[Abbeygoo]

I really don't know what all the fuss is about and wondered if I'm alone in my feelings of Bah, humbug or whether other people feel the same.

My wife goes completely overboard at Xmas and I am the opposite. I appreciate the family get together and the spirit of Xmas but think that the rest of it is a complete waste of time and money.

Bear with me ......

1. Decorations

All over the house. A Xmas tree, yes but the whole house is covered with various bits of tinsle and baubles everywhere. The outside looks like we're trying to get noticed at the next Blackpool Illuminations. I bet we can be seen from space. Lights on the bushes outside, on the tree in the garden and dangling all over the front of the house ..... must be costing a fortune in electricity.

2. Christmas Cards

We have dozens of them all blu-tacked to the walls. The majority of them are from people who we haven't seen all year and probably won't see next year, too. The pressure the wife puts on herself to send absolutely everyone who may have the possibility of sending us one is ridiculous. It makes me chuckle when you get one address to "Steve, Lisa and family" as they don't know the names of our children and will never need to again. All these cards get chucked in the bin, what a waste. She asked me if I was sending any to my mates ...... don't be silly.

3. Presents

Unbelievable. Hey, don't get me wrong Xmas presents are a wonderful thing but do we need to buy so many? The cost is astronomical and we buy Xmas presents for such and such-a-body because "they buy for our kids...." We should all agree to keep our cash, spend it on what we need for our own children and avoid huge piles of presents that don't get touched for months afterwards. I remember getting a modest selection of presents so I don't disagree with the principle of present exchange but the amount that our kids get is way over the top. My little girl is 8 and she is getting a phone, Nintendo DS with games and a pair of Wheely Heely things which cost ££££s together, plus the pile of wrapped stuff she has already is staggering.

4. The build up

My wife is already stressed to high heaven. Ask her if we can go out on Saturday and she starts going on about "having such a lot on" and not to make "any more plans before Xmas" - your life gets put on hold for weeks. The days leading up to Xmas are a battle to get through due to the focus on next Tuesday and everything that surrounds it. Today, I'm in work and my wife has put my son into Nursery as she needs to clean the house from top to bottom (and I mean that literally) as family are coming round - are the family inspectors from "How Clean Is Your House?" It turns into mad cleaning and you can't leave anything lying around ......

5. The day itself

Jesus Christ. Well, I say that as he is the reason for all this, supposedly. The day itself always seems surreal. As its been planned for so long, it doesn't seem to happen for real. The morning get up is too early for me and a couple of hours present opening and kids going mental as you won't let them play with the massive digger and dumper truck you have bought them as they still have 125 other presents to open ...... What's that about?

Then you pack all the stuff away as quickly as you can as "the family" are about to arrive and your wife takes an age to get ready as she wants to wash her hair and paint her finger nails before "they" arrive.

You eventually sit down for the meal, the kids end up having chicken nuggets, chips and beans as they "don't like" the Xmas dinner and you're left with a mountain of pots and pans that need 7 or 8 bowls of water to wash up and drying takes til tomorrow. Your family then leaves.

A game of charades that lasts for ever ...... and then getting the kids to bed, trying to stop them seeing the massive pile of presents for fear they want to play with one of them (isn't that what they are for?)

You eventually sit down at around midnight and fall asleep in the chair.

One day in the year, a load of hassle and expense that in my mind isn't worth it.

Sorry to be a bah humbug but that's the way I feel and wondered am I alone?

Next week ...... the "New Year's Eve" rant!

[breakersrevenge]

I'm with ya mate!!!

[daveaka]

Me too, Iam sick of it this year

[Gary D]

Mr Abbygoo - i think you have issues - i suggest you lock yourself in a shed with with some Christmas songs to get you in the mood

[Abbeygoo]

Originally Posted by Gary D

Mr Abbygoo - i think you have issues - i suggest you lock yourself in a shed with with some Christmas songs to get you in the mood

Thanks mate, you've just reminded me of another pet hate, Xmas songs...... especially the Mariah Carey one that has the most ridiculous intro for any song I have ever heard ...... and what about Xmas TV?

[Gary D]

you need this .....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/features/screen-wipe.shtml

[Woodywizz]

What a great post Steve...and I completely agree.

As you saw from our house on Sunday, we have no decorations - well apart from a small black tree in the corner of the living room. One of my wife's mates think that we are cruel cruel parents, as every surface in her house is covered in tinsel or flashing lights or fake snow. Also, no Christmas card will ever be blue tacked to the walls in our house - whereas my mum will make massive hanging displays made out of the hundreds of cards she receives...why????

On Christmas day mate, leave them all to it and we'll have a marathon session of Fifa 08

[FaxFan2002]

Apology accepted Mind you I'm going to Egypt this for Christmas and New Your which will be nice

[Abbeygoo]

Originally Posted by woodywizz

On Christmas day mate, leave them all to it and we'll have a marathon session of Fifa 08

If only ...........

[Nimby]

Christmas spirit gets to be a damp squib when the company Xmas party is held in early November.

[2scoops]

Scrap XMAS it's crap!

[mjn]

Christmas sucks....i'll be doing my best to sleep through it. If i can't sleep, then i'm going to be beered up as much as possible.

A whole week with the in-laws...........

[Ultima]

I can't believe what I'm reading, Christmas is the best time of the year......no excuses needed for getting hammered, no work and loads of quality time with family and friends. If the missus wants to go overboard it's your duty to let her and enjoy it. Bloody Scrooges the lot of you, especially you Steve .

Martin

[Billo]

I'm with the OP on this one.
I have not given out any cards to people in work this year and I have only posted two cards (I'll give the money to Water Aid or some such charity). I dread the address book coming out as the questions are always the same
''are they still living there?''
''what is the name of the spouse/children?''
''did we send them this card last year?''
The answer is always ''I don't know'', the OH sends cards to people I have never met and we have been together for several decades now!

[JohnG]

I'm also with the OP on this one, I don't like Christmas at all. All it means to me is more traffic, supermarkets packed to the gills so I can't do my normal shopping, people wasting money and resources on cards and decorations and sodding brussel sprouts !

[mason]

im with the OP on this one too......... commerciallsed nonsense!!!

im all fro the spirt of christmas.... but do we have to q for hours to buy stuff..... do people really need two trolleys at sainsburys..... i mean the food isnt going out of date and will still be there tomorrow!!

[Nimby]

Originally Posted by Billo

I'm with the OP on this one.
I have not given out any cards to people in work this year and I have only posted two cards (I'll give the money to Water Aid or some such charity). I dread the address book coming out as the questions are always the same
''are they still living there?''
''what is the name of the spouse/children?''
''did we send them this card last year?''
The answer is always ''I don't know'', the OH sends cards to people I have never met and we have been together for several decades now!

Statistically speaking there must be many unknown losses due to ill health or divorce you never hear about.

Imagine getting a card addressed to someone who just left for a younger model.

Or someone who died in agony from something horrible associated with smoking, boozing and wife beating.

And a Happy Christmas to you to you too!

[Leej]

A great post Steve.

Originally Posted by Abbeygoo

It makes me chuckle when you get one address to "Steve, Lisa and family" as they don't know the names of our children and will never need to again.

That made me laugh. We have a couple of cards off people addressed to the wife, daughter and me. They don't know we have had 2 more kids since we last saw them.

Agree with you about the wife getting all stressed over it but I agree with Martin that Christmas is the best time of the year.

[dognosh]

I am with the op
No stress yet and there won't be any in my household(My guinea pig and moi)
I know some of you don't have the choice so I feel for you

[Hitby]

I have to completely disagree! I love Christmas! Loads of time off to eat good food and socialise with a few (ok, a lot of) beers. Everyones chilled out because they don't have to think about going to work on Monday morning. I agree with the card sentiment and don't bother sending any, instead I donate an extra tenner to a charity. We have a big tree and a few items around the house that we've picked up on our travels cos we usually go away for my birthday which is just before Christmas.

Only thing I don't like about this period of the year is waiting for January payday!

[unique]

i can't be bothered with it either. at least i live alone so i don't have to put up decorations or put cards out. i don't normally give cards apart from close family where i have to, and any i get i stick in a drawer for a week until the new year when they can be binned

it's a pain to have to spend so much money on presents for people and in turn get back a load of stuff you don't want or need and would never have spent the money on yourself. when you are broke it doesn't really help make you feel better. i've asked my family what they want umpteen times and they don't know, so i've told them to look online and let me know if they want something and i'll order it after christmas when the sales are on as they aren't going to get delivery before christmas now they've left it too late. i won't get any complaints as they will actually get what they want, and any delay is their own fault

this year i'm skipping my work do as i've already went on holiday early. i don't particularly want to go out with them during the rest of the year, i spend enough time with them at work, so the last thing i want to do is spend more time out of the office and spending a fortune on food and drink, and you either have to watch yourself from saying or doing something daft whilst drunk, or never hear the end of it for the first few months of the year, so thats hardly the ingrediants for a great nite out

i'm seriously thinking of asking my family to participate in a £15 limit present for next year, i should have said it last year. thats what my mate does and it works for them. they all earn good money and can buy everything they want, and do, so there is no need for them to have to splash daft money on things they don't want or need. instead they have fun trying to find a small number of cheap presents to give, either something fun, or a book, or something top of the range thats within the £15 limit. the only way that might not work the same is for a kid, but there is only one in my family and they get enough presents from elsewhere. you can always "spoil" someone when it's their birthday instead, as then you only have the one present to buy one person, instead of struggling financially to pay for loads of presents, food, booze, night outs, and the extra high bills that winter brings as it is

i saw something on tv the other day, with someone talking about christmas past, where when anyone was asked what they wanted for christmas, and they would instantly say "i want a ....", as they couldn't just buy what they wanted back then, and christmas was the time they looked forward to getting something nice. nowadays you ask someone the same question and the reply is "i don't know", as they already have dvd players, games consoles, computers, mp3 players, etc, all bought throughout the year. it's true, as thats what i do, i buy what i want when i want it (within reason) so i don't need anything at christmas, and it's the same with my family, so why should we waste money on each other buying things we don't want or need, and splashing out about £100 per person to do so?

[Ultima]

Originally Posted by unique

i can't be bothered with it either. at least i live alone so i don't have to put up decorations or put cards out. i don't normally give cards apart from close family where i have to, and any i get i stick in a drawer for a week until the new year when they can be binned

it's a pain to have to spend so much money on presents for people and in turn get back a load of stuff you don't want or need and would never have spent the money on yourself. when you are broke it doesn't really help make you feel better. i've asked my family what they want umpteen times and they don't know, so i've told them to look online and let me know if they want something and i'll order it after christmas when the sales are on as they aren't going to get delivery before christmas now they've left it too late. i won't get any complaints as they will actually get what they want, and any delay is their own fault

this year i'm skipping my work do as i've already went on holiday early. i don't particularly want to go out with them during the rest of the year, i spend enough time with them at work, so the last thing i want to do is spend more time out of the office and spending a fortune on food and drink, and you either have to watch yourself from saying or doing something daft whilst drunk, or never hear the end of it for the first few months of the year, so thats hardly the ingrediants for a great nite out

i'm seriously thinking of asking my family to participate in a £15 limit present for next year, i should have said it last year. thats what my mate does and it works for them. they all earn good money and can buy everything they want, and do, so there is no need for them to have to splash daft money on things they don't want or need. instead they have fun trying to find a small number of cheap presents to give, either something fun, or a book, or something top of the range thats within the £15 limit. the only way that might not work the same is for a kid, but there is only one in my family and they get enough presents from elsewhere. you can always "spoil" someone when it's their birthday instead, as then you only have the one present to buy one person, instead of struggling financially to pay for loads of presents, food, booze, night outs, and the extra high bills that winter brings as it is

i saw something on tv the other day, with someone talking about christmas past, where when anyone was asked what they wanted for christmas, and they would instantly say "i want a ....", as they couldn't just buy what they wanted back then, and christmas was the time they looked forward to getting something nice. nowadays you ask someone the same question and the reply is "i don't know", as they already have dvd players, games consoles, computers, mp3 players, etc, all bought throughout the year. it's true, as thats what i do, i buy what i want when i want it (within reason) so i don't need anything at christmas, and it's the same with my family, so why should we waste money on each other buying things we don't want or need, and splashing out about £100 per person to do so?

I've read that and nearly slit my wrists.......come on mate, enjoy it and stop worrying so much. It's not about how much you spend, it's the thought that counts (although this seems to be lost on too many people) and family/friends will love anything you buy regardless of price.

Works night out should also be enjoyed even though you do see them everyday. It's a chance to see a different side to you your work mates, maybe even change your mind about that dick in accounts or get to know the secretary a little more??

Christmas should be enjoyed....I can't believe how many people go into a severe depression at this time of year.

Martin

[UrbanT]

I love Christmas!

A week and a half off work.

A chance to spend some time with the family.

Lots of food.

Loads of football on the TV for the next week.

A chance to watch some decent films (I have a stack ready )

Perhaps we could have Christmas 3 times a year

[spidermanalf]

Originally Posted by unique

i'm seriously thinking of asking my family to participate in a £15 limit present for next year, i should have said it last year. thats what my mate does and it works for them. they all earn good money and can buy everything they want, and do, so there is no need for them to have to splash daft money on things they don't want or need. instead they have fun trying to find a small number of cheap presents to give, either something fun, or a book, or something top of the range thats within the £15 limit.

We have done that this year, with my family and my wifes.

But we did it secret santa style. Had each family round and they were given their own name on a bit of paper and throughout the evening you had to swap your cards with other people, so by the end of the night everyone had a name, the only rule was you are not allowed your own or your partners name.

Therefore saving us loads of money, and loads of pants presents.

We have no kids, and only one nephew, so he was not included, but we have only spent 20quid on him. I don't see the point of spending 100s, even my wife and I have a 50quid limit spend on each other.

It is easy to get carried away, but if you are careful you can have some quality, controlled fun

[Duncan G]

Thankfully I am a bachelor and spend xmas on my own so I do not have any of the aforementioned hassle to put up with.

I have books to read, DVD's to watch (on my new HD player and 40in TV) and TV progs marked to watch in the Radio Times.

I have a selection of malt whisky's in the cupboard and muchies in the fridge/freezer.

I can do without the company of others this xmas quite well thank you.

[Duncan G]

Originally Posted by Nimby

Statistically speaking there must be many unknown losses due to ill health or divorce you never hear about.

Imagine getting a card addressed to someone who just left for a younger model.

Or someone who died in agony from something horrible associated with smoking, boozing and wife beating.

And a Happy Christmas to you to you too!

So long as you are keeping cheerful.

[dUnKle]

As the years go on I seem to become less and less a fan of Christmas and have tried to work out why. This week I think I have worked out a BIG reason for it

I dont think, that as a child, I made the most out of Christmas. For me it was ..

Up early
Open presents
Retreat to room to play with presents
Downstairs for dinner
Eat quick
Back upstairs to play with presents
Bed
Boxing Day
Bored

I guess I now realise that I should have made more of the time and purposley try and "scrooge" the season now. Also things changed a few years ago when my Nan passed away - Christmas was always a BIG thing for her and its not been quite the same since

For the past 8 years I have worked shifts getting very litte time off over the holiday period (work most of it including day itself at times) and the year my Nan passed away I had a small breakdown and just shut myself away for the whole Christmas period.

This year though I am trying to make an effor in the hope I can make it a bit more special. Not going over the top but seeing as have 4 days off and return on boxing day am going to see if can make it more fun

Going to have Sunday before with other halfs family having a Wii day
Going to have Christmas Eve as a Christmas Day just for me and partner, presents dinner the lot
Then Christmas day split between our two families

I guess part of reason I have hated Christmas is that I have never made the effort

Mind all that said I wish people would stop making there house look like Blackpool

[Nimby]

Originally Posted by Duncan G

So long as you are keeping cheerful.

Never confuse my barbed comments with a lack of humour.

My nose, tail and horns always have a festive glow.

[deanym]

mmmm

4 weeks off work

visit all my family and friends,

see how the little kids are growing up,

no getting up early for work, only for pleasure,

lots of great food, drink and parties

as we're travelling up North for the duration, being looked after and spoiled by our family,

can't think of a better time of year,

with good planning and a bit of patience, supermarkets, christmas shopping and decorations are no problem.

God Bless Us Everyone

[deanym]

Originally Posted by Duncan G

I can do without the company of others this xmas quite well thank you.

thats my idea of hell, but if it works for you I hope you have a good holiday.