The Christmas Miseries

[Diane CBPFC]

On a scale of one to ten, I hate christmas with every last nerve and clenched tooth I have.

How do you cope with the holidays?

[Vulture]

Christmas, the way it was, was great. It was the one time in the year when all my kids and their other halves were round my house and I could given them a good feed.

Christmas was on Christmas Day. It didn't start in September and drag its miserable way through to the New Year! (Except, of course, for the making of the Christmas cake!)

Christmas presents were generally things I'd made (I was a dab hand with a knitting machine and all my jumpers were made to measure and came with matching socks!)

Now, I go to Number Two son's house for Christmas dinner. My nearly-d-i-l is a very good cook and all I have to do is cook the turkey and the (separate) sausagemeat stuffing. Presents are kept to a minimum (especially with both grand-daughters having a birthday near Christmas) as I give things all through the year instead of waiting for the 'one' day.

So, No. I like Christmas - I hate the commercialisation of it (and the thought that people get themselves into debt because 'the kids need everything damn stupid toy that's on the market......' syndrome), but as I don't contribute to that side, Christmas is still a pleasure.

[Tom]

I actually like the thought of Christmas more than the day itself. I like the decorations that pop up everywhere apart from the fact they start appearing in June. I like the excuse to try different food, but there's always too much. I hate the sales that start on Boxing Day, however this year some retailers have started early. And I really hate the supermarket queues. Grown people fighting over the last bashed box of mince pies is not special or pleasant.

I like the idea of snow on Christmas Day, but usually it's rain. I like the way everywhere falls quiet as there's nowhere open, but the quiet is usually shattered by a row or two. There is a bit of a 'feel good' factor that appears at this time of the year that's forgotten a day or two after Christmas.

I love the magic of Christmas. I don't like the loneliness, worry and depression that affects some people at this time of year. I don't like the way the TV reminds everyone of this yet shows repeat after repeat of drivel rather than the good old Christmas Specials they used to show. I admire the people who work on Christmas Day, and part of me doesn't blame them.

But overall I like Christmas-time... the carols, the crackers, the funny hats. It is the season to be jolly after all...

[Roger Kettle]

I used to love Christmas. Growing up in the highest village in the Highlands, we had had a lot of white ones and they were pretty much storybook perfect. Inevitably, as we grow older, things change. My own kids are in their twenties now so even that wonderful, secondhand magic has slowly dwindled. Despite this---and the loss of loved ones who used to grace the Christmas table---I still have a fondness for the occasion. And I still get emotional over the stupidest T.V. Christmas movie that I stumble across on a December afternoon. These days, I think that the sheer happiness of Christmases gone by has been replaced by nostalgia and that's not a bad thing.
I can't say I LOVE Christmas anymore. But I quite like it.

[Malc]

I quite like it when it's over. I hate it when normal life is suspended, especially in Oz, when newsreaders and game show hosts take sabbaticals and the whole country shuts down for weeks only emerging from its hibernation in late January, when the so-called top TV presenters return to their jobs (which have been done much better by their festive season stand-ins).

[Feather]

I guess this sounds like I'm a kid, but I still think the Holiday Season is kind of magical. Everything seems to have a sparkle and glow to it at this time of year.  I enjoy decorating my Christmas tree, having friends over for a meal and shopping for and wrapping Christmas presents.  It's so much fun picking out just the right gift. I also enjoy watching some Christmas films.

But like Vulture, I dislike the commercialism of Christmas. Christmas is religious holiday that was turned into a gigantic money-making, greedy-guts holiday, and I work in the retail industry.  In America, it's like the battle of good (Christmas) vs evil (Halloween) when you see stores with both decorations up. I have a photo of a co-worker friend and me dressed in Halloween costumes. There I am holding a skeleton trick-or-treat hand full of things for customers to select and my friend is dressed as a witchy-looking thing from a Japanese horror film - and right behind us is a Christmas tree on a ledge!

I don't care for the modern Christmas music, and I especially despise hearing "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" (always makes me think of lonely, sad people - how depressing), and "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer."