Must be shit to be a try hard misanthrope…

If you really understood being a misanthrope you’d know that it’s not hard at all…You’re right, it is shit though, but alas, i’m only a human.

Must be difficult being a bunch of pushy Christmas ****. 😉

Great post princejohn – given the last part of my post and that all that is what seems to keep me from sinking I thought I might need something like that – but thankfully I seem to be doing OK so far. Helped by having a good chat yesterday with some folks I’ve known for a long time but haven’t really exchanged more than a few words with in years.

This will be the 4th/5th10th* Christmas as a single feller, I find it pretty grim tbh great hving time to myself, I never really look forward to it.

Usually manage to either A: get a shift at work that pays 4x normal rate or B: spend at least half a day ignoring all the crap that’s forced upon me by my family 😀

Planning tomorrow morning’s ride right now actually

* have a habit of ending up single around this time of year!!

haha me and you are the same age milky, you riding the mtb in the morning? I’m on the road.

does anyone else on here despise christ

Is what the thread title reads on my phone thanks to the new truncated thread titles. Would have made a more interesting thread.

Thinking about it for a minute so many cultures have had annual winter festivals, blowouts basically, that perhaps we need Christmas at some level.

I’ve not read all of this thread,however this is incorrect

I never understand the hatred of christmas, it is at least at the very basic level some time off work

This time of year as a supermarket trucker we get hammered,forced to do shift changes & overtime that we don’t want to do (I’m sure it’s the same for anyone else working in this sector)
Personally, I like catching up with friends at this time of year,I just wish I had more opportunity to ‘socialise’…

This will be the 47th Christmas as a single feller, I find it pretty grim tbh great hving time to myself, I never really look forward to it.

As for the people who hate christmas being the people who dont like spending money . Are you **** serious ? What about the millions of people living on minimum wage or benefits? Do you think they enjoy xmas ? Can you imagine being a single parent of 2 or 3 kids knowing alot of their peers will be getting tablets or mobiles, when all you can afford is a T shirt or trainers as they are essential year round presnts
Or try being the poor husband who is on £20k a year and his misses spends the entire months take home on frivolous xmas landfill tat , and he just has to accept it , take out another credit card to pay for it all as she does not understand ‘we cant afford it’
Bet that guy loves xmas .

Nothing to do with being ‘poor’. Plenty of ‘rich’ people can’t stand to spend money on anything Christmas related. And, the amount you spend isn’t necessarily proportional to how much you will enjoy Christmas (obviously).

I’m pretty sure *some* ‘poor’ people manage to enjoy Christmas

See, I can sympathise with this:

As for the people who hate christmas being the people who dont like spending money . Are you **** serious ? What about the millions of people living on minimum wage or benefits? Do you think they enjoy xmas ? Can you imagine being a single parent of 2 or 3 kids knowing alot of their peers will be getting tablets or mobiles, when all you can afford is a T shirt or trainers as they are essential year round presnts

But not this:

Or try being the poor husband who is on £20k a year and his misses spends the entire months take home on frivolous xmas landfill tat , and he just has to accept it , take out another credit card to pay for it all as she does not understand ‘we cant afford it’
Bet that guy loves xmas .

To those described above, grow a spine. Cut up the card and cut off the flow.

I’m enjoying christmas immeasurably more since concurrently having a kid and ditching live TV. Not seen an ad in years. Bliss. Looking forward to getting both sides over (again) for probably more arguments when my mother makes an inappropriate comment or my sister in law takes something the wrong way. At least I’m not working this year, some other twunt can keep the lights on…

But for all those who are dreading it, I hope you find someone to talk to that understands or have a great day away from it.

No. I love it plus the fact I can spend time with the folk I actually give a shit about rather than the whingers I have to put up with at work.

https://youtu.be/_ziERzDfj7Q

At least you get a special edition of the Hydraulic Press Channel…

No, I don’t despise xmas. Just many things about xmas time.

I never understand the hatred of christmas, it is at least at the very basic level some time off work, and unless you absolutely love your job more than freetime what is there to hate?

I love Christmas but time off work is a rare luxury. Off this year though ermmm again.

I’ll say it again, not all of us get time off.

Lucky you…

I’d love to have to work Christmas, and get the days off in the middle of summer instead, when they’d actually be appreciated!

It’s the forced fun I don’t like.

This is a significant aspect of it for me. But certainly not the only one…

yep…………it comes round too often. perhaps I would enjoy it if it were like the Olympics… .every 4 years !

You see I’m not an athletics fan, and I couldn’t care less for football! But the once every 4 years Olympics and World Cup tournaments add something special that I can engage in every 4 years to otherwise exceedingly dull activities.

The problem you’ve got there though is the greedy bastards, the ones that want to have their cake and eat it 24/7… Hence why the football season is about 10 1/2 months long (rather than 6!), and they earn more money in a week than I will in 10 years!

Stuck in HK this year with a wife who has no interest or understanding in the spirit of Christmas and no kids, but still loving it as it means a day free to ride 🙂

If you are going to despise anything about this time of year, despise the crass commercialism that’s now associated with it.

cue the social media sites in the morn of how tarquin has got the best gift from santa.

I’d love to have to work Christmas, and get the days off in the middle of summer instead, when they’d actually be appreciated!

Me too but it doesn’t work like that.

Used to despise it. Just get a bit annoyed at the repetitive nature of it. There are worse things in the world aren’t there?

Trick is to find some value in it, whether it’s watching other people enjoy it or doing something non-festive yourself.

We will have a short ride and then a hot tub session. I often watch a horror film later on but I still join in all the normal activities.

For 15 years I worked in jobs that got busier at Christmas but the last 15 in one that comes to standstill so the time off is nice, my kids are now older and whilst theres more money to go around I’m more comfortable limiting spending. So its much more relaxed.

However marketeers going into overdrive and pressure on people to spend and do family stuff is unpleasant.

Rationalise it- Gifts have a deadweight loss of about 30%( lots 100%) of there value and if you realy liked your family you probably wouldnt. wait for Christmas to see them. So go do something that makes you happy.

When I was a kid my folks didn’t have much in the way of money (4 kids, my mum stayed at home to look after us) so Christmas (and your birthday) was pretty much the only time you got anything ‘nice’. You got to choose one present, that was it. What they lacked in material wealth the compensated for with love and there just wasn’t cash for fripperies.

When I went up to secondary school I went from a small rural primary to large academy in the(oil) wealthy part of Aberdeen. I used to hate going back to school, everybody would be yakking about what they’d got (one year I remember a classmate regaling me with his list, more than I got for all my childhood Christmas’s combined!). Never resented my parents for it, at least I appreciated what I got.

Young adulthood was spent with an ambivalence to Christmas, I participated in it but the excesses always bothered me. Grew to hate the Christmas works nights out (trying being vegetarian 30 years ago) and the alcohol excesses weren’t really my thing.

The (now ex) girlfriend, who kind of ignored all other normal ‘festivals’ went pretty big on Christmas. And always overspent on her son, and Christmas shit. I set my stall out early and refused to actively engage with it (I always bought presents though, sent cards I guess). But all the decorating, other than placing items at high level 😀

Well 8-10 years ago all that went to rat shit. The Loon was at uni, I found myself alone and as I didn’t have to take part in any longer I didn’t (to be fair at this stage I was withdrawn and actively pushing people away) and at that point I could accurately be described at hating Christmas. I opted out, completely.

These days I’m still opted out, I’m fine with people doing what they want (I was even happy to receive a card from the Loon despite him knowing how I stand on things, good on him ).

I let people be, they let me be.

There are positives, I see friends I rarely see anymore (that pushing away thing), time off, catch up.

But if one more person says I must be busy this time of year I swear I’m going to punch them…. 😉

Even the pope is not too keen on modern Xmas

muppetWrangler – Member
I dont despise it but I’ve got good reason not to feel particularly jolly at this time of year and don’t feel that faking merriment for appearance sake would be a good idea.

You and me both…

Great post princejohn – given the last part of my post and that all that is what seems to keep me from sinking I thought I might need something like that – but thankfully I seem to be doing OK so far. Helped by having a good chat yesterday with some folks I’ve known for a long time but haven’t really exchanged more than a few words with in years.

It’s always amazing how much better you feel after juat talking to people or a good nights sleep…

As for the people who hate christmas being the people who dont like spending money . Are you **** serious ? What about the millions of people living on minimum wage or benefits? Do you think they enjoy xmas ? Can you imagine being a single parent of 2 or 3 kids knowing alot of their peers will be getting tablets or mobiles, when all you can afford is a T shirt or trainers as they are essential year round presnts

This. I’m not miserable, much, but I despise what christmas* did to my mam** and does to my sister***.

* me and my sister

** single parent. Dad was an arsehole and **** off before my sis was born.

*** single parent. The dad is an arsehole, etc…

you probably wouldnt. wait for Christmas to see them. So go do something that makes you happy.

this is what I do, **** waiting

Merry Christmas everyone. I’m having fun watching the in-laws having a break down cooking the dinner.

I love it.

this is what I do, **** waiting

Pretty sure 99% of people do.

Today’s been really good so far, had a few messages from people I’d not seen for a while which always helps. Not long back from 3 and a half hours on the road bike, not as long as I’d wanted but although the rain dispersed for most of the ride it came back with drizzly vengeance towards the end.

I’m now half way through a huge Panettone.

Hope everyone else is getting through OK!

I find it rather easy to ignore all the worst of the crass commercialism and just take what I want from it, a bit of time off and a chance to unwind in the middle of winter between the holidays I really love when the weather is better.

This, pretty much.

Sorry hooli and angeldust, but people do make you buy stuff you don’t need. It’s the basis of a whole industry called advertising.

Care to post the selfie showing the bloke who’s holding the gun against your head, threatening your loved ones unless you rush out and spend money on unnecessary plastic objects…
Thought not.
I tend to believe in free will, you have a choice, you’re not being forced to buy stuff by some arse’ole in a studio somewhere.
Or, please tell me this isn’t so, you really are that weak-willed?