How do my fellow Grinches celebrate Christmas?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I really am fairly grinchy. Though culturally Christian, I don’t accept the divinity of Jesus, so the theological significance of the holiday is nonexistent for me. Family drama over the years, blah blah, I think the shitty Christmases outnumber the good ones, and there’s a lot of negative associations for me. Don’t have kids, so the whole thing is semi-optional for me.

That said, the whole thing is pretty unavoidable – and so I try to focus on stuff I like. This includes:

– Getting and receiving holiday cards. It’s the only time of year I hear from certain people, and it’s nice staying in touch.

– Watching certain movies and TV shows, the most important of which (the real [Chuck Jones version] of the Grinch, “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol,” “White Christmas”) I’ve got on tape to make sure I don’t miss them.

– Baking cookies: I bring the boombox into the kitchen, load in a couple of seasonal faves (“Handel’s ‘Messiah,’ A Soulful Celebration,” a Windham-Hilly piano thing) and go to town.

– The department party at work – we do a potluck (this year the theme was “red and green foods,” so there was a lot of pasta, etc., though I provided guacamole and salsa [and chips], someone brought red and green apples [and cheese], etc.) and everyone brings in a $10 gift that we pick at random. I got a nice collection of good chocolate (mmmmm, chocolate) this year.

– Some Secret Santa exchanges – I did the SDMB one this year (still waiting for my present, sniff sniff, though my recipient liked what I got him or her), and the group I do a week at the beach with in August also does a Secret Santa.

Other than that – I just keep my head down and try not to let the whole thing get on my nerves.

Any other grinches out there? Or people of other faiths who selectively participate in Christmas rituals?

2

Hey! I don’t see any Grinchism here! :wink:
Merry xmas!

3

My SO and I went to by some fine wine for a friend and we were actually rather saddened by how stressed all the shoppers seem. We really downplay Yuletide celebrations. My SO is a devout Christian, I am an agnostic (with atheist leanings). Neither of us are particularly interested in the commercial aspect of the season, and neither of us allow ourself to feel pressured by seasonal “obligation.”

We see people who are in a desperate rush to buy gifts for family members they don’t even like. We’ve seen “mall rage,” “road rage” and “parking lot rage” and assorted craziness from people who still haven’t recovered from the Thanksgiving family dramas. We’ve overheard people saying “but he spent so much money on me last year, I have no idea how I’m going to reciprocate!” We see so much impatience, angst, and agitation – people doing all sorts of things not because they want to out of the goodness of their benevolent hearts, but because they feel they have to… sigh

It’s supposed to be a happy time! But walking around downtown today, no one seems to be enjoying themselves very much. We had fun though.

We downplay it all and just enjoy quiet evenings. We have good meals, relax at home and do a minimalist gift exhange with our nearest and dearest (meaningful gifts, not the Gameboy variety to satisfy someone’s “I want” list). There’s no pressure, no deadlines, no expectations, and no disappointment.

Christmas Eve my SO says a prayer privately, I do my annual private wish (kind of a cross between a New Year’s resolution, a toast to the future, and voicing my hopes for things to come.) In the morning we sleep in and eat a big breakfast.

We wallow in holiday slothfulness and good food and wine. That’s about it. Decadent simplicity. It’s blissful!

4

Well obviously, I spend Christmas tearing down my nieghbor’s decorations and stealing the presents from under their tree. What else?

5

The last few years I stayed at home, refused to answer the door or telephone, and watched The Exorcist–it’s sort of become a tradition for me.

This year, what with the new baby and all, I guess the Grinchiness must end. I am sort of looking forward to watching my nine-month-old tear open all those packages . . . but that’s a secret. I firmly intent to maintain my Grinch facade.

And I am going to find enough alone time to get wasted and watch horror movies by myself in a dark room.

6

I’ve kept it deliberately, blissfully low key ever since my mom died. I don’t have to do the gruelling shopping, wrapping, driving umpteem miles marathon anymore so I don’t.

I sleep late, mix some mimosas or bloody marys, cook whatever off-beat, nontraditional meal I want, laze around, watch a movie* or read or noodle around on the 'puter or nap…and stay in my comfy, tatty sweats the whole time. It’s great!

Sometime during the day my sister and I “open presents by phone”. We chat, unwrap the gifts and oooh-and-aaah and generally have a fine time. It’s works very well. We’re all relaxed, nobody has to hassle driving on icy roads, nobody has more food-hassles than they want.

Veb

[sub]*Something without a single Christmas carol in it. Between malls and radio, I’m in homicidal carol overload by Thanksgiving. Favorites: Addams Family, The Thing, The Blob, some beloved grade-B silliness.[/sub]

7

Psst! Mephisto? A little warning… the little flodnaks were both ten months old at their first Christmas. Even though they both gleefully ripped any newspaper they could get their grubby little hands on, they just did not grok tearing the OOH! SHINY! wrapping paper. They basically drooled on their presents. The ripping fun started the year after. So don’t be disappointed if your little imp is more interested in staring at the packages than demolishing them.

The good thing is that from that age, up until about the age of 3, they are utterly thrilled with all the new stuff, no matter what it is. You can wrap up socks and undies, and they’ll gurgle with glee.

I thought working at a mall might turn me into a pre-reform Grinch this year, but it hasn’t. It has, however, made me very aware of what I never want our Yuletide celebrations to turn into. There’s just something not right about grown people on the verge of emotional collapse because they wanted a red linen tablecloth on the table this year and they can only find red cotton!

8

I stay away from the door and phone as well.
I hate shopping, so I bake cookies to take to a few friends. Our tree is a 10 incher. I have 7 gifts i bought under it for the kids. under it for me? none.
Sad as it sounds, I don’t expect to even hear from my immediate family on the holiday.

What we all wish for is
‘Peace on Earth’…so leave me in peace.

9

I avoid Christmas carols, don’t watch TV at all, and intend to visit only one bunch of friends at their place on th’ morning itself, then come home to spend the rest of the day doing what I want in peace. No tree, no presents, no ho-ho-ho’ing.

The Christmas cards have been nice, though. :slight_smile:

10

I love Christmas, but it’s sort of been dormant for me in the last few years.

Christmas took its first big blow when my dad died. He was “Father Christmas” and got the whole family worked up and sucked into the Christmas spirit. It was so fun when he was alive.

Christmas was OK after his death, though, since his sisters (the Aunties) were endowed with the same Christmas spirit that he had, though in a gentler form. And my sister’s kids were lively, and lots of fun at Christmastime.

But then I moved to Hooterville. The Aunties sent out wonderful gifts, and we did a little something on Christmas day, but it wasn’t the same. Last year was the low point, when I worked a double shift on Christmas day. I didn’t send out gifts, I didn’t send out Christmas cards, I did nothing. I worked the double shift so that a coworker who actually had Christmas plans could get off work and enjoy the day.

This year I made a point of taking the whole week off around Christmastime. (Today is my first day off.) I had planned on flying back to L.A. to spend a real Christmas with the Aunties and the nephews and the rest of the family. But alas, circumstances have prevented me from doing that. So I’m stuck here in Hooterville for a week. But that’s OK, I hope to do something a little Christmasy this year. It can’t be worse than last year, (I hope)!

11

Ah, yosemitebabe, that sucks. Make sure you think of something fun to do on the day and treat yourself right. It doesn’t necessarily have to be Christmassy – one year, when my sister and her husband were in Europe, I told my aunt I was going to my BIL’s mother’s, told my BIL’s mother I was going to my aunt’s, and stayed home and watched one Fred Astaire movie after another. It was great – I had a wonderful time.

Death anniversaries are hard – the guy I’m dating is going through that this year, his father died Jan. 4th (a year ago) and his mom is doing really poorly. You just gotta roll with it as best you can.

Enjoy your time off; take the opportunity to pamper yourself.