I'm not really sure what my problem is...for the past couple of years, I haven't been able to find my Christmas spirit. It's not that I'm a scrooge or anything like that, I love everything Christmas...getting together with family and friends, the decorations, wonderful food and not to forget Santa!So what the heck is wrong with me? I just feel BLAH! My Mother loved Christmas, it was a huge production at our house, the baking, decorating the tree and all the other fun things associated with this time of year. Maybe that's why I feel this way, maybe now that Mom and Dad are gone, Christmas memories are on one hand a happy reminder, and a sad one on the other.
My mother-in-law loved Christmas, it was even a bigger production for her with five sons and daughters-in-law, fourteen grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and countless friends. Mom-in-law would start shopping the day after Christmas for the following year! We shared a house for seven years...now she is gone and I miss her.
I think I need a good kick in the pants to move me forward, to stop dwelling on the past! Now, I haven't been totally remiss in my holiday preparations, I have the makings for my Christmas cookies and I've located the tree ornaments...not much, you say, but it's a start.
Am I alone in my seasonal funk, or do you also experience overwhelming feelings of Holiday Humbugs?
19 comments:
I think I might just be feeling that way if it weren't for my 9 grandchildren...I too miss my mother this holiday season, it would have been her 84th birthday Nov.24th. She was always a big part of our Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Many people in the US are feeling it this year because of, well, having no money. I am in the hole by a vast amount compared to last year at this time. My husband and I don't do any celebration stuff because we don't have any nearby relatives. But if I were to travel to my siblings' houses, we would be in full-on Christmas mode. I like the laid back feeling right now and I don't have any money to spend on frivolities. Just my two cents.
I was an only child and Christmas was, well, just one of those things you had to do and it was always halfhearted. After I married and had four children, Christmas became a really big deal and I probably had as much fun as my kids because I was finally seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child -- belated, but enjoyed. Then suddenly they were grown, only my oldest is married, no children, we're all scattered all over the country and we've all kind of just dealt with Christmas as one more day. None of us feel bad or down, we just don't celebrate. I guess that seems strange, but that is just how it seems to have evolved. I enjoy watching other people get the big kick out of the holidays and I'm very happy for them.
Ah, well, I've always been an oddball, what can I say????
Sylvia
May be the season starts way too soon, halloween candy isn't even off the shelves and they have the Christmas stuff out, way too soon..
I find in our family, everyone buys what they want through the year, and even the grandkids, as young teenagers don't know what they want if you ask them..kinda sad really ! Personally I worked in retail all my life, and by the time Christmas got here, I was exhausted although I do love the season, it just seems too comercialized now and the meaning is lost in the rush...so I do hear ya !!
If it weren't for grandchildren, I would have no Christmas.
With Mom and Dad gone and Den's parents, it just doesn't seem right to celebrate. I understand.
But it is up to us to carry on our parents' traditions and let the next generation have stories like we do.
Hang in there, maybe we should have a holiday support group!
Sounds like you just need to do something for someone. They say when we give of our selves it is true joy. Find the spirit of Christmas in the meaning and why we even celebrate. It is not the stuff but the stuffing (you know our heart and soul). May you have a very Merry Christmas Sunny.
DF
I used to be that way, Sunny... Back when my sons were little, my 'ex' and I would spend more money than we could afford. We would buy WAY too much--and it would take us the entire next year to pay for it all... I was working fulltime then also--and just didn't have time to get everything done. It was stressful and I became a scrooge for sure.
NOW---I love Christmas. I'm retired and it's just George and me --most of the time. Our kids live far away and can't come home for Christmas. BUT--I now enjoy it for ME (us) --and love decorating the house inside and outside. I don't bake much anymore though since we don't need it!!!! AND--since I'm not a party person, I just enjoy listening to music and staying right here at home.
I love it---it's my favorite time of the year...
Hope you can find some joy in Christmas, Sunny. Make Christmas just for YOU---not the way it was for your family...
Hugs,
Betsy
Sunny
I know how you feel. We've all been a bit deflated since losing loved ones. Christmas can seem so pointless without them. But, gradually, I've learned to use those precious memories to enhance the Christmas experience. What better time to call on those we miss to bring a smile to our faces? We won't get through the festive season without recalling stories and funny quotes associated with the past. Hope you can too.
I am of the "its for Children" camp.This year I am going home to Florida and with the babies in the family I expect to get excited again.
Other wise, it is pretty much another day that is too awash in commercialism. Not quite humbug but close.
Living alone, I usually find I miss out on the thrill of holidays. I forget to enjoy them as others do, who have lots of people around their homes. It's no excuse, I know, as I have friends who go all out just for themselves, but I find I can't be bothered.
I try to enjoy simple a simple Christmas with homemade gifts and try to avoid all the commercialism.
After all it supposed to be about the birth of Christ and that should bring us joy! :-)
I got my tree out of the attic and the box is sitting there waiting on me to open it......I like everything BUT decorating....I'm not good at it and don't enjoy it. Wish someone would just come in and put my tree up and then I would carry on with the rest..ha
Some years are better for me than others. I can never predict which it will be from year to year, so I just go with the flow and sooner or later I get the Christmas spirit.
I am not a violent person but if you really need a swift kick in the pants, consider yourself gently 'booted in the butt' :) I'm sure you would do the same for me!
I understand the feelings. Every year I have less enthusiasm for Christmas. I think it's because my kids are older and the "magic" of it has fallen away. I'd like to cancel it, truthfully, but we got our tree up and I'm trying to have a better attitude.
I think the Bah-Humbug bites us all at times, especially when times are hard. Then maybe we begin to think more about the real Christmas spirit...
My Christmas Spirit got up and went..Bah Humbug about sums it up for me..But I am trying to remember the simpler times! :)
Hi, Sunny. We're in England(Suffolk). I'm now senior bloke on my side of the family, but Ann's mother (who's now 101), still comes for a few days at Christmas, and usually tells OUR grandchildren stories about Christmas in the first and second world wars. As we shall be seeing all our children (five of them), and our eleven grandchildren over the Shristmas season, I think Christmas serves to help hold us together as a family. I think you may well be the same, really ?????
I must admit I can't get excited this year. Kids aren't home so unlike Betsy I can't get enthusiastic with just the two of us. But I rather like the quiet time and dinner at a favourite restaurant.
Christmas is a hard time for many people. We have lost a lot of family members - 5 in the last 15 years - my parents included. We always had large gatherings at this time of year, so naturally, we think of those who are no longer with us. But then, we can't always dwell on the past, either, or life wouldn't be worth living, now, would it?
I haven't been in the Christmas spirit. We don't put up any decorations because a) we don't store any in the trailer since we don't have room and b) we usually fly home for the holidays anyway.
Usually by the time I get home I am in the mood for Christmas.
Hope by now you are in the Christmas spirit. Sorry I am so late in commenting. I've had trouble connecting between the wi fi, and now my lap top had died, and I have to share the big computer with hubby.
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