From me to you all:

http://topten.org/public/BI/BI317.html

The reason that so many of you hate Christmas is that it is all about love, something that a lot of people on here are woefully short of right now.

Love and enjoying yourself. Go on, try it.

don't make silly generalizations-- love is fine all year round, doing it in the name of jesus and some social master plan is what bugs me. kinda like mother's day, you know, people don't even bother to even call their moms, and then they dump her in some nursing home when she's old, but oh! mother's day! i must buy something! pshhhh....

I think this whole thread has been based on generalisations. "People are shit, and just pretend to be nice once a year".

Indeed.
Christmas is more about obligations, enormous expense, social pressure and the insanity of family logistics than anything.
I love giving gifts to people, I really do, but I like to see something that is "perfect for" one of my friends and just get it and give it to them at the time. The whole structure of it and the herculean financial burden is what I find so annoying. Plus if you are married or in any kind of serious relationship and both extended families live in the same area, there can be any number of stressful situations surrounding the debate of who spends which holiday where.

We all conform. None of us are the rebels we'd like to think we are.

who said people are shit? not me-- i hate christmas though, and organized religion, and mindless social conformity, and consumerism. but it's not like i'm on a rampage against it-- if you like it, have fun with it-- but don't push it on those who don't want any part on it.

The whole thread? Bloody hell, the whole "non-sonics" section is based on silly generalisations.

The negativity flowing round here right now is doing my fucking head in.

Just because we bow to pressure in order not to have some massive family rift develop doesn't mean we have to like it.

(please read with the light tone this was written in.)

well, language itself is a system of generalis/zations, right? so let's not write any more & communicate telepathically. generalizations are good and useful, silly ones can hamper understanding though.

well, language itself is a system of generalis/zations, right? so let's not write any more & communicate telepathically. generalizations are good and useful, silly ones can hamper understanding though.

None of that has anything to do with Christmas per se.

Who decides which are the silly ones? You?

It has everything to do with what Christmas has come to mean in the modern age. If it really were simply about love and having a nice dinner with your parents without all the other pressure and baggage, you wouldn't hear me complaining.

strictly, christmas is about the birth of jesus, right? well, there are a lot of non-christians in the world who have no reason to give a fuck about such a date.

then there's the pagan version, the winder holidays, the saturnalia, all manner of ancient winter festivals, and that would be fine, but our current mass-produced version of it is what annoys me.

now, goat sacrifice followed by orgy, that's what i call a celebration....

I refuse to acknowledge the light tone, you miserable shit.

why not? someone has to make decisions :p

well originally i was referring to the "if you hate christmas is because you hate people" line of argument. then things veered off.

And wasn't Jesus born in the fall in any case, and the date kept so that new converts could still have their holiday at the same time they were accustomed to in their previous heathen lives?

Why bring Jesus into it? This thread is about Christmas.

my current theory is that the pagan holidays are a strategy against winter depression. funny when that travels to the southern hemisphere-- snow in beach season, most hilarious.

Fine, I have no problem with that. If we can just get the people who don't give a fuck about the Christian Christmas to take down the garish Christmas trees and flashing lights that they put up three weeks ago, and to quit the "you must buy an expensive present" pressure, we can all be happy.

It's the commercialisation of Christmas that regularly makes it a shit-fest.

i promise you i will put no garish christmas decorations or decorations of any kind. i won't buy gifts either, cheap or expensive! :)

about the rest of the fucking people, oy, i can't control them. they are in the hands of the tv.

One thing I like about the Christmas season: Krampus!

Amen.

(With sincere apologies for the Christian implications of that word.;))

And it's Christmas that makes working in retail so difficult. Knowing you're going to be selling lots of tat to people who are then going to give them to other people who would much rather have something else.

But again, that's not about Christmas itself, but is a wider issue. You just have to look at debt in the UK to see that people overspend ALL year.

Take from Christmas what you like and leave the rest.

Now THIS is the part of Christmas that I hate:

Why? Doesn't take you long does it?

My Main Problems with Xmas:

The "season of good will to all men" Bullshit
I go out of my way to be nice and help people all year, i dont need a fucking holiday or any fancy, flashy fairy lights for that

Organized/pre-mediatated Fun - most of the fun i've had in my life has been almost completely random and unplanned. The general regimented order of how you are expected enjoy xmas really pisses me off, like how you take decorations down in January. As if January/Feb/March aren't as good a time as any to celebrate all life has to offer with fairy lights and tinsel.

People buying presents because "they have to"

The build up!!! how I have to endure this nightmare from as early as July!!!

one of the main things i hate about xmas is the fucking songs. wizard singing i wish it could be christmas everyday. why cant they jus leave me alone! fuckers.

I hear you! Those songs are awful, they sound like they were all written by Stock, Aikin and Waterman! I hate how they always get stuck in your fucking head, even though you dispise them.....

I was in a shop last year and this singing, animated snowman kept going off every time someone walked past so I went over and unplugged the fucker!
Oh how the children cried muhahahah!

i consider the song "the twelve days of christmas" an incitement to murder

if i ever go postal, that will be the cornerstone of my insanity defense

let's not forget this crap either-- worst song ever:

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancing and prancing in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air

What a bright time
it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go gliding in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse
pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jingling feet
That's the jingle bell

That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle bell rock

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancing and prancing in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air

What a bright time
it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go gliding in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse
pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jingling feet
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle bell rock

That's very annoying indeed. I can't imagine that family getting any shut eye throughout the month of December. I'd go nuts with all the flickering lights, not to mention the electrical bill.

christmas in holland BLOWS

I'm 35, and subsequently I'm sufficiently out-of-touch with you crazy kids that I need to ask if 'blows' is a good or bad thing.

Thank you. I thought 'blows' sounded like a negative comment, but so does something being 'the shit', so I thought it better to seek confirmation.

haha sonic jukebox christmas songs.

i do have fun and its nice to watch my neice and nephew open there presents. i try and keep it as busy as possible in some ways.

its hard though when you have just eaten too much and sit down and your three year old neice jumps on your belly demanding to play my little pony. kids huh.

Ya better be good or Santa won't bring ya anything good this year.

Man, you are all a miserable bunch arent you.

I hate the songs too, and the overly commercial (and Christian) overtones. But, nevertheless, I get caught up in the festive feeling, which is very comforting to me.