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Why I hate Xmas and refuse to celebrate it

Started by ., December 09, 2009, 01:40:50 AM

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Quote from: Sir Remington III on December 09, 2009, 08:30:56 AM
Quote from: NiveKRayne on December 09, 2009, 08:27:53 AM
Quote from: Sir Remington III on December 09, 2009, 08:00:57 AM
When I have kids (hopefully not for a while), I'm planning on having two holidays: "Christmas" And "Commercialism Day"(for lack of a better name). Do all the normal things on Christmas, just without the toys. Hand-made or hand-drawn stuff, family togetherness, Christmas dinner, etc.

The day(s) after, we go shopping and get all the Xboxs, Tickle Me Elmos, and Transformers that they wanted.

What do you spags think? Overly idealistic, or feasible?

I like the idea. I wish you luck with that.
I haven't given up on Christmas just yet. Yes, it's horribly commercialized, but I'm going to see if I can't isolate the two concepts.

This year I'm taking a different approach. I'm making a bunch of baked goods for family and close friends. I haven't given up completely on xmas.

Sir Squid Diddimus

For once I have some xmas "cheer" (if that's what it's called, spirit maybe idunno)

I don't know why.
We're getting a good laugh out of this ugly tree.
The lights are pretty. (well, the plain ones  :lol: )

I think it happened when I asked the boy what he wanted and he thought for a minute, shrugged his shoulders and said "I dunno, nothing really".

The commercialism crap has worn off in this house. I think we're all tired of it.
It's easy to be laid back and happy when you don't have to worry about "what am i gonna get little johnny and who do i have to kill to get it".

Fuck all that. The lights are nice.
HAM AND EGGNOG BITCHES! That's xmas *hic*

.

Quote from: Squid on December 09, 2009, 08:51:03 AM
For once I have some xmas "cheer" (if that's what it's called, spirit maybe idunno)

I don't know why.
We're getting a good laugh out of this ugly tree.
The lights are pretty. (well, the plain ones  :lol: )

I think it happened when I asked the boy what he wanted and he thought for a minute, shrugged his shoulders and said "I dunno, nothing really".

The commercialism crap has worn off in this house. I think we're all tired of it.
It's easy to be laid back and happy when you don't have to worry about "what am i gonna get little johnny and who do i have to kill to get it".

Fuck all that. The lights are nice.
HAM AND EGGNOG BITCHES! That's xmas *hic*

I give you props for that. Its nice when its not all about stuff. When the realization hits that its not all about getting what you want but being able to be happy because all you want is just that happy feeling.

Payne

Quote from: BAI on December 09, 2009, 05:11:37 AM
:cry:

I love christmas.

you're all so down on materialism, burn down your houses, smash your laptops, sell all your things and go live in a fucking tree. but not a christmas tree. You commies don't like those.

Actually, my problem isn't the materialism. It's the factory line, enforced "jollity". (If I was down on materialism, I wouldn't have ended up with fucktons of "Stuff" after the times when I literally had nothing. Having nothing at all SUCKS!). I celebrate Christmas in my own way, just without the spiritual, religious or Make Nice with The Family dimensions.

For the record, Jesus was a spag, I'm SO going to beat his high score of 33. I'm never going to ride through Jerusalem on an ass for one. Uou can bet your bottom dollar.

LMNO


Payne

Quote
I am towing the line like a prostitute, toeing the corner curb this year.

FIXT If this means you are currently wearing fishnets, and that your make up is a valid experiment in plate tectonics, I approve.


Quote
QuoteI'm SO going to beat his high score of 33.

:P We should so make a messiah age of death high score table.

Yes. Yes we should.

P3nT4gR4m

Xmas pwns and I'll tell you how to appreciate it at its finest - take a walk into any large retail outlet or (better still) mall and check out the tards getting stressed. The last weekend before xmas is the best time as this is usually busiest. Millions of people stressed to and (if you get lucky) beyond breaking point. Bug-eyes and clenched fists. Barely concealed panic and rage ... 'tis the season to rofl
:popcorn:

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
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hooplala

Quote from: NiveKRayne on December 09, 2009, 01:40:50 AM
Materialism. That's the bottom line of why I hate Xmas so much. It's only about who can buy who the most expensive THING or the most things for their families. It's not about family anymore, I don't think it has been in my life time. Xmas was supposed to be about togetherness, the one time of year when you get to see people you don't see all year around, or a time when your supposed to be merry or jolly or whatever the fuck other word you'd like to use for that. Xmas makes us bitter to no end, the people with so-called holiday cheer are lying to themselves and have probably already maxed out their credit cards for their family members on gifts that are probably never going to be used. I piss on their idea of what xmas is. Its become an excuse to be more materialistic. But hey! your buying SHIT for your family, and that's not selfish is it? I'm spending MONEY on my family and buying them stupid shit. So that redeems everything right?! The days when people used to make gifts are gone. Like making a plate of cookies for your neighbor, knitting a god awful sweater, making ornaments, etc. Those days are gone forever. Now if you end up making a plate of cookies for someone or take the time to do one of the above mentioned for someone they look at you like your a cheap ass. Like they expected you to give them a fucking laptop for xmas! Xmas has always made me bitter. Since I was a child, xmas had always been about money. Mom used to say, quite frequently i might add, "There won't be a christmas this year because we can't afford it!" or "Your not getting anything for xmas because we can't afford it!" but we could never afford it... I didn't want stuff. I wanted the family stability that most people take for granted. I wanted my parents to get along, I wanted the family dinner, I didn't care what we ate, as long as it was as a family.
So, now I refuse to like xmas, I refuse to give in to the materialism that is now xmas. Xmas puts me in one of the worst moods, bringing back all the shitty memories of past xmases that are burned into the back of my mind ever so clearly. I understand why people kill themselves around the holidays, and its not because of the forementioned. All I want is to have my closest friends and family around me. I want to be able to make them a great big dinner, so we can sit around the table talking about anything and everything. Xmas makes me want to punch people and cry at the same time.


It's what you make of it.  If you don't want it to be materialist, don't make it materialist.  You DO have control over how you spend a holiday.

Quit blaming others for your own laziness.
"Soon all of us will have special names" — Professor Brian O'Blivion

"Now's not the time to get silly, so wear your big boots and jump on the garbage clowns." — Bob Dylan?

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
— Walt Whitman

Jenne

I'm glad I've made it about family and my kids for the last few years.  Hard not to when my dad went into the clink, actually.  I'm also glad this is the last set of holidays without him (his latest release date is 9/5/10).  I haven't taken pix during the holidays for years because of him being in there, for some reason.  It's like taking pix of the memories without him made them false or distasteful somehow.  It's freakish, I know.

The Good Reverend Roger

Nivek, you and I ARE going to celebrate the season.

We are going to make the horrible "nutcracker" card we discussed, and we are going to send it to everyone we have an address for.

Oh, yes.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

.

Quote from: Hoopla on December 09, 2009, 03:51:10 PM
Quote from: NiveKRayne on December 09, 2009, 01:40:50 AM
Materialism. That's the bottom line of why I hate Xmas so much. It's only about who can buy who the most expensive THING or the most things for their families. It's not about family anymore, I don't think it has been in my life time. Xmas was supposed to be about togetherness, the one time of year when you get to see people you don't see all year around, or a time when your supposed to be merry or jolly or whatever the fuck other word you'd like to use for that. Xmas makes us bitter to no end, the people with so-called holiday cheer are lying to themselves and have probably already maxed out their credit cards for their family members on gifts that are probably never going to be used. I piss on their idea of what xmas is. Its become an excuse to be more materialistic. But hey! your buying SHIT for your family, and that's not selfish is it? I'm spending MONEY on my family and buying them stupid shit. So that redeems everything right?! The days when people used to make gifts are gone. Like making a plate of cookies for your neighbor, knitting a god awful sweater, making ornaments, etc. Those days are gone forever. Now if you end up making a plate of cookies for someone or take the time to do one of the above mentioned for someone they look at you like your a cheap ass. Like they expected you to give them a fucking laptop for xmas! Xmas has always made me bitter. Since I was a child, xmas had always been about money. Mom used to say, quite frequently i might add, "There won't be a christmas this year because we can't afford it!" or "Your not getting anything for xmas because we can't afford it!" but we could never afford it... I didn't want stuff. I wanted the family stability that most people take for granted. I wanted my parents to get along, I wanted the family dinner, I didn't care what we ate, as long as it was as a family.
So, now I refuse to like xmas, I refuse to give in to the materialism that is now xmas. Xmas puts me in one of the worst moods, bringing back all the shitty memories of past xmases that are burned into the back of my mind ever so clearly. I understand why people kill themselves around the holidays, and its not because of the forementioned. All I want is to have my closest friends and family around me. I want to be able to make them a great big dinner, so we can sit around the table talking about anything and everything. Xmas makes me want to punch people and cry at the same time.


It's what you make of it.  If you don't want it to be materialist, don't make it materialist.  You DO have control over how you spend a holiday.

Quit blaming others for your own laziness.

Its not laziness. I'm fed up.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on December 09, 2009, 05:58:26 PM
Nivek, you and I ARE going to celebrate the season.

We are going to make the horrible "nutcracker" card we discussed, and we are going to send it to everyone we have an address for.

Oh, yes.

*ahem*

Please to assemble relavent bits.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

hooplala

Quote from: NiveKRayne on December 09, 2009, 09:39:03 PM
Quote from: Hoopla on December 09, 2009, 03:51:10 PM
Quote from: NiveKRayne on December 09, 2009, 01:40:50 AM
Materialism. That's the bottom line of why I hate Xmas so much. It's only about who can buy who the most expensive THING or the most things for their families. It's not about family anymore, I don't think it has been in my life time. Xmas was supposed to be about togetherness, the one time of year when you get to see people you don't see all year around, or a time when your supposed to be merry or jolly or whatever the fuck other word you'd like to use for that. Xmas makes us bitter to no end, the people with so-called holiday cheer are lying to themselves and have probably already maxed out their credit cards for their family members on gifts that are probably never going to be used. I piss on their idea of what xmas is. Its become an excuse to be more materialistic. But hey! your buying SHIT for your family, and that's not selfish is it? I'm spending MONEY on my family and buying them stupid shit. So that redeems everything right?! The days when people used to make gifts are gone. Like making a plate of cookies for your neighbor, knitting a god awful sweater, making ornaments, etc. Those days are gone forever. Now if you end up making a plate of cookies for someone or take the time to do one of the above mentioned for someone they look at you like your a cheap ass. Like they expected you to give them a fucking laptop for xmas! Xmas has always made me bitter. Since I was a child, xmas had always been about money. Mom used to say, quite frequently i might add, "There won't be a christmas this year because we can't afford it!" or "Your not getting anything for xmas because we can't afford it!" but we could never afford it... I didn't want stuff. I wanted the family stability that most people take for granted. I wanted my parents to get along, I wanted the family dinner, I didn't care what we ate, as long as it was as a family.
So, now I refuse to like xmas, I refuse to give in to the materialism that is now xmas. Xmas puts me in one of the worst moods, bringing back all the shitty memories of past xmases that are burned into the back of my mind ever so clearly. I understand why people kill themselves around the holidays, and its not because of the forementioned. All I want is to have my closest friends and family around me. I want to be able to make them a great big dinner, so we can sit around the table talking about anything and everything. Xmas makes me want to punch people and cry at the same time.


It's what you make of it.  If you don't want it to be materialist, don't make it materialist.  You DO have control over how you spend a holiday.

Quit blaming others for your own laziness.

Its not laziness. I'm fed up.

Sorry, nothing personal with the 'lazy' comment, the OP is just a sentiment that I've been hearing a bit too much of lately and it made me snap momentarily.

Seriously though, it IS what you make of it.  You can have any kind of Christmas or Kwanzaa or Festivus or Hannukah you like, you just need to take the bull by the horns and make it happen.  Its one of the easier things we have control over, really...  I mean, you obviously can't control all your family members, but you can lay out what sort of a holiday you are willing to participate in... if they don't like it and won't go along with it... well, why would you want to continue spending time with them anyway?
"Soon all of us will have special names" — Professor Brian O'Blivion

"Now's not the time to get silly, so wear your big boots and jump on the garbage clowns." — Bob Dylan?

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
— Walt Whitman

Template

Quote from: Hoopla on December 09, 2009, 10:37:42 PM
Quote from: NiveKRayne on December 09, 2009, 09:39:03 PM
Quote from: Hoopla on December 09, 2009, 03:51:10 PM
Quote from: NiveKRayne on December 09, 2009, 01:40:50 AM
Materialism. That's the bottom line of why I hate Xmas so much. It's only about who can buy who the most expensive THING or the most things for their families. It's not about family anymore, I don't think it has been in my life time. Xmas was supposed to be about togetherness, the one time of year when you get to see people you don't see all year around, or a time when your supposed to be merry or jolly or whatever the fuck other word you'd like to use for that. Xmas makes us bitter to no end, the people with so-called holiday cheer are lying to themselves and have probably already maxed out their credit cards for their family members on gifts that are probably never going to be used. I piss on their idea of what xmas is. Its become an excuse to be more materialistic. But hey! your buying SHIT for your family, and that's not selfish is it? I'm spending MONEY on my family and buying them stupid shit. So that redeems everything right?! The days when people used to make gifts are gone. Like making a plate of cookies for your neighbor, knitting a god awful sweater, making ornaments, etc. Those days are gone forever. Now if you end up making a plate of cookies for someone or take the time to do one of the above mentioned for someone they look at you like your a cheap ass. Like they expected you to give them a fucking laptop for xmas! Xmas has always made me bitter. Since I was a child, xmas had always been about money. Mom used to say, quite frequently i might add, "There won't be a christmas this year because we can't afford it!" or "Your not getting anything for xmas because we can't afford it!" but we could never afford it... I didn't want stuff. I wanted the family stability that most people take for granted. I wanted my parents to get along, I wanted the family dinner, I didn't care what we ate, as long as it was as a family.
So, now I refuse to like xmas, I refuse to give in to the materialism that is now xmas. Xmas puts me in one of the worst moods, bringing back all the shitty memories of past xmases that are burned into the back of my mind ever so clearly. I understand why people kill themselves around the holidays, and its not because of the forementioned. All I want is to have my closest friends and family around me. I want to be able to make them a great big dinner, so we can sit around the table talking about anything and everything. Xmas makes me want to punch people and cry at the same time.


It's what you make of it.  If you don't want it to be materialist, don't make it materialist.  You DO have control over how you spend a holiday.

Quit blaming others for your own laziness.

Its not laziness. I'm fed up.

Sorry, nothing personal with the 'lazy' comment, the OP is just a sentiment that I've been hearing a bit too much of lately and it made me snap momentarily.

Seriously though, it IS what you make of it.  You can have any kind of Christmas or Kwanzaa or Festivus or Hannukah you like, you just need to take the bull by the horns and make it happen.  Its one of the easier things we have control over, really...  I mean, you obviously can't control all your family members, but you can lay out what sort of a holiday you are willing to participate in... if they don't like it and won't go along with it... well, why would you want to continue spending time with them anyway?

Perhaps hating Christmas/the season is equivalent to being the black sheep in "Black sheep are still sheep."  You don't have to be enlightened or share any aspect of any Discordian's worldview* to hate Christmas[-as-commonly-observed].  No reason to be a scrooge or a secular humanist or a JW about things.

Fuck what everyone else believes in, have a good time.


* I'm uncertain about this bit--If two discordians have five answers about a given question, discordians as a whole could easily have covered the whole map of human perspectives twice, as far as I know.

Side note: perhaps we could discordify A Christmas Carol.  The ghosts show up whenever and tell him, "stop being a schmuck!"  Winter's a good background for introspection, though.

Prelate Diogenes Shandor

Quote from: NiveKRayne on December 09, 2009, 01:40:50 AM
Materialism. That's the bottom line of why I hate Xmas so much. It's only about who can buy who the most expensive THING or the most things for their families. It's not about family anymore, I don't think it has been in my life time. Xmas was supposed to be about togetherness, the one time of year when you get to see people you don't see all year around, or a time when your supposed to be merry or jolly or whatever the fuck other word you'd like to use for that. Xmas makes us bitter to no end, the people with so-called holiday cheer are lying to themselves and have probably already maxed out their credit cards for their family members on gifts that are probably never going to be used. I piss on their idea of what xmas is. Its become an excuse to be more materialistic. But hey! your buying SHIT for your family, and that's not selfish is it? I'm spending MONEY on my family and buying them stupid shit. So that redeems everything right?! The days when people used to make gifts are gone. Like making a plate of cookies for your neighbor, knitting a god awful sweater, making ornaments, etc. Those days are gone forever. Now if you end up making a plate of cookies for someone or take the time to do one of the above mentioned for someone they look at you like your a cheap ass. Like they expected you to give them a fucking laptop for xmas! Xmas has always made me bitter. Since I was a child, xmas had always been about money. Mom used to say, quite frequently i might add, "There won't be a christmas this year because we can't afford it!" or "Your not getting anything for xmas because we can't afford it!" but we could never afford it... I didn't want stuff. I wanted the family stability that most people take for granted. I wanted my parents to get along, I wanted the family dinner, I didn't care what we ate, as long as it was as a family.
So, now I refuse to like xmas, I refuse to give in to the materialism that is now xmas. Xmas puts me in one of the worst moods, bringing back all the shitty memories of past xmases that are burned into the back of my mind ever so clearly. I understand why people kill themselves around the holidays, and its not because of the forementioned. All I want is to have my closest friends and family around me. I want to be able to make them a great big dinner, so we can sit around the table talking about anything and everything. Xmas makes me want to punch people and cry at the same time.


You should celebrate Festivus then. If I recall correctly, it waqs explained to have originated out of disillusionment with "The commercial and religious aspects of Christmas"
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