christmas songs. They seem really dreary to me.

[Galien]

Yep, along with all the other externally imposed market driven bullshit. Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Easter the whole fucking box and dice. Be nice to everyone every day. I celebrate the fact im alive and live in the best country in the world everyday. Im too old to be told what to care about anymore, and i positively REFUSE to baaaaa ever again!!!!

[BrotherJosh]

Tried watching the obligatory Christmas TV programs...Didn't get very far, except for rooting for the Grinch for the first twenty minutes. I enjoy the nostalgic feeling to a point, but eventually that runs out and I just want it to be over with...except for the food. I worked retail for 6 years, this time of year amounted to every customer being referred to as "The Enemy". Pretty sure any retail veteran hates this time of year...

[SirPhoenix]

My conscious de conversion is only recent, but I've been acting it for a few years now. My best xmas in recent memory was the one where I went to the strip club.

[Droptail]

I used to be quite excited about the holiday as a kid, naturally (not realizing the financial obligations involved in getting gifts). My family never really stressed the religious parts of it, though sometimes we'd go to church on the eve before.

 

As for now, I can stand some Christmas music but not for any Christian songs about it, and I'm not buying gifts this year (and telling people not to spend money on me); I'm just planning to make stuff for my folks and siblings to give to them.

[Guest Valk0010]

My love for christmas has been waning for years, mostly because christmas seems like a big bunch of materialist greed. I would be happy this year to gain some weight from eating and not exchange shit.

[Suzy]

I don't dislike Christmas. It isn't really a religious event in my family. Christmas to me means getting together with my grandparents (who are ateists BTW) and enjoying each others's company. I visit my father and his wife too (who are fundamentalist Christians), but it's usually OK during Christmas. It's at other times when they try to shove their ideas down my throat.

[DayLight]

Xmas has never had any real meaning for me. Even as a Xian it didn't mean much. So we supposedly celebrated Jebus's birth on earth. Big fuckin' deal. What turkeys and trees and gifts had to do with that I have no clue...okay we can make a pile of shit up to make ourselves feel better about it, but we should have stopped kidding ourselves.

 

My family isn't very big and never made a big deal about it. Thus, I never have as well.

 

When I was married it was just a stressful, depressing time for me. It was entirely about giving an insane amount of gifts to the kids. Just spending a shitload of money every year that would take months and months to recover from.

 

It was fun the first few years when the kids were younger and got all excited. After a while though it was just "too much". A few years ago my little girl got so much stuff...I almost felt sick...there was no "specialness" or "meaning" to any of it at all.

 

I feel like I should volunteer for something or other, but I don't know where and I don't want to just do it out of guilty conscience or anything.

 

I honestly wish I had a big family and that Xmas was this memorable time that we got together every year.

 

I just don't know how to celebrate it, I guess. Going to my parent's home for the Xmas week, but it's more for the company than anything. Not really certain how badly I even want to go.

 

Christmas movies show that Christmas is a time of giving and a time of magic and a time of people being especially nice to each other. While it could get crazy sometimes, I love the fact that somehow people feel like being more giving during Christmas. It's like a spirit of giving comes over them... It's nice.... And it feels like people feel like being nicer too... I don't know, maybe that was just the impression from the movies that I got... But that's why I like Christmas.