# How does the Christmas season make you feel? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 11, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170 "2015-12-11T15:49:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/21 "2015-12-12T00:51:18Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > I had to say ‘other’ because my feelings are distinctly mixed. I have years and years of wonderful Christmas memories, but with so much of my family gone, Christmas has become bittersweet. I have a new grandson and am looking forward to his first Christmas, but I am now a ‘guest’ at Christmas, rather than a Christmas-maker as I was for so many years. And while that is perfectly natural in the grander scheme of things, it is also a reminder that I’m getting older. > > I’m not sad exactly, but there are just too many ghosts at my Christmas celebrations now. This description fits me pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/22 "2015-12-12T00:56:06Z")
Your poll didn’t quite cover it. I have lots of good memories, and lots of terrible memories. I dread Christmas, mostly because it feels like it’s being shoved down my throat in an effort to manipulate me into buying crap, and that’s not a good feeling. I like the idea of celebrating the arrival of winter and I like parties and special food. I dislike presents (stressful to find something appropriate for distant, difficult, yet beloved family). Plus, the by the actual Christmas season (Dec. 25–Jan. 5), just when I’m ready to relax and celebrate, everyone else is done with it. If we could just contain Christmas to maybe one month of the year, I think I’d be happier about it. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/23 "2015-12-12T01:07:02Z")
I’m not a sentimental person. I am not a big “family” person. So as an adult, Christmas has always been a “oh crap, here we go again” kind of experience. Intellectually, I understand why we must do the annual dance. It’s not all bad. It’s never as bad as I think it will be. But it’s not something I ever look forward to. I’m always kinda relieved when it is over. But I have good Christmas memories, and I do feel fortunate that I have a family to spend it with. It’s just that Christmas for me is more about watching others have a good time than me having a good time. It’s not like I’m depressed or anything. But I always feel like a spectator more than a celebrant. I give gifts because that’s what one is supposed to do. And I don’t really want any gifts either. The whole couple of days is about being a good sport and not expressing the “meh” that’s just below the surface. I help my parents sent up everything for Christmas dinner, and then I kinda fade into the margins as the house fills up with mirth and joy. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/24 "2015-12-12T01:08:36Z")
It made me feel nothing it’s not my holiday . I can’t wait till it’s over b/c I am sick of the way people are acting on the road and in the stores ! It seem to bring the worst out in some people ! ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/25 "2015-12-12T01:16:06Z")
I have good and bad memories of Christmas. It wouldn’t be a fit to pick any of the options on the poll just based on that. Overall, I would enjoy Christmas if it was a day and not a whole season. It should be like Thanksgiving, Independence Day and Easter - get together with your family and do something fun. It should not be three months of lists and shopping and decorating and annoying music. It should be a few well-chosen and cherished presents, not thousands of dollars on crap that nobody needs and many don’t even want, purchased out of obligation and politeness as often as love. It should be about truth and remembrance, not fantasies of elves and Victorian/Americana that never-was. So in that sense, the poll options also don’t fit very well. There’s plenty that is (or at least could be) positive about Christmas and I’ll do my best to separate that from the overwhelming pettiness and silliness. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/26 "2015-12-12T01:18:57Z")
I like it. Not only does it make the people around me generally more cheery, but most years I get to watch all the gentiles scrambling around for Christmas presents long after I’ve gotten Hannukah over and done with. The best of both worlds! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/27 "2015-12-12T03:30:23Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Are you for real? (genuinely not sure if this comment was meant in earnest or not) Yes, it was meant in earnest. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/28 "2015-12-12T03:51:22Z")
I have good Christmas memories and generally look forward to it. ---
**Author:** ![Whatever4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@Whatever4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whatever4)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/29 "2015-12-12T05:33:12Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > What’s poor, quiet atheist to do? Shop online and then come have tea and crumpets with me. You can bring your dog (if you have one).:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/30 "2015-12-12T05:50:46Z")
Maybe I should be a cool cynical atheist and talk about commercialization/if Jesus even existed, he was probably born in the spring/it’s actually a pagan holiday, anyway/the whole idea of Santa is terrifying/are they really playing Christmas music _already_/etc, etc, but . . . I love Christmas. Seriously. I’m not religious, or particularly enthusiastic about presents, or a lover of red-green color combinations, but it really is my favorite time of year. I love snow and thick sweaters, hot chocolate by the fire, Bing Crosby, gingerbread houses, long car trips, seeing all the excited kids, baking cookies, pretty white lights, peppermint bark, rosy cheeks - I’m a Hallmark marketer’s dream come true. I have even, on occasion, found a small place in my heart for Mariah Carey. We all have our illogical small pleasures in life, and Christmas is mine. Deck the halls! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/31 "2015-12-12T06:04:40Z")
I hate it. It’s a week off work, which is nice, but I hate it. It’s commercialism to the max. The same God damned songs. The same God damned themed TV commercials. Guilt because I don’t feel I can ever spend enough or pick out appropriate gifts. I am always sooooo glad when it’s over and hate thinking about the following year. It’s a shitty position to be forced into every year. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/32 "2015-12-12T08:07:57Z")
Hate it, hate the music, hate the commercialism, hate the right wing imagined war On Christmas, hate the reminder that Christianity is the official religion of the US, hate the hypocrisy, hate the decorations, hate cutting down a tree and watching it die in your living room, hate everything about it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/33 "2015-12-12T10:28:03Z")
I like it. I like the Christmas markets, and the decorations; I even like the carols if they’re in small doses and appropriate (no damnit, “Last Christmas” is not a carol, and covers which sound like someone poured strawberry syrup all over the partiture should be burned anyway). I like the liturgy. I like seeing immigrants taking part in our traditions and sharing their own. For quite a few years it was a time of lots of tension in the family but we even seem to have solved that :eek: I’m kind of freaked out that nobody seems to be mad at anybody! ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/34 "2015-12-12T11:37:20Z")
Xmas season is the season of disappointment. Prepare to be disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/35 "2015-12-12T14:51:29Z")
Sounds like there are a few of us in this thread who need to get together for a [Festivus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus) party. I will supply the first bottle of tequila and a meatloaf. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/36 "2015-12-12T14:58:38Z")
I’m a cashier in a discount store. To me the holiday season means extra work and extra cash. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/37 "2015-12-12T16:14:11Z")
> [@Sahirrnee](#): > > It’s a big PITA. > > It was fun at one time, I liked getting together with family. > > Not anymore. this, its just a farking exhausting mental grind from Halloween to new years ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/38 "2015-12-12T16:36:16Z")
> [@guestchaz](#): > > this, its just a farking exhausting mental grind from Halloween to new years Count me in this group. My new mantra when it comes to celebrating is “Choice, not chore”. There are those who genuinely enjoy the holidays (or any celebration, not just Christmas), and I say more power to 'em. What I object to is the _expectation_ to decorate, and be merry, and joyous and happy. If it makes you feel that way, I’m fine with it. I just feel forced to feel that way. My wife used to get upset at the rest of the family because she was the only one who enjoyed decorating, and she got stressed out, and everyone got mad at each other, because no one was helping, or having any fun. This year, she’s more understanding, and knows that not everyone enjoys it like she does, and things are much more relaxed. In short, let me decorate and celebrate if I choose to, but don’t expect it of me. ---
**Author:** ![Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Licentious_Ectomorph)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/39 "2015-12-12T17:09:11Z")
_No, even though I have good memories of past Christmases, I see nothing positive currently with it._ Mostly I’m just bored by the whole affair. I’ll admit to getting a wee tiny bit wistful because I remember how excited I used to get about Christmas when I was a kid. My family was dysfunctional as fuck-all, but I’ll give them props for putting on a good Christmas. I got some pretty spectacular gifts that I still remember to this day at age 45. As I got older I enjoyed giving gifts (almost) as much as receiving them. Shopping, wrapping, baking cookies with my mother, decorating the tree as a family, the music, the classic specials on TV…it was all a magical time for me. I haven’t been able to recapture that feeling in decades. A part of me wishes I could, but for the most part I’m just neutral about it. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170/40 "2015-12-12T17:20:13Z")
The two people I’ve had in my life who were huge Christmas fans are dead, and their deaths were close enough to Christmas that the season is doubly touched by it. Despite my life being wonderful and my general happiness, Christmas is simply a sad season for me, filled with loss. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-christmas-season-make-you-feel/740170.md?page=3)