bunch of sad people in here it seems like, to me it's as simple as needing to actually make things feel christmas-y, you can't just sit around doing the same exact stuff you always do and expect an atmosphere to magically materialize from nothing.

decorate things to high hell, play christmas music, eat christmas-y food, go to christmas markets, spend time just chilling with people.

i don't agree that christmas is consumerist, you can just.. not make it consumerist? like it's not rocket science.

Covid took so much from so many people.

I'm so incredibly lucky, covid showed me that I don't have to work in a cube farm, I can do my job from anywhere. It crammed my whole family into each other's business, now I know my kids better than I did before. I grew meals in a crappy suburban garden.

I lost a lot too, connections to extended family and friends. A lot of relationships died because I was afraid. People like me were dying and I didn't trust that extended family to give enough of a shit about me to wear a shitty little mask from Amazon in public. (Which turned out to be right, they lied and ended up with covid) I lost some people who were very important to me, not even to COVID, just regular old cancer.

For me, the last few years have thrown what's important into sharp relief.

I can't control anything that's going on outside my house, or even most things inside my house. But I can have Christmas trees up year round if I want to.

The trees and lights make the people I love happy too, which makes me happy.

My big dumb dogs make me happy.

That crunchy snow noise makes me happy.

The tip of my nose freezing in the wind while the rest of me is warm makes me happy.

There's so much awful out in the world and I can't really do anything about it. So I cling to all the things I've found that make me happy and I try to suck all the juice out of each and every one.

When you find the things that give you some warmth, grab them and hold on. Put your energy into the things that give you energy.

Same but my kids still love it so whatever. Ever since merry Christmas became something that has been made sound like a threat I stopped enjoying it.

I think many people just realized that much of what we can Christmas Spirit is just not that rewarding.

My kids are getting to the point where they’re either past believing in Santa or on the cusp of realizing what’s going on (if they haven’t already), otherwise I don’t really do much Christmas stuff with adults outside of work. I haven’t felt anything for Christmas for years apart from getting gifts for kids. The only big benefit is time off from work.

This was actually a fairly stress-free year present-wise. I got all my shopping early and stuff wrapped except for one last-minute thing I need for my son due to delayed shipping.

Maybe you just got older.

I’ve never been much of a Christmas person. But 2020-2022 were the most Christmasy I’ve ever felt (probably because we were at home and decided to embrace with a tree and roast dinner etc it rather than our usual travelling holiday).

Now that we’re fully back to our old lifestyle, I don’t even notice that it’s Christmas/end of year until someone brings it up.

Definitely just you and your circle

This year has been bad in my area. The cost of living crisis, lots of illness sweeping through, general stress, it’s all meant that no one has really had the Christmas spirit this year. And I’m not talking gifts or anything like that. I’m talking about having hot chocolate, wearing pjs, admiring other people’s decorations.

We’ve all commented that we haven’t been feeling it, and no one can pinpoint why exactly, but I think there’s just too many bad/stressful things going on for people to have the emotional resources left to be positive

I would say the first year or two of covid, where we didnt have gatherings, were the best christmases I ever had.

Cause its my family and the stress, irritation, and anger that comes along with dealing with them are what always ruin christmas for me.

Well for me yeah for years and I felt guilty not being happy and enjoying the holidays with my family. Covid unrelated. Antidepressants helped me enjoy it atleast a bit.

Bah humbug!