Christmas. Bah, humbug.

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Rikkitic

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#205910 2-Dec-2016 10:54

Thanks to Fred99 for the inspiration to start this thread.

So who doesn't approve of/indulge in the Christmas BS? For a long time I didn't do Christmas at all and could have cared less. When children came into my life I did it for them and greatly enjoyed their cheer. Since they have grown up, I have continued to go through the motions for the family with less and less enthusiasm each year. Finally I have rebelled and announced to everyone that I am no longer doing Christmas. I am tired of it. Had enough of them. Don't feel the need any longer.

Christmas dinner is a hassle I can do without. Obligatory gift-giving is pointless, wasteful and annoying. I get things that I don't want and which are wildly inappropriate. I give things that are not appreciated in spite of the considerable trouble I go to over them. Who needs it?

Either you enjoy spending time with people you care about or you don't. The ones I don't care about don't need to drop by. The ones I do care about are welcome company without the silly ritual. We can still sit together, drink to everyone else's stress, and revel in our togetherness. We don't need Christmas for that, except for the convenient holiday time off work.

Christmas is for children. They have a great time and I am all for that. For the rest, it is just a commercially-driven conspiracy to part us from our cash. For those few who still actually see it as a religious occasion, church and spiritual renewal do have meaning, but the rest just gets in the way.

I am really looking forward to a non-Christmas this year. I wonder if I am the only one.

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MikeB4
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#1681111 2-Dec-2016 10:59

For those who wish to celebrate it let them.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

kobiak

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#1681116 2-Dec-2016 11:13

same as birthdays, easter, anniversaries, etc

if someone doesnt want to be part of it - don't be. easy as

I'm on the same boat with birthday celebrations after 21st, it's meh... don't get me wrong I like to celebrate and have fun, but it's not different to my friday's go-out with friends.

So I decided that we try to celebrate our birthdays with missus overseas either chilling on tropical island or exploring something new and less stress about birthday festive/cleaning/presents/etc. So far so good :)

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#1681144 2-Dec-2016 11:16

Agree on the gift giving thing, it is very stressful buying for 30 odd people in our family. This ridiculous gift buying has finally been stopped after a few years of lobbying. Kids only now (which is still 13!).

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#1681149 2-Dec-2016 11:21

I'd feel guilty if I didn't support all those Chinese sweat shop workers earn their pay.

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#1681153 2-Dec-2016 11:23

We don't go large on it, that is for sure.

Being child-free, we have no need to decorate beyond a few items on shelves/tables and a handful of Xmas cards. We gave up on trees ages ago.

c/f my brother in California, who erected a 12ft tree in his house a week ago and is busy turning his house into some hideous Simpsons-esque montage with illuminated reindeer, rope lights and so forth all over. His kids are almost adults now and he lives in California where there will certainly be no snow!

Wife and I bought a new TV and decided that would do for presents aside from a few cheap odds and sods on the day just for form. We are usually alone with the dogs, having no family in NZ, so it's a quiet day. We have some friends who always come over on Boxing Day for lunch so tend to do the 'big lunch' on that day. Next door has some free range turkeys they are killing so we may get one of those, as I am not a big fan of frozen turkeys.

Finch

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#1681211 2-Dec-2016 12:01

For me, its got to be the best time of the year. The music, the hustle and bustle, I enjoy most of it. Still 3.5 weeks away, but it feels like it's happening tomorrow.

For birthdays I can't really be bothered, but Xmas can be a lot of fun, however it's up to you on how fun/enjoyable you make it.

We only get 80 or so Christmas' in our lives, so might as well make the most of it.

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trig42

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#1681219 2-Dec-2016 12:09

I love Christmas.

We don't have kids at home anymore, but we still put up a tree (this weekend's job), we organise christmas dinner somewhere, and we look forward to it.

We buy presents, for the (grown) kids, their kids, our parents and siblings (but only the ones we will actually see around at xmas). It is great to be around kids at xmas, but I still enjoy it if we don't see the little nieces and nephews and grandkids on the actual day.

Looking forward to Ham, Turkey, Bread Sauce, New potatoes, Christmas Pud, Pavlova and Brandy Butter (mmmm).

Then, all the leftover ham for the next few weeks.

ZollyMonsta

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#1681222 2-Dec-2016 12:15

Don't care for Christmas.. Only enjoy the food. But have a young one on the way, so I think that will probably need to change :)

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Rikkitic

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#1681223 2-Dec-2016 12:15

Finch: For me, its got to be the best time of the year. The music, the hustle and bustle, I enjoy most of it. Still 3.5 weeks away, but it feels like it's happening tomorrow.

For birthdays I can't really be bothered, but Xmas can be a lot of fun, however it's up to you on how fun/enjoyable you make it.

We only get 80 or so Christmas' in our lives, so might as well make the most of it.

This is a really nice presentation of an opposing viewpoint. For myself I don't personally agree but I'm glad you get so much pleasure from it. May you enjoy more than just 80!

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#1681230 2-Dec-2016 12:30

I couldn't care less. I can't even remember how old I am let alone when it's my birthday. But the missus and kids have a lot of fun doing it. Cheaply I must add, not letting them blow out the budget. Our tree was gotten on clearance for $5 5 years or so ago for example.

But I do enjoy the change of the radiowaves and TV away from Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj for example.

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#1681244 2-Dec-2016 12:49

Any excuse to drink for me!

It's only the kids that really get any gifts at Christmas, but we do do a 'name out of the hat' and we each buy one gift for that person we are allocated, to the value of $50.

We do find out some things that person is wanting so they don't end up with something they won't use.

Then we also play a game where everyone buys a $20 gift.

We sit in a group and roll a die (dice?) and if you roll a 6 you can swap your gift with someone elses.

There is a time limit of 15 mins and whatever gift you have at the end is yours.

Sometime during that 15 mins we change it so that if you roll either a 1 or a 6 then you can swap.

It gets really funny near the end with some people desperate to swap their gift.

It's a bit of a competition as well, to see who can bring along the stupidest / craziest gift for $20.

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#1681245 2-Dec-2016 13:01

mind you I save up all my $ to buy the things with the biggest discounts in December :)

jonathan18

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#1681265 2-Dec-2016 13:30

I've always loved Christmas; as I got older but child-free this began to wain, but having young kids has completely restored my love! And I'm neither religious or a typical traditionalist.

I was only remarking yesterday about looking forward to decorating the tree (has to be a real pine - it's not Christmas without that smell!) with the family, accompanied by the saccharin sounds of a Michael Buble Xmas album. For me Xmas is about the only time I indulge in such frippery!

I love buying presents for my kids, knowing how much they'll enjoy them and knowing how much thought I've put into understanding them; I love vicariously experiencing their excitement of sticking presents in the pillow cases the night before, of waking up early next morning, of digging out the traditional bag of lollies/nuts, the present-opening...

We've found the trick is to focus Xmas around the kids; yep, totally agree re the pointlessness of buying every single adults in the family a present, but amongst my generation we've got a similar scheme to another poster above, in that we each draw a name out of a hat and only buy for that person up to a value of $70 - better one nice present than lots of rubbish.

It's the cheap, meaningless and disposable presents that frustrate me the most - all the $2 shop crud that extended family members buy the kids; I'd love to be able to put a stop to that.

MikeB4

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#1681276 2-Dec-2016 13:45

Our Christmas gifts for family is hampers of food, the type that are seen as luxury foods that one does not normally buy. We don't do gifts for the extended family or friends.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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#1681280 2-Dec-2016 13:48

It's a pain in the butt. I feel like it's great for families/kids, but it's just me and my wife and we both have a small family of our own. So it's a day we're all obliged to get together and spend hours filling in time. This year we weren't going to do anything because we're saving a house deposit but a few weeks ago I got guilt tripped by the out of town mother and now we have spend money/time/effort/energy putting on a veneer of Christmas. Made even harder because 2016 has been utterly diabolical and really I just want to sleep non-stop from Dec 23 to Jan 9 when I go back to work.

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