Holiday Doldrums

[TheCanadiandrome]

lol! hell yes, drinking! rofl!

[DarkFell]

@Don Gaddis: Glad you like the videos. Twisted Christmas is a bit of a traditional staple in my family. The last guy's comments in Twelve Pains of Christmas crack us up to no end.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Yeah, Christmas hasn't really been much fun for us either, for the last few years, alas. His dad died a few years ago on my birthday, (which was earlier this month) and my step-dad's mom died several years ago just before her birthday- which is New Years Day. My granddad died the year after we first got together, also shortly before his birthday, which is around Christmas. On top of it all, we barely ever have money to get gifts for each other and our parents, much less anyone else. It sucks. Especially this year.

[Katie]

I love Christmas.

Do I get big fancy presents? No. Do I buy gifts for family that blow my budget sometimes? Sure.

But for me, it's really just about enjoying being with family, eating good food, and making others happy.

My family isn't perfect. People drink, people are on the brink of divorce, and all the typical fun.... But something magical happens for me on that day and the days leading up and I feel like a small kid again. I can't help but feel happy and excited.

Sometimes when bad stuff happens it's super easy to remain laser focused on that. I learned a few years ago that focusing on those bad things all the time really makes you stop being able to see the good. So I started actively looking for the good. And guess what? It's all over the place.

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

I've just realised its 6 days till Christmas and I couldn't be any less bothered.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Actually, it's eight. But I feel you there. I'm barely even into the spirit at all. Haven't even put up the tree, and it's been sitting in the box in my living room for days now.

[Donatello19]

Not for me, this is my favorite time of the year!

[IndigoErth]

Our tree was put up Sunday, not yet decorated. It's fake and has permanent lights so it's at least plugged in so far.

I miss having a real tree, but on the plus side I like that there is one that may live a bit longer because we didn't go out and kill it. Still miss real ones though. Switched a few years ago thanks to the derpiest cat in the house. We've NEVER had issues with cats until now. This one however decided to eat a bunch of pin needles and the fur off a toy mouse, caused himself a nice intestinal blockage and he's lucky to still be alive.

[Don Gaddis]

IndigoErth, yeah, my tree went up this Sunday too. It's in the living room
undecorated at the moment. I'll probably start decorating it tonight and at
least get the lights on. We always get a real tree, but lately I'm starting to
feel similarly to you. I just hate that the tree is chopped down, just so we
can hang blinking lights and ornaments on it. Your cat! Oh no... hopefully
the cat will not do that again. The worst thing that mine does is maybe
knock one or two ornaments off the tree and play soccer ball with them.

@ MsMarvelDuckie, I'm so sorry to hear about your loved ones... *BIG hug*
It will take time to heal... but yes, it makes the holidays very difficult to endure.
And, wow, you and Whatswiththeheadbands have both just reminded me that it's
pretty much only a week until Christmas. I still have so many people left to buy
for. Some of the little stocking stuffers are out of the way, but that's about it.

Katie and Donatello19, thanks for the sunshine As often is the case with people
who are down or depressed, it's nigh on impossible to see a speck of light. I mean,
it could be bright and sunny outside, with nothing truly wrong with the world, and the
blues can still come on like a sledgehammer. I do enjoy watching others open their gifts.
As of late, I usually just stack mine in a corner and watch everyone else open their
gifts first.

The most fun that I have during the holidays now happens when I go over
to a friend's house... she and her sister and I, we're all single/ like-minded,
so we mostly just sit around and talk, eat cake, and drink coffee. There is
no hectic atmosphere whatsoever. We do bring gifts, but the gifts are almost
like an afterthought and there is no pressure about anything/ no crazy rushing
around to prepare a big meal, decorate, clean, etc.

[TheCanadiandrome]

Originally Posted by Whatswiththeheadbands?

I've just realised its 6 days till Christmas and I couldn't be any less bothered.

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

Actually, it's eight.

you're both wrong, it's actually 9

[pennydreadful]

I'm always fascinated by the concept of people having live trees - in Australia, we only have plastic ones (for obvious reasons). The older I get, the more the snow and fluffy suits and traditional Xmas imagery being used over here just seems really weird.

[IndigoErth]

I always feel pretty bad for the leftover pre-cut trees left standing standing in the tree lots. I realize it makes it easier for people who don't have the time or care to go to a tree farm and cut it themselves, but I really think there should be a very limited amount of trees available at any one time. Far too many don't seem to get homes when pine are slow growing to begin with.

When I was growing up we'd at least put the real ones we had in the backyard after Christmas for the critters to use as cover and then chip it for mulch in the spring.

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

I'm always fascinated by the concept of people having live trees - in Australia, we only have plastic ones (for obvious reasons). The older I get, the more the snow and fluffy suits and traditional Xmas imagery being used over here just seems really weird.

lol Reminds me I keep meaning to ask a friend/co-"worker" on a small private server for an MMO game (and an Aussie) what touches of her traditions we might be able to add to the holiday event areas we've built over the past couple of years. I feel bad that it's generally always northern hemisphere/American oriented. (Though the makers of the game and the owner of the server are American.) Although she was the main author of the Christmas/winter event and seems to enjoy the mental escape if it's hot where she is. lol

[BubblyShell22]

We don't have our tree up because we have no room for it anymore, but it was always a nice little tree. Only gift I buy is for my BF and that's it. We haven't even gotten together yet, but I do enjoy getting him stuff. I'm not one for wanting anything, so I pretty much just say I don't want anything because I just don't care anymore. People get me stuff anyway though.

[pennydreadful]

That's the thing Indigo - Australian Xmas is like, literally exactly the same as American Xmas except we're doing it all in million-degree heat, we add seafood to the menu and we go to the beach afterwards. And everyone uses it as (yet another) excuse to get blisteringly drunk, because drinking is Australia's national passtime.

And sometimes we pretend that kangaroos pull Santa's sleigh when he's over here.

The whole thing is utterly bizarre (bordering on perverse and sadistic). The older I get, the crazier it seems to be sitting down to a roast turkey dinner in 40 degree weather, watching movies where people are rugged up and frolicking in the snow.

[Gunpowder]

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

we're doing it all in million-degree heat, we add seafood to the menu and we go to the beach afterwards. And everyone uses it as (yet another) excuse to get blisteringly drunk

That basically sums up summer in Louisiana.

[ProactiveMan]

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

I'm always fascinated by the concept of people having live trees - in Australia, we only have plastic ones (for obvious reasons). The older I get, the more the snow and fluffy suits and traditional Xmas imagery being used over here just seems really weird.

I'm with you. My family has always resisted the trappings of a winter Christmas. For one thing, it's too damn hot to eat a heavy roast meal, so we usually have a spread of cold foods and salad.

Regarding holiday doldrums - I want to love Christmas, and that is probably why it often ends up being depressing. I live alone, so I spend a lot of the holidays by myself. My extended family is shrinking at an alarming rate, and my siblings have their own stuff going on, so Christmas is over pretty quickly. I'm just going to accept it this year, and try to take it easy.

I made this animated card a few years ago - I was trying to capture the feeling of an Australian Christmas. I may or may not have succeeded.

[Don Gaddis]

Gunpowder, have you ever known it to snow where you are in Louisiana? I lived in Savannah, GA
for a few years... which isn't too dissimilar from New Orleans. It snowed once while I was in Savannah,
just enough to give everything a very thin coating. It melted in less than half an hour. But it was so
strange, seeing snow settle on palm trees. So I can't imagine how pennydreadful and Proactive Man
must feel. On a side note, Australia sounds like my kind of place . I'm fascinated by bottle trees
for some reason...

Oh, and Proactive Man, yes... understand you in regard to how quickly Christmas is over. The relatives
of mine that still come by... they are in and out of here in just a little under two hours usually. It's pretty
much: "Hi. Feed me. Give me money. Bye." lol. But I do enjoy seeing them and spending that little
bit of time with them. There are certainly worse things in the world than a speedy Christmas!

BubblyShell22, my mom and I bought a small tree for the first time this year. Usually the top of it
hits the ceiling, but it's more Charlie Brown size this time around. I couldn't believe how much
easier it was to put up (had it up in an hour), as opposed to a larger one (an all day affair).

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Originally Posted by TheCanadiandrome

you're both wrong, it's actually 9

I was not counting that same day- I started from the next FULL day, thank you. So it WAS eight. NOW it is six.

[Leo656]

I've been more upbeat than usual lately, but now that I got my mandatory Pre-Christmas Respiratory Infection and don't think I'll be well in time for Christmas (if past experience is any indication), I'm pretty f*cking pissed.

Like, this time of year generally does suck for me. My Mom's Birthday was Christmas Eve, so ever since she died in 1997, it's an annual reminder about how f*cked up and unfair life can be. THEN my Dad died Christmas Eve in 2010, and no sh*t, I had to spend the entire weekend listening to people tell me I "should still be happy anyway because it's Christmas!" Like, his body isn't even cold yet, you f*cking jackals, take your tinsel and cram it. That really pissed me off.

So yeah, I generally get pretty depressed this time of year because of that stuff, partly because Christmas used to be AMAZING with my family before everybody chose drugs. And, being a Northeasterner, snow lost 150% of its fun and novelty a long, long time ago. It's pretty through the window, but that's about it. All you folks who love it so much can have it. You can have the constant power-outages, and having to move people into a four-bedroom house in the middle of a blizzard after spending two hours digging the truck out of four feet of snow (SO glad I don't have to do that sh*t anymore), you can have your TV reception be non-existent because of too much snow on the dish, and you can totally have being stuck inside with no electricity or food for almost a week because you don't happen to live on a major arterial roadway and thus don't deserve to ever see a plow come your way. You can have ALL of that and keep it.

Add in the fact that I spend about 8 months out of the year coughing up bloody mucous, and yeah, it's less about the "Holidays" in general, it's that Winter can entirely go f*ck itself. I don't see how anyone could like this time of year. It's nothing but months and months of cold, ice, sickness and death. What's to love? It makes ZERO sense to me why we have these major holidays at THIS time of year, when nobody can even hug their relatives without being scared they're gonna catch the flu. I vote we move Christmas season to August so people can f*cking enjoy themselves. This time of year is f*cking garbage.

[Cure]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

I was not counting that same day- I started from the next FULL day, thank you. So it WAS eight. NOW it is six.

I...what? Canadianguy was right, it was nine days yesterday. Today, the 17th, it is eight.

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Eight dates starting with the next full day like you said. Eight. Midnight tonight will be seven. Counting is hard.