I'm just not feelin' Christmas this year. What about you?

So much of our families passed on, kids distant, and the Trump effect. A bit of a blue one here for sure.

It’s the little things that make life grand.

and my regrets in life than about Chanukah and my family.

Oh and the country going down the S-it hole sure doesn't help.

and the increasing likelihood that Trump will go down like the Hindenburg, but I am not in any kind of Christmas mood and I'm not even going to "do" Christmas this year. I'm old, no spouse or kids, no reason to do much, so to hell with it. Think I'll go on a little trip out of town and do some photography, or just hang out.

I was never really that into it.

Now I'm even more not into it as I'm becoming more anti-capitalistic.

So I'll be honest, I'm a bit more than "not into it." I really hate it.

1. Jesus - whom I do believe in as a historical figure or melange of historical figures - was not about this shit.
He did not say to buy a shit ton of shit and eat and eat and eat, and cut down a perfectly healthy tree. He'd be like.
"Okay. No. First of all we're going to hang out at the homeless camp today and talk about my Father."


2. The pressure to get into it. Scrooge was RICH. He wasn't nice to his employees. Dickens uses Christmas as a device. The story isn't about people who ruin Christmas by not participating in the office cookie swap or whatever.


3. Traditional meals. Traditional American Holiday meals bug me. I like cooking with the leftovers though. So thats cool.

4. Who are all these people driving badly? Do you live here? You weren't here last month. Go home and watch television some more. It's too dark out for all these cars and people running in the parking lots.

I could go on and on, lol.

Historical Jesus was about inclusion and broadening who should be considered (our)
neighbor.

Evangelicals are about "exclusion" and narrowing who they consider as their neighbor.

Evangelicals want magical endless forgiveness Jesus without ethical Jesus. It's a very
bad combination, and has led to very bad results.

We have our moments (it took my meeting 8 years to agree to take my same-gender marriage under its care, but that was a quarter of a century ago - it took our marriage under its care in 1994). We're not perfect - but we try. At the moment, the branch I belong to is engaged in an institutional assessment on racism on systemic racism (with itself).

But this inclusion/exclusion comment hit the nail on the head for why I'm not able to get into the holiday spirit this year - the feeling of exclusion from large parts of the entity I work for, for the first time in two decades (I was a student there, kept in touch through the years, and now work there).

But Jesus did say, when you talk to me don't make a big public deal out of it. Go pray in the closet.


.

I usually make all different sorts of itakian pastries have a big seafood dinner, etc.

This year it just all seems so commercial. I think it was the Christmas trees up the day after Halloween that kind of did it for me.

more than Christmas.

As a kid, I remember mom and dad fighting at Christmas. They would go out on New Years and us kids had a ball.

I was mentioning this to my friend last night while we were driving around looking at the lights. She said she was going to be super depressed once it was all over. I said something about how New Years is sort of a little let down holiday immediately after the big holiday. Maybe I need to reevaluate.

Class politics at work that (1) keep me drinking from the fire hose and (2) are hurting my students because those with the power are intentionally excluding voices with relevant information from the conversations. I've been working overtime behind the scenes to "leak" the relevant information through voices those in power trust - while also fighting for a seat at the table so I don't have to work so hard to sneak the information in.

I've been at this job for 5 years - and most weeks work at least 80 hours a week. Until about 3 weeks ago (I've lost track of time), I've never headed in with anything less than a smile on my face (even when I'm heading in on a weekend or holiday). Two Saturdays ago I had to force myself to head into work to lead a study session - and (more relevant to this conversation) I've been struggling to be cheerful about wearing my traditional holiday "uniform" that I look forward to every year (I wear Christmas gear every day from the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas - just not feeling it this year)

And- I'm sitting home at the moment, rather than in my office, when I've got about 100 papers to grade between now and Wednesday. Guess I'd better thrown on a Santa sweatshirt and get my rear in gear.

(and honestly, I know I am the only one here to take everything down that goes up! Creaky joints don’t co-operate)

I’m glad to wish everyone a happy holiday. I enjoy the twinkling lights. But I haven’t played any Holiday tunes or baked cookies.

Part of it is not having little kids at home, part because I travel out of state to visit grandkids, siblings.

But there is a bit of missing “wonder and joy”.

Midterms got me out of depression. Actually sent holiday cards this year.

I've been out on medical leave since thanksgiving, so funds are low...
I got the living room decorated and we have a little tree.

Kids are teens now so they are less into it too. My folks are not doing too well, so having the big family gathering is off. We're just kind of waiting for New Year for life to turn around and things to get better...

excited and haven't been the last couple of years. I've become grinchy AF.

I already re-read Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.

Pulled out The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice, and realized I hadn't read it before -- then got so interested in the commentary about the parallels between the births of Mithra and Jesus that I went on an extended hunt for a book about Mithra...

A Child's Christmas in Wales is in there, as is Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry makes me cry every time.

Should probably add Capote to the stash as well.

just call me the Grinch..

Not sure why, but I'm feeling quite festive.

I usually go all out decorating. This year just couldn’t motivate myself and I’m struggling with finishing my tree.

It’s as if I feel sadness as to all the hate being generated in this country by the orange maggot.

It's a very funny book, as all of his are, but also bittersweet, as you know.

I actually enjoyed regular Wednesday and Friday nights, when my money pressed parents always made sure that we had special treats after supper, the togetherness felt better than the rat race of the Christmas season, with the commercialism of it all.

On the material side...

Our fridge died along with our toaster the same day. The week later, our highly expensive front loader washer died.

Oh and I was diagnosed with the family curse, AFIB....and forced to take a week off without pay.

Then, my wife who has BPD, unknown to me, was not taking her medication...and of course she had a major relapse as a result. I called the paramedics.....and got two squad cars who called off the paramedics and decided to arrest her...putting her in more danger. Oh and while she was being put in the squad car while I was pleading and begging they take her to a mental hospital...she exclaimed "but he hit me too!"....well yeah, I threw her off me when I was getting the shit beating of of me.

Long story short, despite wounds on me, being delirious, etc. And being California...I got arrested as well from rookie cops who obviously were oblivious to mental health issues, by choice? I don't know. Given my health issues, another dead giveaway that trying to commit a crime might kill me, I was sent to the slammer...which also could have killed me.

I also was never imprisoned before....long story short, I didn't have a bail company number handy. Took two days inquiring from others to get one...and there went two grand. Next day, thank God I got out, got a phone call from the facility holding my wife, they were releasing her...if I remained in the facility I was in....she would be camping out on the lawn. Got a lawyer...another grand and end of our savings. And the silver lining, the DA had no intention of prosecuting me or my wife.....and asked our story be shared with the Sheriff's department as an example of how bad they fucked up. But I'm still out or 3k.

Then there was a death in my side of the family....two days later, there is a death on my wife's side of the family and their teenage son is now an orphan.

January of 2018 was fantastic! After that, it all went to hell. Fuck the 11 months of 2018.

I'm sorry for your troubles.. it seems we can get a lifetime of them in a year! Usually at that point, we have the odds in our favor - for a somewhat smoother year ahead.

Warmest wishes!

All good wishes for your health (and your wife's) in the coming year. And prosperity.
DU hug -->

I hope 2019 will be better for you

I am happy about spending Christmas with my family and making fudge, brownies, and butter cookies for gifts. This is the first time I will have ever cooked for giving gifts.

I used to however decorate a lot for Christmas but after my divorce I just never have as much as I used to. When I was married and owned my house by the time my ex and I had finished decorating our house it was puking Christmas. I had a big house and every single room ( except the storage ) was decorated ( even the stair well. ) We had lights and decorations outside on three sides of our house.

Now, I barely get things decorated. I like decorating but just not as into it as I used to. It has nothing to do with depression because of my divorce ( hell, my ex is still a good friend ) but it just feels like things have moved on in ways I can not describe.

This is my worst Christmas ever. My dad is in home hospice care, very little money anyway, and I still haven't been able to get my colonoscopy, which is scheduled for January. Have been depressed. Politics looking better, but I am a big Christmas fan and am not into Christmas at all.

Several friends have lost family members (including pets) recently, I was forced out of a job I had adored, my husband is facing job changes, we have a cat peeing EVERYWHERE, and I miss my family. Along with the gloom and doom of living under the Trump regime, I find little joy this year.

with 20 bulbs. Put it in the window. 20 minutes. And you are in the spirit. I don't have decorations in my home but go all out in my dad's room in the nursing home since that is where we will be having all our Christmas meals. We have a card table and a plastic table cloth. The nursing home staff thinks we are nuts but we love it. I get Christmas crackers. We wear hats. All in a tiny little room.

In fact, this same thread has popped up every year since I first started lurking here. That's not snark nor a slam. It's just normal. Like the commercial says, sometimes ya feel like a nut, sometimes ya don't. Everyone goes through it at some point.

I, on the other hand, am my usual jolly ass. Again, no snark intended. But if I'm posting pictures of my decorations and new heat/cold miser ornaments, full disclosure is necessary.

Maybe you get it back next year. If not, shit man, it's your life. No judgement from me. But, Happy Holidays to you and yours regardless!

signing up recruits for the war on christmas so I’m definitely feeling it.

Sorry, it’s just time for my annual sarcastic post about the right wing fantasy known as the war on christmas. What a load of crap.

really stupid holiday shows on tv, I am depressed as heck. Hope to be better in the new year.

It's kind of therapeutic and a crazy ass world.

Not feeling like a Scrooge at all, just feeling... not much of anything.

We invite a lot of people -- neighbors, old friends, new friends, people who have been kind to us during the year, and as a reporter I also invite people I've come to meet through my work. It's a chance for everyone to make new friends and celebrate together. Ours is a potluck, so it's not too expensive, and we usually have a musician friend come play.

Some years we've invited guests to bring a toy to share for families in need. Other years we've done a gift exchange. This year I had community activists come talk about causes they are working on and how people can get involved. Another time we had a tree decorating party.

I was down in the dumps a few years when the kids were too big for "Santa" and had moved on, and older relatives had passed on. Then I realized we need to keep our holiday traditions alive now as the older generation, and include friends and neighbors, not just immediate family. We've also met a lot of new neighbors/friends through the "Next Door" site -- it's nationwide and a great way to have conversations with people in your neighborhood that you might not otherwise meet. We've made many new friends there.

You could also go volunteer somewhere to help people in need, or maybe adopt a needy family for the season.

Don't let the dufus in the White House ruin the season. There are still plenty of good people out there.

And bonus! Trump is in more trouble than he or his family ever imagined possible.

I live on the Central Coast in California. As I shared last year, the Thomas Fire hit our whole region hard. My husband and I were evacuated the first night. It spread far and wide -- into the next county where our son and his wife were evacuated. Our daughter's baby came hme from the NICU and immediately had to go back because of the smoke. When the docs allowed her to transport him, she packed him and her older two boys into the van and drove 200 miles south to my brother's for better air. She still ended up spending Christmas in a hospital with the baby.

None of our family lost our homes. My little valley was scorched black all around, our oak tree off the back patio was burnt tho not fatally, other plants were burned, most of our neighbors lost landscaping. It was CLOSE. Fire fighters on the ground and in the air saved our neighborhood, all except one house, which had a raised foundation that caught flying cinders-- by the time it burst into flame two days later, the helicopters were elsewhere and the firefighters on the ground were unable to pump any water. Other neighborhoods lost nearly all their houses. Luck. Just luck.

The little guy turned one in September. The pulmonologist and the cardiologist gave him a clean bill of health.

December 1 I pulled out my old Christmas decor and had at it. I put on all my music. I manifested a visit from my daughter and the kids (not easy) and today we gave gifts and are having the oldest over. Tomorrow we'll have the 7 year old overnight.

And bonus! All the Trumps are having a lousy, lousy holiday season.

All the best to you and yours. I recommend listening to a lot of music.

Wonderful that no one in your family lost a home, wonderful that your baby grandson is doing so well, wonderful that you get to spend the Christmas season entertaining grandchildren.

Enjoy all the holidays and here's to 2019!

I get in the mood for it about a week after it's passed.

The "holidays" are thusfar a continuous gauntlet of every unintentional cruelty imaginable.

She lived with me for 17 years. I don't yet know how to not have her to care for and share with.

I reconnected to my mom to when I was a tween of all things after she passed away. There are lots of good times with her you will be able to unpack as time heals. Cry. It helps.

Lost my mom a couple years ago
It's hard

I lost my mom last spring, and I remember the wallop. Sometimes, it was like trying to walk through quicksand.

There is nothing to do except get through it, letting the waves hit, knowing that you're feeling the loss because you loved her so much, and she loved you.

I hope you have other loved ones to walk this path with.

Like you say, I'm not depressed. Just not feeling it this year. And I am listening exclusively to the three Xmas stations; I'm a balloon twister so I'm making lots of Santas and Rudolphs at the parties I'm hired at and wearing my Christmas vests. Part of it is I'm in a crappy apartment that I moved into after my rental house flooded from a burst pipe expecting to start looking to buy a house, but I keep putting that off so I'm not trying out Christmas recipes because of the small kitchen (and I don't trust my oven - not just to cook right but not to kill me). Mom passed almost 4 years ago, and I miss her, and she was what got the family together. After she passed, two of my siblings and I decided to give the other one a break because her family's house was always used to get together, and we thought they would like to have some quieter Christmases after decades of hosting, but now it's kind of entered that phase where it would be nice to get together again, but we don't want to "invite ourselves" or put anyone in the position of saying no because they might already have plans. Then there's the whole Trump thing.

And I miss snow. We had a blizzard a few weeks ago, but the snow didn't stick around long. I know it's a pain, but my best memories of Christmas always had snow. Two of my favorite memories: First, brother and I were still young enough for games. We lived in a small farming community on the edge of town on an acre lot so we had a huge front yard. My brother and I were playing with one of the games we got that morning in front of the big picture window which faced west. The sun was going down so it was casting shadows and giving the snow a blue-ish tint, when two of the horses from next door galloped diagonally across the yard, happy to have escaped their confines and shaking their manes and kicking up snow. It was a catch-your-breath moment... Then Dad told us to get our coats on because we needed to go corral them.

Second when I was in middle and high school, brother and I were paperboys. We had mo-peds with large chicken-wire baskets on the back of them that we used to throw papers at 3 in the morning. We would get nice tips from our customers - especially the older ladies who would give us baked goods. But I always looked forward to delivering on Christmas morning. After my brother and I split up on the streets to head to our different routes, it felt like I was the only one in town awake, and it was just so still especially if there was snow on the ground, and everyone would leave their lights on instead of turn them off. My route ended in a newer, richer part of town, and the lights were amazing. A few years, after I had delivered my papers, I stayed out an extra hour and drove around the rest of the town to see the rest of the lights. I would almost describe it as magical.

TlalocW

The smell of fresh pine is everywhere as I made a wreath on Saturday.
Truth is a 'blue Christmas' has new meaning this year. I am way more hopeful since the elections and it is clear that the Con, his spawn and his goons are in deep trouble.

with a full moon to light up The Long(est) Night