moi621 (imported) wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:38 pm I believe in Holiday Blues.

I accept them and try to infect others with it.

Now, I wonder - is it a hours of day light thing?

Seasonal Affective Disorder?

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SAD is real. I remember having an attack of nostalgia for a winter Christmas and went to England for a Christmas holiday. Two weeks of grey skies got me really depressed. Come 12 noon I thought "Ah, it's starting to get light at last. From then on it started to get dark."

Here in Johannesburg, South Africa we recently had three solid days of rain and people were getting suicidal. Then it cleared up. Everyone had a barbecue and got back to normal.

A downside of the southern hemisphere Christmas is explaining the Dickensian traditions to kids. My five year old grand daughter has never seen snow in her life. "Grand dad why doesn't the sleigh have wheels?"

Kortpeel

Riverwind (imported) wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2009 11:30 pm Funny you should bring this up, I hate the Christmas season.

River

River, the two of us are a lot alike! I worked retail most of my life and have grown to hate the holidays. In fact the only reason (i feel) to even keep the day is for Eggnog...I love Eggnog and Cadberry Carmel Easter Eggs! Yummmy

Any one that has a birthday near the holidays should have a birthday party in the middle of summer, but your right it is very rude for people to give you one present for both occasions and insulting to give a birthday present wrapped in xmass paper!

Make the holidays your own...how about ....Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year!

It seems that every year the holiday crap goes up a bit earlier...when I worked for Albertsons we received the stuff for the Xmass isle in the middle of summer! Then when that went up we received the Valentines stuff, and then the Easter Stuff months and months ahead of the holiday.

I don't like the Christmas holidays since I was a kid. Since the introduction of the Betamax, I have been going to the video store and finding the movie deals of a dollar a movie and stocking up with maybe twenty movies. Then I have a movie fest and invite whatever friends or neighbors I have. I don't give to the poor, I don't buy gifts, I don't throw dinners...I just do my "movie buff" thing between late December until the end of the year. For me, it works and I catch up on all the movies that have come out the past year. Of course, you could always go to the library and take out "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" which is a thousand pages, but then you're not German,nor a Nazi, ...

bobberlove

Having read several members who claim to insulate themselves from the holidays via different paths, I see a day or so of diversion. Insulation from "it" (?) , go to the local grocery store and there is the Holiday Stuff. And the cashier's corporate instructed wish of Happy Holidays.

As Dickens expressed, to keep Christmas in one's heart all year round is the key. I see ass holes glibly spreading, "peace on earth, good will to men" who are known, ass holes. It is hard not to be affected by such a load of s*** so universally played out.

Truly, I give friends and neighbor children gifts all year round. When I see something appropriate, or good stuff, I score it for them.

I still look forward to January 2.

:-\ Moi

On making the holidays my own,

I don't celebrate my birthday, it just reminds me that I am now the same age as macwolf.

As for Christmas, I don't celebrate it either, however I do celebrate the Yule. I have a tree with all white lights, I have a start on the top, I have a big dinner for my family and friends, and celebrate it on the 21st of December as it should be. I have made this my holiday, its for me and anybody that wishes to share it with me. The only gifts under the tree are for the kids as it should be, a new ball for Nelly and a new chew toy, Rupert gets treats and maybe something to chase. my new Grandson, well I will let my kids decided what I get him. My tree went up on Friday the day after Thanksgiving, it will come down Jan 2nd.

Life is good.

River

What it comes down to is celebrating something that YOU believe in, and celebrating it in the way that YOU find pleasing.

If you examine them closely, many of the December / Solstice celebrations share modified elements - the one of good will being the foremost, I think.

I like the festive holiday called PaKri, a Greek celebration based on the "green" from Paolo's light sabre and the "red" from the Sister's robe.

The way this holiday works: everyone should be wearing either GREEN or RED and the start drinking either beer, wine or hard liquor to out-drink the other color's side.

The winning team to be decided 24 hours later. To win you must be able to stand up unassisted and and name off the last forty Presidents.

So far there has never been a winner. But it has been said there were a lot of drunks out cold in the area.

River

For five years I worked in a retail store. I'm not sure why. But it sure was pretty amazing. On the day after Thanksgiving you'd most likely have to be to work by 5AM. So you'd think, What's the point of having a thanksgiving if you can't really be able to socialize and rest for a while?" That day "black Friday" would be totally busy and most everybody would be grouchy. But we're just getting started here. You'd always have to get up earlier on days with sales and work longer too. People would seem to get grouchier and grouchier and even more grouchy as the shopping season would wear on. On a Saturday morning when it was snowing and no reasonable person would be getting up yet since that's even the day to rest you'd nevertheless be scrambling out of bed 4:00 in the morning to go to effing work anyway. Then the totally amazing thing is that there'd actually be a whole hord of people there on an effing miserable snowy day before 5AM just to practise that stupid religion of theirs: SHOPPING! Give me an old fashioned religious pilgamage whether it'd be Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, or whatever where we'd also get up early in the morning and I'd be so much happier. And I have done that. But I think this shopping religion is just plain NUTS! People wouldn't be considerate of each other as in any other religion and everyone seemed to be so completely unrelaxed the whole time too. Then Christmas day after working a long day before you'd take a rest for the actual day itself in which you'd prefer to stay in bed and say the hell with everyone and then the very next day it's up at 4:00AM again to "celebrate" the "holy day of returns" when everyone is so intent on giving up their obligatory junk for other crap that would suit them a little better or hopefully even better yet some cash from the temple moneymakers. As you can see I don't hardly bother to celebrate Christmas and the best Thanksgiving I ever had was when a group of us were "snowed in" at some hot springs. All of us having food to go to other places all got together and made a meal in a rock overhang with a tarp and a small fire. Nobody had turkey but we did have chicken and wine.

I don't really enjoy the whole Christmas thing, but my family does, and I can tolerate it enough to participate and make them feel good.

I think it's important to do that, in my case; I get along with all of them very well, and I don't want to stir their religious holiday pot.

Coping mechanisms:

- Do any gift buying either online or as part of normal browse-shopping. I refuse to sweat the whole buying thing. No stress, I know my Dad and Sister well enough that during the months of Nov. or Dec. I'm for sure going to stumble on something they'd like, and the nephews and neices, well, I love toys, so that is just plain fun.

- Bernard Callebault choclates! Especially his only-during-December chocolate-covered cherries. Absolutely stunning, and a total waste of good money (35 bucks for 9). But, there is no finer confection on the planet. Search his name on Google, it's the first link. Spoil yourself. His chocolates are pure and hand-made. Serious yum factor!

- Stock up on pot BEFORE the hollidays. Dealers ALWAYS run out by mid December, and while nothing can possibly make christmas carols enjoyable, stepping outside to smoke a fatty gets you outa the damn house while the loonies sing.

- Canadian Club whiskey and Irish Cream. Being too hungover and/or drunk will ALWAYS get you out of being dragged to the church service.