Christmas

[Erik88]

Am I the only one that gets more anxiety than joy this time of year? Every year we spend ridiculous amounts of money buying presents for other people. This year we're even buying presents for my wife's family that hasn't come to see us since 2015. My wife drives to see them in Ohio 1-2 times/year. Christmas is supposed to be about spending time with people and instead has turned into a spending binge. Something tells me Jesus would not have cared for rampant consumerism.

Someone help me be less of a Grinch. 

 

 

 

 

[Alleycat72]

Christmas = 24 hours of double time and a half for me. New years is the same. 

We do Christmas on an alternate day and mostly only the little kids get anything. 

[deerslayer]

Scrooge is a lightweight compared to me.  I work at a company that makes you hate December and half of November and January.  I am salary and get basically nothing for the extra hours, days, and heartburn.  We don’t go bananas on gift buying at Christmas, but I can’t wait til mid-January.  

[FUJIMO]

1 hour ago, Erik88 said:

Am I the only one that gets more anxiety than joy this time of year? Every year we spend ridiculous amounts of money buying presents for other people. This year we're even buying presents for my wife's family that hasn't come to see us since 2015. My wife drives to see them in Ohio 1-2 times/year. Christmas is supposed to be about spending time with people and instead has turned into a spending binge. Something tells me Jesus would not have cared for rampant consumerism.

Someone help me be less of a Grinch. 

 

 

 

 

If I didn't know better I'd swear you've got a Google type bug on my phone

 

 

[res308]

I can't help you Erik. Can't help you at all. Because I've been feeling the exact same way as you for many years now. 

[gregintenn]

I dread it every year. It is the occasion to gather with people you are thankful you don't have to gather with the rest of the year.

[Jamie Jackson]

3 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

I dread it every year. It is the occasion to gather with people you are thankful you don't have to gather with the rest of the year.

This is a sad truth unfortunately.

My preference is to simply have a meal and conversation. Then family goes home.

I say a Prayer and Thank the Good Lord for another day.

Then I sit back and watch traditional Christmas movies like Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, and A Christmas Story.  

Already have my Christmas day planned out. 

[peejman]

I'm there too. The excessive consumerism is very stressful. Add to that the inherent family stresses and it gets hard sometimes. 

Both mine and my wife's family are big, way too big to get gifts for everyone. We dropped back to gifts for immediate family and just cards for everyone else. We haven't seen most of my mom's in person family in 25 years even though they're 3-4 hrs away. 

Like Jamie, I try to keep the reason for the season at the front of my mind. Easier said than done, but it helps. I'm a music person so I like that too, though largely not the mainstream stuff. Working retail in high school cured me of that. 

A few good Christmas movies help too. Die Hard, A Christmas Story, and of course... The Ref.  

[NoBanStan]

Christ is the reason for the season. I'm just trying to focus on my relationship with him. I'm not particularly great at staying the course, but I would like to be.

[gun sane]

2 hours ago, Erik88 said:

Something tells me Jesus would not have cared for rampant consumerism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I'm reading my Bible right, the wise men brought gifts to Jesus, not to everyone else.  The greatest gift we can give to Him is ourselves, not the world's junk.

[Erik88]

I'm glad I'm not alone. I told my wife that next year we've got to limit gifts to a few people. It's gotten out of hand. If it's creating anxiety then we've lost the point of Christmas. 

[Alleycat72]

My 20 year old Daughter has taken up knitting and makes stuff for people. She's actually good so you don't need to pretend you like it.  LOL

I do admit I find it weird for a forensic science major to be into knitting. 

[MacGyver]

15 minutes ago, Alleycat72 said:

My 20 year old Daughter has taken up knitting and makes stuff for people. She's actually good so you don't need to pretend you like it.  LOL

I do admit I find it weird for a forensic science major to be into knitting. 

FWIW that's probably a sign that she's in the right place.

When I talk to students about going into forensics, the question I most often ask is whether or not doing the same thing, exactly the same way over and over brings them joy.  If they look at me weird, I can encourage them in a direction that's more suited to them.  If they're like, "oh my goodness yes - then they've found their people."

[Chucktshoes]

10 minutes ago, MacGyver said:

FWIW that's probably a sign that she's in the right place.

When I talk to students about going into forensics, the question I most often ask is whether or not doing the same thing, exactly the same way over and over brings them joy.  If they look at me weird, I can encourage them in a direction that's more suited to them.  If they're like, "oh my goodness yes - then they've found their people."

Forensics would’ve been a horrible career choice for me. 

[DWARREN123]

It is bad that the holidays are for selling these days instead for family and friends.

[Sleep profit]

I find forensics very interesting I have attended quite a few lectures by Dr Bass at UT I didn’t understand it all but I was sure glad we had people like him on our side 

[BigK]

The spreadsheet of how much I spent on each person to make sure nobody feels slighted is a sign that I'm doing it wrong. Next year only my grandbabies get gifts. I'm giving the rest to a better cause: church.

[peejman]

2 hours ago, Erik88 said:

I'm glad I'm not alone. I told my wife that next year we've got to limit gifts to a few people. It's gotten out of hand. If it's creating anxiety then we've lost the point of Christmas. 

Yes, once my generation started having kids, we all pretty quickly concluded there were simply too many people. We did a name draw for a few years so that everyone bought and received only 1 gift. Life schedules being how they are, that only lasted a few years because it became impossible to get everyone in the same place at the same time to exchange them. Mailing cards is easier and not a financial burden for anyone. Our gifts are the time we spend together. 

[Luckyforward]

At Christmas we celebrate the season in terms of our faith, eat good food, enjoy company, watch the little kids tear up their new toys (and play with the boxes).  As adults we give the gift of a book that provides winter reading fun.  Our larger money goes to Second Harvest Food Bank because everyone has to eat . . .

[gregintenn]

1 hour ago, MacGyver said:

FWIW that's probably a sign that she's in the right place.

When I talk to students about going into forensics, the question I most often ask is whether or not doing the same thing, exactly the same way over and over brings them joy.  If they look at me weird, I can encourage them in a direction that's more suited to them.  If they're like, "oh my goodness yes - then they've found their people."

Sounds like I missed my calling.

[MacGyver]

10 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

Sounds like I missed my calling.

There’s always time if retirement is getting to you

[gregintenn]

9 minutes ago, MacGyver said:

There’s always time if retirement is getting to you

I'm good. Thanks.

[gregintenn]

When I was a kid, I thought the movie Christmas Vacation was funny. Now it is more like a documentary.

[DJTC45]

Your not alone in feeling like you do. Christmas has been this way for awhile, it's to commercial and has been that way. Christmas is supposed to be about spending time with the ones you love and reminiscing about the ones who have passed on in your life. Now it's all about the bottom dollar, they start earlier every year with their " Huge Savings Sales" and every commercial TV add, magazine and even the local news stations are constantly talking about the holiday sales everyday before Thanksgiving even started. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the time and even buy a few gifts but we always try to set a budget and who we're going to buy for, and donate to and that's where we stop at. Christmas is for kids and grandkids and we don't have any. I guess what I'm trying to say is don't fall for all the hype and enjoy your holidays with the ones you love, that's the best gift you can give and receive. Merry Christmas TGO and a better and happy New Year to all.

[TGO David]

@Erik88 I think one of the things that has made me happiest in all seasons of the year is the decision that I made several years ago to unplug from the news.  We cancelled our cable TV subscription, went Internet-only, use OTA antennas for local news when the weather is bad, and I try like hell to avoid anything and anyone that wants to fill me in on whatever's happening right now in the world.

This has even made Christmas better for me because people know that I'm not the guy to talk politics or pop culture with.  If they try to pull me into those things, I remind them that I'm not the guy.

I know that may not exactly hit the center of the target for you since the commercialization of Christmas is a current source of pressure for you, and I couldn't exactly trace the DNA of this and how it affects my own enjoyment of the season... but it really has made me a happier guy overall.