After reading some of the Christmas threads here in IW I'm starting to feel somewhat out on a limb ...

Is there anyone else here who does NOT enjoy Christmas ?
I'm not alone, am I?

I participate in all the celebrations, sincerely wish all the best for all my friends and relatives, ( hey, I wish the best for them every day of the year .. ) and join in the gift giving/receiving thing, but I don't feel any sort of special "magic" = Christmas Spirit that others seem to have. For the last 15 years or so I have felt that the festive season is something to be endured rather than enjoyed.

<font color="red"> Yeah, Your Alone, Unless ofcourse Scrooge is on these boards... NO dont think he is.. so ur alone. </font>

ACK! Blasphemy, Heresy, How can any one not enjoy Christmas???
Maybe the tree Christmas spirits will make you come to your sences [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Errrm... I dont like christmas either. I usually travel alone as far away as I can for christmas and new year (think its going to be Greece this time). Its funnier than it seems, though. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I don't like the christmas rush, you know, the days before christmas... but I love christmas, nothing like being close to the ones you love, eat and be merry... [img]smile.gif[/img]

Well, although I am giving for Christmas, it isn't the same as it used to be when I was growing up. Usually I am alone at Christmas time. For me, Christmas is another day. 3 years ago, my car broke down a couple of days before Christmas. I was lucky that I lived close enough to work that I could walk there. And yes, I did work at Christmas time. Single people are asked more often than married people to work on holidays. Ah well.

Well, one reason so many are 'turned off' by Christmas is the over-the-top commercialism these days!!! The stores have Xmas stuff out at Halloween and it's all about buy, buy, buy.

Personally, we don't celebrate the religious (Christian) aspect of the holiday, but we do exchange gifts with the tree and, of course, the mistletoe ;) . But Yule, the old-time one Christmas is based on, is what we celebrate and it has a much deeper significance than which piece of plastic to buy the kids this year!

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Garnet FalconDance:
Well, one reason so many are 'turned off' by Christmas is the over-the-top commercialism these days!!! The stores have Xmas stuff out at Halloween and it's all about buy, buy, buy.

<hr></blockquote>
This is what I dislike about this time of the year. But besides all the paganistic muddled confusion....I like Christmas Garnet and all. I will accept gifts dont get me wrong ;) But the kinds of gifts I like are thoughtful ones in expressions of love and kindness. A hand made card or item is touching to say the least. A simple phone call to talk about nothing, brings to mind reunions and fond memories.

I agree---case in point.

This year has brought a lot of changes (*duh*) and most of my family is tight in the budget department. So my sisters were trying to decide what to do about the gift exchange. We had ruled out exchanging among the adults (we say that every year, but still usually give some little something just to say 'I love you') and they were angsting over the kids. My two sisters have three children between them aged 8/9 to almost 2. We have four, aged almost 19 to 12.

Well, I suggested what I thought would be great fun, a handmade 'coupon' fo reach person good for one 'XXX' redeemable before Christmas 2002. You know, everyone has some kind of talent or craft or something. After much e-mailing back and forth, I finally almost got the point across that the coupon could be as 'little' as "You will have the pleasure of my company for a day" or "One free session when you can rant and rave at me when you're pissed off so you won't kill the boss (or kids)" or as 'large' as a gift basket handmade by the coupon presenter for personal or gift-giving purposes (that's more my area, both of my sisters are time- and craft-impaired [img]smile.gif[/img] ). All I wanted was for someone to teach me how to french braid! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Well, this evidently was not considered 'proper' Christmas gift giving and summarily dismissed :( . They decided taking all the kids to a movie instead would be a better present. Ok, *you* find a movie that age range 19 to *2* will enjoy!!! Harry Potter was suggested, but dismissed as 'too adult' (?) and they are looking for a 'Christmas' movie---can anyone say boring?!?

::throws hands up::

BTW, (no flaming or otherwise pyrotechnic exhibition now!) I happen to like the 'paganistic muddled confusion'---it keeps a smile on my face when my local oh-so-self-righteous Christians go on their annual pagan-bashing spree trying to *prove* that the first Christmas celebration and all its subsequent paraphenalia (tree, gifts, Santa, etc) was 2000 years ago in some manger and that's how it *all* got started (did the donkey brings the pretty blinky lights or was that one of the wise men? [img]smile.gif[/img] )

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Garnet FalconDance:
"One free session when you can rant and rave at me when you're pissed off so you won't kill the boss (or kids)" <hr></blockquote></p> [img]graemlins/tgestar4.gif[/img] FREE RANT [img]graemlins/tgestar3.gif[/img] This is from me to you. You have my word this is the only one I will give out ;)