holiday blues, anyone?

not really a rant, but I didn’t wanna put this in MPSIMS.

I’m fighting the holiday blues. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve, last year. That’s because I spent them with the woman I loved dearly, and we shared many very special moments together.

We’re no longer together, and I am over her, but it still saddens me that I don’t have that kind of special someone in my life to share the holidays with.

I have my family, of course, but it’s missing something, and isn’t quite the same. I do have a lot to be thankful for, and am not complaining about what I do have. I’m just feeling lonely.

I also have no clue what I would like to have for Christmas this year, if my family asks me (which they will). I really can’t think of anything I want. About all I can come up with for my wish list, is a cell phone. I don’t even know if I need a cell phone, but at least it is something practical. I will probably receive gift certificates or cash, which is fine, but I still won’t know what to use it for. More importantly, I don’t know what I can give them, either.

:::sigh:::

I don’t even fucking want anything for Christmas, right now. Except for my computer to work.

The only things I’d really like to have can’t really be bought, with the exception of the working computer and Civ3, which I am not going to get until I beat all of Diablo.

Christmas used to be my favorite time of year. But if I didn’t have kids, I would completely skip it this year.

I can relate to that. I pretty much feel the same way.

My sentiments, exactly! This is why the holidays are so rough this year, for me.

If you do not feel the spirit of generosity 24/7/365 then I don’t give a d@mn how over the top you go for Christmas, it’s completely meaningless. Giving is something that needs to be done on a regular basis and not just once a year.

My 2¢

Christmas is evil and must be STOPPED!!!

The only good thing about it is I get easy overtime.
Well, if I don’t work, I alway get Holiday blues. Have since I was a kid. Don’t know why really. Maybe it’s because it’s so jam-packed with expectations that cannot realistically be lived up to. I like my family. We get along great and we laugh a lot on a regular basis. But it’s different on holidays. Kind of forced pleasantry, if you can imagine. Especially Christmas, with everyone trying to forget how much dough they’ve blown that would have been better spent elsewhere.

iampunha, you could give me Germany, or at least Kiel wrapped in a nice bow.

This year, I think we are going to show our daughter, 5 years old, something about giving, charity, and all that crap. I’m not sure how to do it though. Any good suggestions? We already make it a point to cull through her toys and clothes when things get too small.

Abe, dude, email me anything re: beating the German Infidel.

The grassy bend is old timer week.

Many families spend their Christmas (or Thanksgiving) serving at soup kitchens or other meal programs for the homeless. You could also work on a project for a charity group. Last year I made 60 pairs of earrings as Christmas gifts for the clients of a domestic violence shelter. My mother knits caps and scarves for the Salvation Army. I read once about a woman who made up lunch bags with her daughter and distributed them in a poor part of the city.

Maybe these ideas will get you started.

Veterans Day always gives me the blues too, as I ponder the sacrifices made by our fighters, and wonder about all the things my grandfather and his Army buddies experienced and will never be able to talk about.

Oh, wait, you are depressed because you can’t think of what you want for Christmas? :rolleyes:

Oh, and one more for good measure:

:rolleyes:

I know the Holidays are a difficult time for lots of people. Last year I was selling plasma so I could buy my family’s Christmas presents because I was too ashamed to tell them I was broke. But it’s early November, MSK. Why buy trouble, worry, anxiety, and depression now? Why are you so sure the holidays are going to lack something and be sad? That sounds like self-fulfilling prophecy to me. Why not focus on what you can DO instead of what you lack? Why not plan what you are going to get or make your family for Christmas instead of what YOU want? You are Christian, right? Why not make your holiday about religion, joy, acts of love and faith and charity instead of presents and longing for old relationships?

Magical Silver Key, I know I don’t often have nice things to say to you on the boards. When I first joined, I spent many a lunch our answering your requests for advice and sympathy honestly, and then getting bored and annoyed as your whining, self-pitying threads multiplied and you never seemed to take anyone’s advice. You have an excuse for everything - people give you helpful suggesions, but there is always some reason that you can’t follow them. Knowing only your posts, you come across here as the most self-involved, self-pitying, self-conscious person on the planet. Children playing in a public park on a summer day ruin YOUR suntanning time. A complicated weather almanac brings you to your knees. You rarely participate in the threads of others - never offering comfort, advice, humor, GQ answers, debate - All of your posts are “me, me, me, me and my problems.”

----------FLAME OVER------------

So, this holiday season, I’d like to offer you the Magical Silver Key Challenge. It is twofold:

1) Find some charity or public-spirited activity that you can participate in. Many involve very little time or money. Join Chemo Angels - write weekly cards to people going through chemotherapy and brighten their lives. Write letters for Amnesty International. Read aloud to senior citizens at your local old folks home - many of them seem as lonely as you seem in your posts and could use the company. Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity or a soup kitchen. Just do one act of service that is not about yourself between now and the end of the year. The caveat is that you cannot just write a check - it has to be an activity, even if it’s only one day of volunteering.

2) I also challenge you to stop complaining for 1 month. I did this about 2 years ago when I was in an unhappy phase and realized that every other word out of my mouth was a complaint about something - complaining for the sake of complaining. So I gave up complaining for Lent, and it seriously changed my life. In that 40 days, I got a new job, ended an unhealthy relationship, lost weight, slept better, and enjoyed life 100% more. Every now and then I lapse back into that mindset and have to check myself, but that month of not complaining was the best thing I ever did.

If you will do this, MSK, I will also take this challenge myself. Between now and 12/31 I’ll do one public service-oriented thing and I’ll stop complaining. I won’t post any pit threads about the world crapping upon me, I won’t bitch about work, money, the cold Chicago winter, the noisy people upstairs, MPSIMS flirt threads, terrorism, or anything.

I hope you (and any other Dopers with the holiday blues) take me up on this. and that you have a Merry Christmas.

mags: Preach, sistah.

Abe: Perhaps you can contribute to an “angel tree” or adopt a family. Some social service agencies will give you an anonymous wish list (angel trees usually have just one item) of a needy family or child. You can go together to shop for it and to wrap it. It’s a wonderful activity, one I’ve loved every year we’ve done it.

there will be a 300% tax on all Christmas decorations purchased by commercial establishments prior to the 25th of November.

2) I also challenge you to stop complaining for 1 month. I did this about 2 years ago when I was in an unhappy phase and realized that every other word out of my mouth was a complaint about something - complaining for the sake of complaining. So I gave up complaining for Lent, and it seriously changed my life. In that 40 days, I got a new job, ended an unhealthy relationship, lost weight, slept better, and enjoyed life 100% more. Every now and then I lapse back into that mindset and have to check myself, but that month of not complaining was the best thing I ever did.

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Well, shit, I meant to comment on the above. Okay, it’s advice that should be read as many times as possible, so no harm done.

THIS advice is the best advice anyone can take. Not only should MSK give up complaining, but each time he wants to complain, he should give 5 minutes thought to his role in the thing that he wants to complain about and also how he can fix it. Everyone should. When I started doing this I knew I was all grown up. Sadly, I was 35 at the time.

So, MSK, whaddya say? I’ll start a MPSIMS “Holiday Challenge” thread for you and any Dopers who want to join us.