I have ignored it for the last 30 years and will do so agai9n this year
I loathe the over emphasis on eating - we are in a time of plenty - no need for a mid winter feast. I loathe the pressure it puts on ( mainly women) folk to have " the best christmas ever"
I loathe they buying of tat to give to folk.
So in short xmas day will be spent on my own riding my bike. I will see my family ( who do a big celebration) briefly on boxing day
We totally ignore it. It stopped being anything once I was about 16 and could but my own things as it was only about presents as no religion element for me. The good things about it;
One of the best days for riding on the roads though, even better than a Sunday in lockdown.
Very quiet at work at a good time to do pretty much nothing for a few weeks
Three bank holidays around the period
What a sad thread indeed.
Love it, the build up is great (although the over commercialisation is taking the piss with adverts and displays from Oct). Generally get to see mates and family in the run up, as people tend to be more up for a drink or get together round someone’s house.
Our little boy turns 3 this year so he’s picking up on the excitement of it. So that brings an extra element of the magic into the house.
Once boxing days done though, the tree can come down and it’s done until next year. That’s then a week off work to do biking, walking get away to the caravan and have a holiday.
Enjoy it in short spells.
Struggle with it in the same way I struggle with Birthdays/NYE. It seems expected of you to have a great time, and if you dont you look a miserable sod so just end up faking it. Not that arsed for presents/all the usual tat either
However its a nice break from work, a chance to catch up with Family/freinds and I do love the food and drink.
Mostly - yes.
2-3 weeks off, most people in a good mood. Hopefully lots of crisp morning riding. Good food, Xmas music in the shops.
I won’t buy people anything that they won’t use. I expect others to do the same 🙂
One of the best days for riding on the roads though, even better than a Sunday in lockdown.
Really?! I found the opposite - sadly while imagining it would be like your description. The roads were a mess of angry drivers, cars full of hyper kids who'd been scoffing chocolate since 6am, lost and late on their way to the relatives so driving like bellends to make up for it. Afternoon/evening is the same in reverse except they're drunk as well.
Christmas Eve, the roads are solid with people racing around for all those last minute things and massive supermarket shops.
Boxing Day, the roads are then full of people driving to the sales. It all just seems so manic.
Went to Gran Canaria a couple of times, Christmas Day riding over there was lovely. Shorts and short sleeves, a cafe stop in the sunshine... Just a world away from the commercialism and the stressful rush over here.
Oh, and presents? **** off! We're adults, if we want something and can afford it we just buy it, the time of year is irrelevant. The perceived pressure to buy gifts for all and sundry is the worst individual element of Christmas for me. The number of people I work with who are still paying for last Christmas is concerning.
All the people saying they like because of the food and seeing family, you do know you can eat good food and hold family gatherings at any moment, right?
A family’s not just for Christmas 🙂
What a sad thread indeed.
Right?! **** me you are a miserable lot.
I manage to love it without falling into all the traps.
Don't give a shit about presents for me. Love giving small genuine gifts to others and my nephew's always get fun and interesting proper present and love them. Or Lego!
Its mainly about stockings and pigs kilted sausages though.
My OH loves Christmas, house is fully decorated (2 trees including, a 6' and a 10') and everything is planned around the family. We're starting early this year as we 'gained' 2 grandchildren, so first 'event is on the first weekend of December.
And if she's happy, I'm happy.
For me, I take the period off work, usually timing it to finish the day before the 'rush' and go back the day after the 'rush'.
Presents-wise, we learned a long time ago to state exactly what we wanted, and the other bought it - no discussion. The (grown-up) kids/partners & grandkids, they all get near enough equal value, certainly no tat and we've no problem if they let us know what they want (<£50).
And lots of riding my bike.
I manage to love it without falling into all the traps.
Same here, you can sit and whine about it or make your own bit of pleasure.
I like seeingy family, I like taking walks and rides, I like not being at work, I do like seeing the joy that a good gift can bring.
I'm less bothered, nay avoid, the over commercialised and tat approach. I'm not a huge drinker and mrs_oab and I try to moderate all the crap food and snacks that are pushed so hard.
You make your own choice - and we do the Christmas we want.
As a few have said, I hate the excessive eating and drinking, just because it's Christmas. Good to see family but why go over the top on food and drink? Also the pointless presents. It could be a good break but, IMO, is now just an excuse to eat and drink too much.
Sorry for being miserable.
All the commercialisation and sales mania is easily avoided, do the Xmas you want and it becomes a very different holiday. We look at it like Easter, a long weekend off to do what we want, we don't bother with decs or huge stacks of pressies or junk food. Keep it simple and it's a nice long break.
Not enough debauchery for Winter solstice thou 🙂
No, I do not like Christmas. Bad stuff happens to me during Christmas and I have almost come to associate it with arguments, disappointment and sadness. My girlfriend is very different. She's very comfortable with having a family Christmas and enjoying that. She likes spending it with her mother and just doing family stuff.
The disparity has caused some friction in the past, nothing serious, but she knows that I am uncomfortable with the spoiling she tries to do and am not keen on whole thing. I make a point of trying to be more involved and less insular and she (I think) tries to ignore me blatantly pretending to enjoy myself.
Christmas is whatever you want it to be......we dont go crazy on spending, just gifts for immediate family members only. No xmas cards, a small artificial tree and a few simple decs. We enjoy good food so that's what we spend our money on.
We also enjoy getting together, its one of the very few occasions where we are all in the same room, although covid may change that.
After Christmas last year you would think that people would change their approach and thinking about it all and what's important and more importantly what isn't....
People matter, not possessions, simple.
Christmas day is fun, get up, whack Turkey in oven, go out with Mrs and a few friends for bike ride, stop and have beer in pub. Come back cook dinner, keep it simple. Watch some shite telly.
Only problem is having SIL and MIL over they are a pain but my son likes them!
I have almost come to associate it with arguments, disappointment and sadness.
I was like that as a kid, hated it. You would think that for one day of the year my step dad wouldn't force me to eat Brussel ****ing sprouts...
Really?! I found the opposite – sadly while imagining it would be like your description. The roads were a mess of angry drivers
Should have said I always ride at around 8am (all year round) and riding at 8am on Christmas day is great, pretty much nobody on the roads.
but I’m bored by boxing day and it feels rude to message anybody to see if they want to come out riding throughout the whole holidays.
Did you consider the possibility that they are in a similar position? If you go early morning and are back by about 11 - there’s a good chance any with spouses and teenage children will not even be missed.
What a sad thread indeed.
Following close on the heels of "help, I hate everyone" and bearing in mind all the other countless threads moaning about almost every other aspect of being alive, I'm starting to formulate a theory that riding a MTB through woodland turns people into right angry, bitter, miserable, bastards.
Or maybe angry bitter old man look to expensive hobbies to try to add spice to their miserable existences?
Whatever it is it's reassuring to me to remember that no matter how down on my luck I might be at least I'm not a miserable git who hates everyone and everything, including Christmas 🙂
It would be interesting to see if the ratio of positive to negative threads correlated with an ageing demographic better than national + multiple global shit shows.
All the people saying they like because of the food and seeing family, you do know you can eat good food and hold family gatherings at any moment, right?
I haven't seen both my brothers and my 4 and 2 year old niece and nephew for almost 2 years since they live in the US. This Christmas is the first opportunity I will have to see them after all that time. Christmas is the one time of year where most people are free so can actually come together for family gatherings. It's not always as simple as just getting together whenever you feel like it. Also it's kinda hard to source Goose at any other point in the year unless you want to pay a premium.
I am super excited for christmas. I don't care for all the adverts and crap music and build up to it, but I very much enjoy seeing family and getting together for an incredible meal. Apart from for my niece and nephew, the whole family agree not to give each other presents. It's too much stress and time when we're all in a position to buy whatever we want for ourselves now.
If people are complaining about hating seeing people they don't want to and thinking the food is mediocre, may I suggest just not seeing people you don't like, and cooking food you actually enjoy??
I agree with much of the sentiment above, but have carved out a Christmas that I enjoy now.
We go to the Ballet at the start of December, and the tree will go up at a similar time. We decide on what the festive cocktails are going to be this year - most likely Negroni and also Espresso Martini. We’ll start to watch some Xmas films of an evening through December.
Xmas eve we will Finish work early, have some mulled wine and watch “It’s a wonderful Life” with a nice bottle of fizz. Hopefully it’ll be shown in the village community cinema (village hall With a projector and mince pies)
We get a nice joint of meat from the local organic farm and put together a really nice meal on Xmas day - we’ll host both families so we don’t have to juggle between them - both dads can bring nice wine for the diner table so no one fees they don’t contribute. We’ll get most family members a small gift and I’ll get my wife something I know she’ll really like.
It’ll be great!
A few years ago, I read Mark Mansons “a subtle art of not giving a ****” [note title of book, not swear blocker avoidance]. That taught me not to worry about trying to please all in sundry. Life has been much better since then.
Following close on the heels of “help, I hate everyone” and bearing in mind all the other countless threads moaning about almost every other aspect of being alive, I’m starting to formulate a theory that riding a MTB through woodland turns people into right angry, bitter, miserable, bastards.
Or maybe angry bitter old man look to expensive hobbies to try to add spice to their miserable existences?
Whatever it is it’s reassuring to me to remember that no matter how down on my luck I might be at least I’m not a miserable git who hates everyone and everything, including Christmas 🙂
Spot on Ernie, but the only flaw in your theory is that some of the main protagonists of the whingeing on here don't really ride bikes.
Yep! I LOVE IT 🎅
I'm highly resistant to it during October/November, wife is on board with that now, I used to get called grumpy, but now she gets it that it needs to kept short to be special. But once December comes, bring it on!
I love going to pick a tree with the kids.
I love the excitment building.
I love the food and drink, which appears to be a bit cliché.. (I am already on the mince pies to be honest)
I love having time off work, when my family and friends are too.
I love meeting up with bike mates for some daytime riding in depths of winter, and then a massive pie and pint aftewards to warm up.
I love going for a proper day time session with my "normal" (not bike) mates.
I love seeing the sheer joy and excitment in the kids (it's all about the kids really for me).
I really love watching The Snowman!
I still find it exciting and magical, and I'm a realtively grumpy 41 year old.
🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄
I quite like the thread we get on here around 23rd Dec where family/in-laws turn up and people lose their shit at varying and alarming rates. Particular the geezer who didn’t get past his dog taking a piss on the M-I-L’s lawn 🤣
I hate the peer pressure to buy loads of stuff from certain female members of my family. Makes me not want to invite them, but I kinda have to.
Did you mean to say "from" or "for"?
I’m starting to formulate a theory that riding a MTB through woodland turns people into right angry, bitter, miserable, bastards.
Quite the opposite for me; riding bikes in the wood is my escape and enables me to function as a "normal" member of society. I didn't get to ride last weekend and it shows.
Thats my Christmas highlight scuttler... see i am already cheering up.
I bloody love xmas! the lights, food, tv, seeing family, extra time to ride my bike, time off work, the presents, playing boardgames its just the best. For the xmas haters in this thread you just need some festive cheer may i suggest christmas in hollis by run dmc.
Oh, and presents? **** off! We’re adults, if we want something and can afford it we just buy it, the time of year is irrelevant.
What about the joy of giving?
There was a link to a really interesting article that @chakaping added to the "help! I hate everyone" thread which gently points out that if perhaps you see nothing but the worst in people and society, expect nothing, and care about little beyond keeping yourself happy, then just perhaps the problem isn't them, it might be you.
I'd recommend some on here to try to read it
https://nautil.us/issue/54/the-unspoken/how-to-tell-if-youre-a-jerk-rp
I think I'd like it more if it didn't start in November.
EDIT - as if to prove my point, youtube played the Lidl Christmas advert seconds after this post
Pretty indifferent to the whole thing, we don't have kids, not religiouos so it's pretty meaningless really - just a few days off work when the weather is normally pretty poor!
Yes enjoy it now we have children, it's become fun again!
Do hate Christmas shopping though. OH! The despair! Spending hours walking up and down the high street and going home with a pair of slippers!
I think I’d like it more if it didn’t start in November.
It doesn't have to. You start when you want to start. It's amazing how many people here don't seem to be in any sort of control over their lives.
I like Christmas because I like my family, so I go and see them and we eat a lot, drink, watch films and chat. We could do that any time, and we do, however we can't have a massive feast every time we do it, that would be detrimental 🙂
. It’s the fakery and expectations and having to spend time with people you’d rather not,
All the more reason to spend it with people that you rather would (even if that’s just Jack Jones)
For the last 12 years or so we’ve celebrated Winter solstice (21st) with about 10-15 (by now) dear old friends and it’s chilled out. Love it.
No gifts generally expected or given (although some get sneaked into bags/cars/pockets once in a while) just the company, warmth, music, food and drinks.
Immediate family are now reduced, also scattered far and wide. Usually meet up around before xmas eve in a pub with the carrier-bags of seasonal birthday and xmas cards and gifts, eat some grim carvery and then split as soon as. Always makes me feel sad and sort of empty because of dysfunctional family dynamics.
Xmas day is spent with v different friends (another couple) and their (now grown) kids. We are more like a big semi-functional family and a proper traditional old time is had with all food, crackers, trappings, silly gifts, games. Even a flaming pudding. Usually wind-up blitzed on suspiciously-named drinks before passing out in front of a wood fire sleeping on cushions. Three of us later go MTBing on Boxing Day if the hangover allows. Which is nice.
Some proper miserable self pitying sods on here. Dear me, I thought I was a misery but after reading the doom and gloom merchants on here I've realised I'm not even close.
People saying things like they "hate the excessive eating and drinking", well newsflash, don't do it then. And why would what other people do make you hate a holiday period? Very weird.
I would like to register my token Christmas grump for the 2021 season.
The John Lewis advert.... I just want to punch the little ****er and his little alien friend.
It's sooooo long aswell I swear it's longer than the bits of bakeoff between adverts!
All the more reason to spend it with people that you rather would (even if that’s just Jack Jones)
That's what I was thinking too, a lot of people seem to be making Christmas really hard on themselves here. The best thing I found is just to set your stall out early, leave no question marks over what you are planning to do. Gives people plenty of time to make their own plans. And if you don't like the food - change up for what you do like. Religion certainly doesn't even come into it in this house
People saying things like they “hate the excessive eating and drinking”, well newsflash, don’t do it then. And why would what other people do make you hate a holiday period? Very weird.
Posted 9 minutes ago
if you meet up with people that have the expectation of over indulging you get puyt under huge pressure to join them in the overindulging
I like the time off work and I'll go up to my mums for a few days which is good to spend some decent time with her. My g/f goes to her folks so there really is no pressure on either of us. I have enjoyed it more the last few years since I have scaled down on presents (get my mum something, my g/f, and any of my mates kids - feel christmas is for the kids and I don't want them knowing I'm a miserable bar-steward)
I don't like the fact that it has become a commercial thing, for one day it starts in about October, already getting sick of the adverts and shiny Xmas music. Also like has been stated the pressure to be happy when I know some of my mates really struggle at this time of year. Then the day after everybody goes out to by more tat in the sales and bloats out on food and drink like its going out of fashion.
you get puyt under huge pressure to join them in the overindulging
"That does look super, but no thanks, I couldn't I'm completely stuffed, you have my...Glass of wine, whiskey, crisps, sweeties" delete as appropriate.
