I hate Christmas

Page 2 of 2 [ 26 posts ] Go to page Previous 1, 2

Betzalel
Deinonychus

Joined: 22 Feb 2008
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Posts: 317

08 Nov 2012, 4:07 pm

I'm seriously considering not visiting my family for christmas this year. I don't know what I want to do yet but I know I'm tired of spending it with my family who are more like familiar strangers that don't even know me or appreciate me only to be totally behind on everything once I get back. I might try and find something fun that I want to do instead but I have been isolated and so used to never doing what I want that I'm not really sure how to go out and have fun, or just take a trip for the sake of doing so.

CockneyRebel
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Age: 50
Gender: Male
Posts: 116,760
Location: In my little Olympic World of peace and love

08 Nov 2012, 11:36 pm

Christmas is my favourite time of the year. I'm sorry you're feeling this way.

_________________
The Family Enigma

Toy_Soldier
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 17 Jul 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,370

08 Nov 2012, 11:48 pm

I know men can be intolerable at times. One thought is not let their bad attitude effect your day. Its their problem not yours, so don't spend time with them when they are being crabby, etc. Two is to also remember that time will pass and one day such gatherings as you have now will be a thing of the past, and no longer possible. If their is some little thing you can do to make a good moment with some family members, you will remember it later on and not regret the effort.

AngelKnight
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 3 May 2011
Age: 48
Gender: Male
Posts: 749
Location: This is not my home; I'm just passing through

09 Nov 2012, 3:04 am

ColdEyesWarmHeart wrote:

If I'm staying here this time, I'm thinking of volunteering for a shift at a homeless shelter and spending some time with other people who feel lonely and sad at Christmas time.

This is one of the more awesome ideas I've heard for how to spend Christmastime. (edit: not specifically to be around people who are (legitimately) miserable, but to choose to spend time with those who normally wouldn't spend the time together with anyone else)

eric76
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 31 Aug 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 10,660
Location: In the heart of the dust bowl

09 Nov 2012, 3:46 am

I've had some interesting Christmases away from home. In most cases, I ended up being invited to someone else's home to eat.

One Christmas, I had Christmas dinner with three Chinese girls from Hong Kong and two other guys, one Chinese and one non-Chinese. That was the only Christmas dinner I ever ate that included egg rolls.

The fun part was figuring out how to cook a turkey. The company where I worked was giving out turkeys for Christmas bonuses and so I brought the turkey. Between the six of us, none of us had ever tried to cook a turkey before. And this was in 1980 so we couldn't just go to the Internet to look up how to cook a turkey. But it did turn out quite good.

Withdrawal
Raven
Raven

Joined: 20 Oct 2012
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 110

09 Nov 2012, 4:10 am

AngelKnight wrote:

ColdEyesWarmHeart wrote:

If I'm staying here this time, I'm thinking of volunteering for a shift at a homeless shelter and spending some time with other people who feel lonely and sad at Christmas time.

I've thought of doing this before. The trouble I had was that it was not possible! Besides the issues of transportation on Chrismas Day (I don't drive), no charitites I could find would take volunteers. They only wanted people who had experience - experience working with homeless people, people with addictions, etc. - or people who had skills to offer (e.g. medical care, hairdressing). I don't have any practical skills like that, and no relevant experience. The charities I asked also wanted references, criminal record checks (that was one thing I didn't have to worry about at least! )and had long interview processes. Some specifically said they did not want new people, as the training that would be required meant extra volunteers were more of a liability than an assett.

I was quite disheartened by this response, though I get that the important thing is that the people they're caring for are served as best as possible and as safely as possible. You'd think there'd be places where anyone could turn up and dish up food or clean up or something though.

I found this kind of barrier when trying to volunteer generally, as well as on Christmas specifically. Charities seem to want people's money and specific skills of accomplished individuals rather than people's time. Although knowing me, I probably would have ended up being a liability. It's quite depressing.

Withdrawal
Raven
Raven

Joined: 20 Oct 2012
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 110

09 Nov 2012, 4:13 am

CockneyRebel wrote:

Christmas is my favourite time of the year. I'm sorry you're feeling this way.

It used to be my favourite time of year. I think that's part of why it's so hard - when things are different (worse) than they used to be, happy memories can be painful.

I do love the weather at this time of year. And I appreciate the decorations, music, and telly that come with Christmas.

I do recognise that it's a great time for many people, especially many kids, and am happy it happens for that reason.

Glad to hear someone is looking forward to it. I hope this one's a good Christmas for you.

MONKEY
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 3 Jan 2009
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Posts: 9,896
Location: Stoke, England (sometimes :P)

10 Nov 2012, 5:22 am

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBthi_An5qQ[/youtube]

_________________
What film do atheists watch on Christmas?
Coincidence on 34th street.

MisfitAmongMisfits
Butterfly

Joined: 5 Nov 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 12

10 Nov 2012, 12:57 pm

Edit: Never mind, no one cares.

Last edited by MisfitAmongMisfits on 12 Nov 2012, 3:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Withdrawal
Raven
Raven

Joined: 20 Oct 2012
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 110

10 Nov 2012, 3:29 pm

MisfitAmongMisfits wrote:

Christmas is supposed to be a happy time of joy and love. I have some
extremely vague memories of happiness during christmas from my early
childhood.

That said, all my holidays are spent wandering between fear, rage, and
bitterness. I used to live with my parents until very recently, despite
my age. And every holiday, they got dead drunk (instead of the daily
``just plain drunk'' that I was more used to). Both are ill and on the
kind of medication where such alcohol consuption equals to playing
Russian roulette with live ammo in half the chambers --- I'm starting to
believe they are still alive out of pure spite. It is not fun spending
holidays being constantly afraid that in their drunken stupor will kill
themselves, me, or the entire neighbourhood because of an accident.

Now that I have finally moved away from there, the situation is better,
but I still spend my holidays worrying. I know there's nothing I can do,
but despite all the problems I have because of my parents, directly or
indirectly, they are not evil people, and they are very important to me.

And then you have the heralds of the consumerist society force-feeding
you their hypocrite agenda and their latest raped versions of
traditional christmas songs.

And finally, the consumerist society never fails to remind people how
holidays should be spent with someone you love. And my life is sad and
lonely.

Fear, rage, bitterness. I would gladly trade these for a bit of loud
chaos among relatives, even though it hurts too. It wouldn't hurt as
much, and maybe there was something to gain.

I feel similarly about Christmas, though for some different reasons ('though parents feature heavily in my reasons for not liking Christmas too). I'm sorry it's such a hard time for you. I hope being distanced from the situation a bit makes this year a little easier for you - you're right that you can't take responsibility for your parents' health.

Page 2 of 2 [ 26 posts ] Go to page Previous 1, 2

Jump to:

I hate Christmas Post Reply New Topic

I hate Christmas