Christmas is for kids…. and since my mom’s illness during this time it is difficult to keep the Christmas spirit alive. But… for my 3 year old grandson the Christmas spirit will indeed go on!

Are we related? I completely agree with your sentiments. I loathe how consumerism has taken over this holiday.

You’re definitely not alone. I detest the Christmas season. I find all the commercialism nauseating, with retailers putting out Christmas decorations (crap) before Thanksgiving. My career is in an industry where Christmas is the bonanza season, so for me personally it means long hours (being either frantically busy or bored to tears, there is nothing in between this time of year), and no time off to spend with friends and family. I can’t tell you how many times over the past 11 years I have had to say, “Sorry, I can’t go out of town, or do ABC thing, or meet with XYZ people because I have to work and there is NO WAY I can take ANY time off.” It sucks. I feel like I am on the outside of seeing all these happy people doing all these fun things.
The only silver lining in all this is that my immediate family completely understands all this, and so they don’t expect me to do anything for Christmas. This is great, because this close to Christmas Day all I am doing is working, eating, and sleeping. I think if I had to do much of anything else I would either become homicidal or have a nervous breakdown.
Bah Humbug!

I’m with you, Andrea! My friend Amy’s family has the right idea. They might exchange small gifts - like a pair of house shoes - but they don’t do anything else. Her family believes that this holiday has gotten ridiculous, and they choose not to celebrate in the traditional way because they recognize how many children out there have nothing. Why spend hundreds on each other when they could help others who are much less fortunate than themselves?

I hate seeing Christmas commercials with the kids running down the stairs on Christmas morning to their mountain of gifts. Sure, buy for your family. But also instill in them the sense that Christmas is about more than gifts and that they should spread some of the love around to those less fortunate. Do kids really need that many gifts? Looking back at my childhood Christmases, I can remember a handful of the hundreds of gifts I received.
The sentiments expressed by the Walmart woman don’t surprise me at all. Even when it comes to my nephew who is 16 months old this Christmas, I don’t feel compelled to spend, spend, spend for him. Why? Because I’ve visited his house. I see the ridiculous amount of toys he already has that rarely get played with. (Seriously, the kid would rather run around with a flashlight in his mouth than play with a toy!) And I already know he’s going to be showered with gifts from everyone. I’d much rather open a savings account for him and sock away whatever money we would have spent, at least until he gets old enough to actually remember the gifts he gets. (Okay, okay, another part of me DOES like watching his eyes light up when he opens something he likes, but it’s also saddening to see that many toys in their house when I think about kids who have nothing and will go through this Christmas with nothing.)

I saw a little video a couple of years ago that suggested that the billions Americans spend on Christmas could be used to bring clean water to every country that needs it. Is that not disgusting? To think that we could do something that great with the money we spend on Christmas but instead we’re more concerned with getting our mother or significant other the perfect gift?

I was labeled a Scrooge last year because of my posts about hating wrapping paper and Christmas cards. And sometimes I think, “Well, when I’m out of debt, maybe these feelings will reverse themselves.” But no! I don’t want them to because the amount of money we spend for the sake of spending, for the sake of proving our love, on this holiday is disheartening. I don’t want to go back to feeling like I need to buy for everyone and stressing all December-long that I haven’t gotten David exactly what he wants. ARGH! I want Amy’s Christmas!

“Some of you might have noticed the lack of holiday-related posts around here lately.” - Oh no, the irony! This is a holiday post!

You don;t have to get me anything. I was never really a gift guy - if someone did get me something I appreciated it, but I was never into the whole anticipation thing, even as a kid. What can I say? I’m jaded.

It’s sad that Christmas = presents for most people when really it’s a time to spend with family…. This year I’m spending time with family which makes me really happy and I don’t even care about the gifts… we’re not big into that.

Yes - Christmas has become way too commercialised. You see things in the shops and on TV from September it seems - well October at least. It’s all about spend, spend, spend - but hey! isn’t that how we’ve got into an economic pickle? (well I suppose that’s really spending on buying houses and so far not too many of them have been given for Christmas I gues!)

Anyway I’m with you on this one!

Christmas is my favorite holiday, but not because of the gifts. Ok I’ll admit it, I like the gifts cuz I’m just a big kid at heart. I still buy gifts for my brothers and my parents. The biggest thing though is getting together with my extended family. We all buy for the kids, but only do a small gift exchange between the adults. One year my dad thought it would be a good idea to film the celebration. Too bad he left the camera unattended. He ended up capturing a huge risque conversation. That Christmas tape is unsalvagable. We still laugh about it when we get together. The gifts are fun, but the time with family is so awesome. After one of my aunts got a bottle of red wine a couple of years ago the UB40 song has never been the same. Don’t freak out about the gifts; just enjoy your family, and don’t disown me because I’m a grown woman with a Christmas list lol.

“I don’t get giddy about Christmas because I’m an ADULT. Christmas should be for and about kids.”

That’s really sad to me and I vehemently disagree with every bone in my body. I love Christmas. Love it. I’m 43 and will continue to love it until I die. Not the greedy, gimme gimme people’s version. The fun, lights, pine smelling, yummy foods, gathering with family, watching small kids faces light up when they see Santa version. The version where people take a minute out of their lives to think about others in a way they don’t do the rest of the year. The version where you drink eggnog (and you even spike it with brandy after the kids are in bed). The version where you kiss your sweetheart under the mistletoe and then laugh because you’re being corny. The version where you sit at night in a dark room with the tree all lit up and remember Christmases past and dream about Christmases future.

I feel bad for you that all you can do is dwell on the negative and the ugly and the bitter and not see the joyful parts, too.

It seems like you’re always reading my mind when you post things like this. My mom was a HUGE Christmas person so after she passed away we didn’t celebrate it nearly as much. Now we just give the kids a few things and the adults get nothing. My parents don’t even participate half the time, they go on vacations. Lol

I enjoy the season, the activities, the cold weather and all that. But the gift giving obligations, shopping and spending horrific amounts of money is not for me. I’m so over the holidays too.

P.S. I do love all the food. YUM!

I’m with you on the whole Christmas thing! When I was young, Christmas was a very formal affair with just 6 of us, then when I met my husband (ex-husband now), his family was very large (36 people) and tons of fun with all the little kids and siblings in our 20s. It was a blast! I did love Christmas back then and used to decorate my house and tree, and even my office. But, after my brother died in July of 1999, Christmas seemed to loose it’s luster. It’s never really been the same for me since. I have a 4 yr old grandchild now and I really look forward to seeing the excitement in his eyes, and watching the magic come alive for him. But really, that’s about it. This year, my last child at home is 19yrs old and working full time, so both of my kids really buy whatever it is they want. We continue a couple of traditions; cinnamon rolls cooking on Christmas morning, wrapped presents in large stockings, and lots of holiday snacks in stock. But it’s really more for them — they’re still young yet. This year we’ll get to sleep in since my daughter is on her own and she will have a morning Christmas at her house with my grandson before she comes by my house. It’s fairly relaxed now, we do pizza on Christmas — no more big meals with lots of mess. This will be the first year my 19yr old goes in with us on pizza — so we’ll each buy a different kind. I couldn’t afford to sponsor a family this year like I usually do, so instead of donating all the toys my grandson never plays with to a thrift stores, I put them aside throughout the year, and have put them on Craigslist for free — with a request that they are for families who really are struggling.

I told my mom this year that now I understand when they didn’t put up a tree at Christmas — I see why now. I understand now as I’ve gotten older (I’m 50 now) but back in my late 20s/early 30s, I couldn’t figure it out, why wouldn’t want to put up a tree? I think as we grow older and go through different points in our lives, whether it’s a death that occurred 12 yrs ago, a financial struggle, — or simply life, we’re tired. But out of it all, comes the acceptance that our lives change and not only do we accept it, but we begin to see the value where it really is — with our kids, with our families, wherever our hearts, our memories and our lives are at this moment in time.