No interest in Christmas

pandora

JimmyV wrote:

Christmas was always my favorite time of year even into early adulthood. But I lost my father in December of 2007 and my grandmother in December of 2008, and it really has never been the same. Maybe some day it will be but not yet.

I'm sorry for your losses, especially hard at holiday time.

You have your memories of them though from your childhood Christmases,
they live on in you and the new you make.

Having lost many loved ones now the holiday memories of them are the most precious.

JimmyV

pandora wrote:

JimmyV wrote:

Christmas was always my favorite time of year even into early adulthood. But I lost my father in December of 2007 and my grandmother in December of 2008, and it really has never been the same. Maybe some day it will be but not yet.

I'm sorry for your losses, especially hard at holiday time.

You have your memories of them though from your childhood Christmases,
they live on in you and the new you make.

Having lost many loved ones now the holiday memories of them are the most precious.

Thanks. I also know they would both HATE knowing Christmas isn't as big a deal to me nowadays.

Hugh Freaking Dillon

we do a gift exchange in my family, pick one name, yadda yadda yadda. I have received two "pushy" emails from my mother this week asking for our christmas lists so she and others know what to get.

IT'S NOVEMBER 8TH. Jesus H Christ. I'm 38 years old. I'm sorry that I don't have a list of wants. I don't give a shit. I love giving, because I put a lot of thought into what I get someone. I personally don't care what I get. I feel greedy making a list. Escpecially now that I have kids. I feel like saying "just get me a $50 Toys R Us gift card" and I'll spend it on the kids. But as if they don't get enough as it is.

If 10C had gift cards, I'd ask for that. $50 worth of PJ boots.

I love christmas, now, because mostly having young kids. But my drunken brother in law makes things a bit sketchy. He ruined last year's dinner. Falling all over the place, yelling "you're not my family! I don't have any family!". Nice. If he does that in front of my kids this year he's going to get a christmas ham right up his ass.

PJ_Soul

Hugh Freaking Dillon wrote:

we do a gift exchange in my family, pick one name, yadda yadda yadda. I have received two "pushy" emails from my mother this week asking for our christmas lists so she and others know what to get.

IT'S NOVEMBER 8TH. Jesus H Christ. I'm 38 years old. I'm sorry that I don't have a list of wants. I don't give a shit. I love giving, because I put a lot of thought into what I get someone. I personally don't care what I get. I feel greedy making a list. Escpecially now that I have kids. I feel like saying "just get me a $50 Toys R Us gift card" and I'll spend it on the kids. But as if they don't get enough as it is.

If 10C had gift cards, I'd ask for that. $50 worth of PJ boots.

I love christmas, now, because mostly having young kids. But my drunken brother in law makes things a bit sketchy. He ruined last year's dinner. Falling all over the place, yelling "you're not my family! I don't have any family!". Nice. If he does that in front of my kids this year he's going to get a christmas ham right up his ass.

Ask for PayPal gift certificates! Then you can buy vinyl.

Hugh Freaking Dillon

PJ_Soul wrote:

Hugh Freaking Dillon wrote:

we do a gift exchange in my family, pick one name, yadda yadda yadda. I have received two "pushy" emails from my mother this week asking for our christmas lists so she and others know what to get.

IT'S NOVEMBER 8TH. Jesus H Christ. I'm 38 years old. I'm sorry that I don't have a list of wants. I don't give a shit. I love giving, because I put a lot of thought into what I get someone. I personally don't care what I get. I feel greedy making a list. Escpecially now that I have kids. I feel like saying "just get me a $50 Toys R Us gift card" and I'll spend it on the kids. But as if they don't get enough as it is.

If 10C had gift cards, I'd ask for that. $50 worth of PJ boots.

I love christmas, now, because mostly having young kids. But my drunken brother in law makes things a bit sketchy. He ruined last year's dinner. Falling all over the place, yelling "you're not my family! I don't have any family!". Nice. If he does that in front of my kids this year he's going to get a christmas ham right up his ass.

Ask for PayPal gift certificates! Then you can buy vinyl.

that's one helluva idea. Thanks!

pandora

JimmyV wrote:

pandora wrote:

JimmyV wrote:

Christmas was always my favorite time of year even into early adulthood. But I lost my father in December of 2007 and my grandmother in December of 2008, and it really has never been the same. Maybe some day it will be but not yet.

I'm sorry for your losses, especially hard at holiday time.

You have your memories of them though from your childhood Christmases,
they live on in you and the new you make.

Having lost many loved ones now the holiday memories of them are the most precious.

Thanks. I also know they would both HATE knowing Christmas isn't as big a deal to me nowadays.

I thought to mention what they would want for you ...
sometimes remembering that can give some more desire.

Count your lucky stars they are two you have forever.

rollings

pandora wrote:

I don't choose to see commercialism I choose to see giving
There is so much wonderful good generous giving done during the holidays,
often in the little things, heart to heart.

I choose this too, and I agree

PJ_Soul

Hugh Freaking Dillon wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

Hugh Freaking Dillon wrote:

we do a gift exchange in my family, pick one name, yadda yadda yadda. I have received two "pushy" emails from my mother this week asking for our christmas lists so she and others know what to get.

IT'S NOVEMBER 8TH. Jesus H Christ. I'm 38 years old. I'm sorry that I don't have a list of wants. I don't give a shit. I love giving, because I put a lot of thought into what I get someone. I personally don't care what I get. I feel greedy making a list. Escpecially now that I have kids. I feel like saying "just get me a $50 Toys R Us gift card" and I'll spend it on the kids. But as if they don't get enough as it is.

If 10C had gift cards, I'd ask for that. $50 worth of PJ boots.

I love christmas, now, because mostly having young kids. But my drunken brother in law makes things a bit sketchy. He ruined last year's dinner. Falling all over the place, yelling "you're not my family! I don't have any family!". Nice. If he does that in front of my kids this year he's going to get a christmas ham right up his ass.

Ask for PayPal gift certificates! Then you can buy vinyl.

that's one helluva idea. Thanks!

Oh. I just looked this up... there are no gift certificates per se for paypal... but obviously, anyone can gift you money within paypal, so that really the same thing! And there are ebay gift certificates apparently.

brianlux

I totally love Christmas because of all the wonderful made-in-China presents made from plastic junk that everyone will buy and then throw away and the buy-buy-buy commercials on TV and long lines at the stores and the wonderful feeling of being close to people pushing and shoving in lines and the... oh... oops... wrong thread.

PJ_Soul

brianlux wrote:

I totally love Christmas because of all the wonderful made-in-China presents made from plastic junk that everyone will buy and then throw away and the buy-buy-buy commercials on TV and long lines at the stores and the wonderful feeling of being close to people pushing and shoving in lines and the... oh... oops... wrong thread.

I love online shopping at Christmas time. :thumbup: The only way to shop for gifts this time of year! It's actually a pleasure. I can't believe people still go and do battle at the malls!

brianlux

PJ_Soul wrote:

brianlux wrote:

I totally love Christmas because of all the wonderful made-in-China presents made from plastic junk that everyone will buy and then throw away and the buy-buy-buy commercials on TV and long lines at the stores and the wonderful feeling of being close to people pushing and shoving in lines and the... oh... oops... wrong thread.

I love online shopping at Christmas time. :thumbup: The only way to shop for gifts this time of year! It's actually pleasure. I can't believe people still go and do battle at the malls!

Seriously! Beside the fact that they still do, but that they seem to love it. Must be that little me of misanthrope in me.

guypjfreak

cant stand it :thumbdown:

cp3iverson

Love everything about Christmas. Religious aspect, the giving gifts aspect, etc. TV shows, music, weather. Love it all.

I'm also of the belief that the term "Happy Holidays" should go in the garbage. It's Christmas. I love companies that aren't so PC about it.

PJ_Soul

cp3iverson wrote:

Love everything about Christmas. Religious aspect, the giving gifts aspect, etc. TV shows, music, weather. Love it all.

I'm also of the belief that the term "Happy Holidays" should go in the garbage. It's Christmas. I love companies that aren't so PC about it.

Yeah, you know, I'm an Atheist, and I'm offended by the happy holidays crap too. The whole principle behind it really pisses me off.

brianlux

PJ_Soul wrote:

cp3iverson wrote:

Love everything about Christmas. Religious aspect, the giving gifts aspect, etc. TV shows, music, weather. Love it all.

I'm also of the belief that the term "Happy Holidays" should go in the garbage. It's Christmas. I love companies that aren't so PC about it.

Yeah, you know, I'm an Atheist, and I'm offended by the happy holidays crap too. The whole principle behind it really pisses me off.

I'm ok with people celebrating Christmas if that's their thing. What bugs me about it is that it's practically foisted on everybody, like it or not. For the next seven or eight weeks it will be very hard to go anywhere without being bombarded with Christmas. It starts in early November, so really its about two months- almost 1/6 of the entire year or about 17% of our lives. For one holiday!

Jeanwah

brianlux wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

cp3iverson wrote:

Love everything about Christmas. Religious aspect, the giving gifts aspect, etc. TV shows, music, weather. Love it all.

I'm also of the belief that the term "Happy Holidays" should go in the garbage. It's Christmas. I love companies that aren't so PC about it.

Yeah, you know, I'm an Atheist, and I'm offended by the happy holidays crap too. The whole principle behind it really pisses me off.

I'm ok with people celebrating Christmas if that's their thing. What bugs me about it is that it's practically foisted on everybody, like it or not. For the next seven or eight weeks it will be very hard to go anywhere without being bombarded with Christmas. It starts in early November, so really its about two months- almost 1/6 of the entire year or about 17% of our lives. For one holiday!

Brian, although I agree with you that the concept of Christmas is forced on the entire public for 2 months, as a business owner, you must see that as a good thing, or do you have trouble with the consumption/materialism part of your occupation?

brianlux

Jeanwah wrote:

brianlux wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

Yeah, you know, I'm an Atheist, and I'm offended by the happy holidays crap too. The whole principle behind it really pisses me off.

I'm ok with people celebrating Christmas if that's their thing. What bugs me about it is that it's practically foisted on everybody, like it or not. For the next seven or eight weeks it will be very hard to go anywhere without being bombarded with Christmas. It starts in early November, so really its about two months- almost 1/6 of the entire year or about 17% of our lives. For one holiday!

Brian, although I agree with you that the concept of Christmas is forced on the entire public for 2 months, as a business owner, you must see that as a good thing, or do you have trouble with the consumption/materialism part of your occupation?

It is a good time of year for business but it also requires working much harder and being more stressed and for me money does not make up for that. I'm also VERY lucky to be in a particular business that would survive without Christmas. I made (and later lost) much more money in Silicon Valley and teaching than I do now but I'm much happier so the monetary aspect isn't my main motivation. My main motivation all year long is helping some kid find a great book or having a lonely old lady come and and find solace in a cozy read or turning a young adult on to an important work that might make a difference in the world. I don't need Christmas to do that. In fact, in my opinion too many people come in this time of year and buy books that look pretty and will likely just sit on a shelf or coffee table. I agree with Barbara Ehrenreich's sentiment that books as decoration are their least useful quality.

Ok, off to dinner. I'm celebrating Thanksgiving three times this year. My favorite holiday!

PJ_Soul

brianlux wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

cp3iverson wrote:

Love everything about Christmas. Religious aspect, the giving gifts aspect, etc. TV shows, music, weather. Love it all.

I'm also of the belief that the term "Happy Holidays" should go in the garbage. It's Christmas. I love companies that aren't so PC about it.

Yeah, you know, I'm an Atheist, and I'm offended by the happy holidays crap too. The whole principle behind it really pisses me off.

I'm ok with people celebrating Christmas if that's their thing. What bugs me about it is that it's practically foisted on everybody, like it or not. For the next seven or eight weeks it will be very hard to go anywhere without being bombarded with Christmas. It starts in early November, so really its about two months- almost 1/6 of the entire year or about 17% of our lives. For one holiday!

Not sure I see what about it bothers you. You're "bombarded" by what? Christmas music in stores? Is it really that bad? By ... pictures of Santa and bells and snowflakes? Does that hurt your eyes or something? What is it about Christmas decorations that is so objectionable to people? How is it so much worse than other things that are around the rest of the year? In a lot of cases it actually brightens or cheers up what is normally drab and depressing. Sure, sometimes it's tacky too, but there is some humour at least in tacky, and it's not permanent. And just how much time must one spend in malls and stores to feel "bombarded"? Personally, I don't care if there is a sign of Santa or a Sign of half-off toilet paper. It has non impact on my life; I'm not sure how it would have any impact on anyone's life except for how they decide to be mad about some decorations. Boy, people seem easily annoyed lately I think!

But aside from that, I think it's super disrespectful to Christians and to the cultural traditions of Christmas to try and erase "Christmas" from the public vocabulary. Happy holidays, holiday parties, fucking "family trees" for god's sake. As though Christmas is what's offensive. It's so disrespectful.

Jeanwah

PJ_Soul wrote:

brianlux wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

Yeah, you know, I'm an Atheist, and I'm offended by the happy holidays crap too. The whole principle behind it really pisses me off.

I'm ok with people celebrating Christmas if that's their thing. What bugs me about it is that it's practically foisted on everybody, like it or not. For the next seven or eight weeks it will be very hard to go anywhere without being bombarded with Christmas. It starts in early November, so really its about two months- almost 1/6 of the entire year or about 17% of our lives. For one holiday!

Not sure I see what about it bothers you. You're "bombarded" by what? Christmas music in stores? Is it really that bad? By ... pictures of Santa and bells and snowflakes? Does that hurt your eyes or something? What is it about Christmas decorations that is so objectionable to people? How is it so much worsen than other things that are around the rest of the year? And just how much time must one spend in malls and stores to feel "bombarded"? Personally, I don't care if there is a sign of Santa or a Sign of half-off toilet paper. It has non impact on my life; I'm not sure how it would have any impact on anyone's life except for how they decide to be mad about some decorations. Boy, people seem easily annoyed lately I think!

Why are you mocking him? It's adding absolutely ZERO to this discussion.

And yes, SOME of us dislike the Christmas music 24/7. SOME of us don't like being bombarded by frivolous Christmas banter. Deal with it.

PJ_Soul

Jeanwah wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

brianlux wrote:

I'm ok with people celebrating Christmas if that's their thing. What bugs me about it is that it's practically foisted on everybody, like it or not. For the next seven or eight weeks it will be very hard to go anywhere without being bombarded with Christmas. It starts in early November, so really its about two months- almost 1/6 of the entire year or about 17% of our lives. For one holiday!

Not sure I see what about it bothers you. You're "bombarded" by what? Christmas music in stores? Is it really that bad? By ... pictures of Santa and bells and snowflakes? Does that hurt your eyes or something? What is it about Christmas decorations that is so objectionable to people? How is it so much worsen than other things that are around the rest of the year? And just how much time must one spend in malls and stores to feel "bombarded"? Personally, I don't care if there is a sign of Santa or a Sign of half-off toilet paper. It has non impact on my life; I'm not sure how it would have any impact on anyone's life except for how they decide to be mad about some decorations. Boy, people seem easily annoyed lately I think!

Why are you mocking him? It's adding absolutely ZERO to this discussion.

And yes, SOME OF US dislike the Christmas music 24/7. SOME of us don't like being bombarded by frivolous Christmas banter. GET OVER IT.

I'm not mocking him at all. I chat with Brian all the time; i think he knows i respect him and am just debating a bit - at least i hope so Brian. If it came off as mocking, that is not what i intended. I am simply bluntly expressing my perspective. Maybe i was a little snotty, but wasn't actuallyvdirecting it to Brian there, bjt to the general idea of people being so annoyed by Christmas stuff. Anyway, I think I'm participating in a pretty reasonable discussion, and you just took it to some other weird level. :? Jeanwah, if you can't handle me, just block me rather than trying to shut down a normal conversation. Also, given your behavior last night, I think it's weird of you to even take this position.