It’s a week off work so time for even more biking, esp good if it’s going to be snowy 😀
As for the rest of it, meh.

In the right company, I love it.
In the wrong company, I hate it.

Not a big fan of it.
I hate the the fact that youre somehow meant to see all your family and yet enjoy yourself ever so much on just one day of the year.
I also seem to find the quality of the food and entertainment really bad at Christmas, it’s all a bit ‘never mind the quality it’s the quantity that counts’
I also hate buying for people that judge you on the cash value of your gifts.
Lots I don’t like really.
Things I do like. being with my kids though there older now and one has left home. Time off, as I only get five days off in the year.

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Now there’s a man who really has the Christmas spirit!

I love Christmas, though not for religious reasons, and the commercialism does my head in. Putting up the tree with the kids, stocking up the wood pile, baking & deoorating the cake, going for a ride to Christmas Common, the smells of Christmas Day cooking, having a week off at home and seeing my siblings….these are all things that mark the middle of winter, the time of year I like the least.

The lights and sparkly things are a welcome antidote to the unremitting darkness, and once November and December are out of the wat I can look forward to lengthening days and the return of the sun. January’s a bit grim, but skiing in February and March are always a good antidone, and by March everyhting’s cheered up and things are growing again.

I don’t like Xmas dinner – turkey, roast potatoes, stuffing, sprouts, mince pies, Xmas pudding. It’s horrible – if it’s so tasty why do you only have it once a year?

Not a fan at all. I’m not religious and I don’t like the commercial side of it. Not keen on family either. Wake me up when It’s all over and done with please.

Wife is off to see her family, I’m staying home looking after our post operative dog so I guess it’s lucky I don’t mind missing Christmas then.

I was severely over christmased by my Mum when I was a kid and subsequently have no interest

For the last 10 years I’ve been away boarding over the christmas period, unfortunately this year I’ll be here but I already have a route planned for my ride and am farly certain I wont be bumping into anyone other than a dog walker or two right up until 12 noon

Plum

Think the threads still in favour of Christmas but the haters are making big push to shift the balance!! 😀

i do like certain aspects..

but it gets worse as you get older, all the family crap that comes with it, dont bother all year then they all appear from nowhere, commerically it has got totally stupid which does spoil it.

will be better next year when our 5 month old will be into it more.

thebest hting about chrismtas… a week off work!

I love Christmas, mostly for the time off from work and sparkly lights, like others have said, for me it marks the start of longer days and it’s something I need to look forward to.

I have to confess I don’t really get the hating Christmas thing, because it can be whatever you want it to be. If you don’t like your traditions, change them. It amazes me how many people don’t like turkey but have it at Christmas because it’s traditional.

The C-word does not exist on planet metalheart.

The filter has been applied now for a couple of years.

bah bleedin humbug I say…

will be better next year when our 5 month old will be into it more.

Our girls are 18 months old and now get excited at the idea of opening presents (their cousin’s 1st birthday yesterday was fun trying to make them let go of her presents) but they don’t actually understand it – but it is great now as they get excited about the advent calendar (ie chocolates) and the tree is fascinating them.

Just me and the pooch’s this crimbo, mrs khani is off skiing and I can’t get time off 😥
I may put a paper hat on the poodles, have a kebab for Christmas dinner and do some bike fettling in the lounge in my Yfronts 8)
Allthough I’ll have to buy some Yfronts first….

Ah, good old STW forum.

It’s nice to have a place to come where reading just a couple of pages of misery, despair and general loathing can give you that fuzzy feeling about how good your own life actually is.

I’ll try and save my STW outlook on life until I’m at least 80 and am at least expected to be a miserable sod.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Gonna enjoy it a lot better than last year that’s for sure.

Last yr i was out of work, broke & freezing ‘cos i couldn’t afford to run the heating. Although i’m not a great one for Christmas the thought of not being able to buy presents if i so wanted really got me down. This yr i’ve gone a bit mental & the missus keeps trying to find out wwhat the pile of pressies under the tree actually contain 🙂

Mind you, just bought my dad a Leatherman & it’s that cool i might just keep it… 😉

This year I love it. Have friends coming round on Christmas Day, doing it my way – no turkey, no sprouts, no tradition. Will not be seeing the members of my family that annoy me, will be seeing some of my family that I love. Last year I didn’t look forward to it – decided that this year I will have the Christmas I want.

And my tree is branches collected from a local bridleway with lights in them, so every time I look at it I’m reminded of running and biking along there 🙂

Oh, and for 3 days annual leave, can have a 10 day holiday 🙂

I detest Chrimbo with a passion . The total over commercialisation of it all . It starts a few days earlier each year, all the jingle, jingle , ho ho ho . *** ***. why does everyone feel they have to try to re enact the perfect chrimbo that is force fed to us all via 2 months of media hype. The country is going bust , so why spend hundreds on gifts that will get evaluated on coolness and ££££’s spent , then discarded and disused as the newest and next best thing is played with till it its broken.
All the time and trouble trying to find the perfect gift to keep cousin Johnny happy really isnt worth it . You will still think he is tard on Boxing day , He will still think you are a tard on Boxing day.
Best chrimbo i spent was skiing till 3pm, then a roast chicken with decent red wine with my bro and his mate in Morzine .
This year it will be go to mums on Xmas eve , after the xmas rush . Working in the alcohol industry means its nuts up till 5pm xmas eve , YOU HAVE HAD 364 DAYS NOTICE WHY DID YOU NOT ORDER YOUR BEER EARLIER ?
Mum will have the front room at a steady 28’c , and the rest of the house somewhere around 10’c . The front room door stays firmly shut and a large sausage draught excluder placed in front ‘to stop the drafts’ ( She has double glazing) So you go from furness to fridge to furness . Then dinner really late ( around 9pm because she cant start cooking till me and bro turn up ) So rather late to go to pub for a few beers, and pay the £10 entry rip off .
Xmas at big sisters , watching her boys get massively spoilt by everyone , then she gets proper hammered . 3 bottles of fizz pretty much all by herslf , as its christmas, last year . Then i drive back to furness/fridge.
I spend my time completing the DT xmas crosssword. and eating brazil nuts .
My No1 rule. Always spend more on yourself than the sum spent on others, just makes it bearable.
Each year I say I am off skiing next year , and always end up going to mums .
I am going to suggest the ‘No Presents’ rule next year . Your not going to buy me something i want or need or will use, and i am fed up buying you stuff that you neither want or need or will find at all usefull.
I might have to add xmas days to the days i smoke on . Thats funerals , weddings and xmas day . 10 Marlboro Lights please, and a box o matches ta.

Not surprised you don’t like Christmas singletrackmind – yours sound rubbish.

We’re as non-Xmas as we’ve ever managed this year. Not doing pressies for eachother or most of the rest of family by agreement. Not sending cards to people, not doing xmas dinner or any of the other rubbish. No decs in the house – in fact it’ll be as if it doesn’t exist. Hooray! I can’t wait till it’s all over – what’s the point? It’s just a con to part you from your money.

😆 @ singletrackmind.

I love Xmas … errmmm … actually public holidays so all good.

Not sure about being festive etc so long as it’s a holiday and I got the money to buy something during the sale.

if it’s so tasty why do you only have it once a year?

well the principle is basically “Sunday Roast”, but bigger. So lots of people do have it more than once a year, just not quite as large.

+1 for a week off work though. I’ve been working every christmas since 1985, and all but 5 of those were in manufacturing industry. Factory shuts down, we get a week off. Ok we have to take 3 (or sometimes 4) days from annual leave, but for a guaranteed week off, I’ll accept that 🙂

Mrs_d works for HMRC, and I can’t remember the last time she had a full week off for crimbo

I’m not religious, really don’t like the commercial side but do love spending time with my family. We are few in numbers and all have the same view that it is more important to do things together and not stress over presents, shopping etc.

We don’t spend 8 hrs panic buying everything in the supermarkets because they close for one day. We have a lovely meal together, maybe a walk and also do our own thing if we want to. It’s simple, really enjoyable and totally stress free.

I buy presents for friends who love Christmas, also love buying gifts for their kids. I love giving them presents of the educational variety and seeing their faces light up.

It’s an odd one, as me and my sister get older (mid-late 30’s) , i couldn’t give a toss about pressies/decoration. it is nice to gather as a family for one day together. and my mam makes a fantastic xmas dinner. which anyone of you would think is a fantastic thing 😛 yum

Really looking forward to it this year. I’ve got the kids on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning for the first time since I got divorced 4 years ago. They might be too old for Santa now but I don’t care. Best Christmas present ever!

by the 25th of December my SAD has smothered my in ‘the-warm-heavy-Duvet-of-eternal-blissful-sleep’

most of winter blurrs into one confusion of sleepy fog.

it’s not a love/hate thing, it’s a ‘yes-the-twinkly-lights-are-very-nice-can-i-go-to-bed-yet?’ thing.

it’s ok, i’ll wake up on march the 20th – you can set your calendar by it…

Just like any other party, whether I love it or hate it depends on what I’m doing and with whom.

I like Christmas itself. I hate the run up to christmas especially when it starts in October. I’d like to be able to put the tree up Christmas eve then take it down 12 days later (like you’re supposed to) but with a 9 year old in the house its difficult. We’ve managed to put it off until tommorow. Will be fun though as it’s my first Christmas as a proper dad to my 8 month old daughter 😀 looking forward to that. And seeing the boy’s face on Christmas morning is always great!

We are driving from just outside Edinburgh to near Bath on Christmas eve and then back up, probably on the tuesday, for New Year at Innerleithen. Can’t say I’m looking forward to it. Christmas with the Outlaws and the distinct possibilty of driving for at least 7 hours in Winter. And then maybe getting snowed in down there 😥 Hoping we’ll get snowed in before we leave home which will take the decision of whether to stay or go out of our hands. We have to young kids which is a consideration. Also we booked a house for New Year with friends and I don’t want to waste what we have spent on that. Stress.

I love this…

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BxxdE9GvZc[/video]

Not surprised you don’t like Christmas singletrackmind – yours sound rubbish.

No, he’s just open and honest. Most people just pretend it’s wonderful, but all the stress and money isn’t what it’s about at all.

I just pretend to be Muslim at Christmas. Save me money, don’t get stressed out.

I’ll still go for drinks with folk and that though, but I’ll do that at any time; I don’t need an excuse to socialise.

Ooh, a little sherry? Why, thank you. A walnut too? Oh go on then, after all, it is Christmas! 😀

Family tradition has the decorations up only 1 week before the day. (Birthdays in early December dictate a proper separation between the events and no combined presents allowed). We don’t go mad on presents since I changed jobs/got a new one and as the “children” are now grown up it’s a pleasure to spend time with them and the rest of the family. Not much drinking other than Christmas Day when we have the ‘kids’ and close friends to stay and we have a hip flask fuelled ride in the morning. I’m looking forward to it family is where it’s at.

Now I’m ‘grown up’, and living overseas to boot, we have the chance to have Christmas at home for the first time. With the wee man 9 months (even if he’s not excited about the AWESOME sledge I’ve bought him, I know damn well his mum will be :D) it’ll be even better. Just the three of us, a goose, a couple of sherry/mince pie get-togethers with mates, maybe a bike ride if possible = a fabulous time had by all. Bit sorry my Mum and Dad will miss it, but for their sake rather than mine.

Christmas starts for me on the first Sunday after Armistice Sunday.
There Sheffield Local Carols are sung in pubs from then. Not your normal dull carols mind you. These are fun, lively and truly part of a very old tradition. In many cases, the carols and tunes pre-date the ‘normal’ ones sung in carol concerts.
By the time the real Christmas arrives, you are well and truly in the ‘spirit’.
A couple of examples here.
The sound of a whole pub full of people singing is extraordinary!
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVsIoi0b8tY[/video]
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV7ltjgd-a4[/video]

Love – having the time off, usually try & get away for a week of winter sun & biking
Hate – the pressure to enjoy & only just realised there is only one more shopping weekend to go & haven’t started my Xmas shopping yet yikes !

Nipped and bought the kids a couple more pressies after work, just need some spokey dokeys for their bikes now. Can’t find em anywhere!! 🙁

I used to love Christmas, but I hate the way my mother turns it into a miseryfest every year, getting stroppy about us visiting Mr Toast’s parents. We’re spending Xmas and Boxing day with her, and we took her away for a week in the summer. But she still complains that she hardly ever sees us (apparently not seeing Mr Toast’s parents since last Xmas is OK), and complains that I’ve abandoned my family.

This from a woman who turned up to my 30th birthday meal so drunk she could barely walk. When I pointed this out, she said, “Well maybe if I saw more of you I wouldn’t drink so much”. She’s been an alcoholic since my early teens at the very least, and makes her kids lives difficult by insulting pretty much anyone connected to them. She called by best mate a slut. She suggested that my other mate was a heroin dealer (he’s not). She said that my brother’s wife was a “spoilt, precious princess”. She said this to my brother’s wife’s mother. She didn’t even mean it to be insulting – she just can’t help herself.