If you love Christmas, this is the community for you!
I'm a grinch
Last year I really tried to get in the Christmas spirit but I think I'm a natural grinch and it's an uphill battle. This year, after a long and terrible year, I just can't be bothered. There isn't a single decoration, strand of lights, or Christmas cookie in my house. Are there any reformed grinches out there that have advice on how to shed the grinchiness? The company I work for does Christmas lights and I start dealing with Christmas in July, so by the time December comes around I'm burned out on decorating.
I like giving gifts and service, I enjoy the music (within reason) especially live concerts, but everything else gets me down. The eleventy million obligations, the forced "cheer", the greed and gluttony, the blindingly ostentatious consumerism, the dark, the cold, the fact that the holiday and most of its traditions is cobbled together with co-opted pieces of other religions and if anyone broaches that subject they say it's a war on Christmas. I'm not jewish but for the last 5 years I've hosted a Hanukkah dinner instead of a Christmas party because if I go to one more Ugly Sweater/White Elephant/$10 gift exchange/Cookie Buffet party I swear I will snap.
I also need to watch out for run on sentences. So how do I change my cynical ways? I signed up for the secret santa exchange here and I enjoyed picking out the gift and sending it off but I was left wondering if it really was going to make a difference.




I harbor great nostalgia and affection for the holiday but I've probably been living more of a grinch existence the past number of years.
I've spent Christmas alone. Haven't bothered with decorations, for sure. Haven't gotten gifts for others. (Haven't been able to afford gifts for a while.)
It's kind of... liberating... not being in a relationship, not seeing family, just kicking back and enjoying alone-time. Takes the pressure off the holiday.
At some point down the line, I think it'll be nice to get back to a more traditional Christmas. Till then, I've got fond memories of Christmases past. And can enjoy the spirit of the holiday from a distance.
I am also a grinch. I tend to hide this time of year. Last year I drove my family to another state and immediately drove back.
I'm a singer, and my Christmas experience has always been, "It's September, better start learning the Christmas music now..." (FYI, the baritone part in Sleigh Ride suuuucks... yes, I sang the baritone part.) Oh, time for the token Chanukah song now.
I also did the exchange, and had fun getting something for someone. (Which it seems my recipient enjoyed, at least.) But I think it's more the forced socializing with people I don't want to socialize with that's bugging me. At least this year my kids are only doing 5 million pageants/recitals/concerts rather than last year's 9 million.
Oh, and if you need anything at a store like Target this time of year, forget it.
I listen to O' Holy Night, the version on the Home Alone soundtrack is good. When they get to the part "Fall on your knees..." that get's me every time. The lyrics man, the lyrics.
If it doesn't bring you happiness to partake of Christmas activities, then I think that's totally fine and there's no need to participate! It doesn't make you a grinch at all!
I didn't really celebrate Christmas until I was in my 20s (didn't grow up religious and had immigrant parents from countries w/o Christmas traditions) so I never had much of a personal connection to the holiday or the typical Christian traditions.
I do like that Christmas gives me an excuse to give my friends gifts like you said, and my partner and their family is very into it, so these days its become fun for those reasons.
This works for me when I get the Grinchy feelings (though I love Christmas like a fat guy loves cake and since I'm a fat guy, I know exactly how much love that is).
It's okay not to love Christmas. It's even okay to hate how we commercialize and trivialize Christmas here in the USA. It's not okay to rain on someone else's parade. If folks around me are having fun, I can have fun and enjoy their joy. If I don't feel happy myself, I can share their happiness and get a nice little "contact high" of Christmas cheer.
Nice perspective, thank you Jimmie.
My pleasure. Honestly, go easy on yourself. This time of year is fraught with emotional pitfalls. No need to add more fretting to it than necessary. Oh, and if someone gives you a candy cane, enjoy it because candy canes are AWESOME!
Indeed, because candy.
First of all, it's ok to let it go by. (and it's still early, just the first week of December!) But perhaps, just one holiday card on the shelf or the mantle, would be a nice touch. Just a reminder that as shitty a year as this one has been, perhaps next year won't be quite so bad. I'm doing cards today, if you'd like one?
That's a nice offer Kim, thank you.