(leave me) Alone for Christmas. - A rant.

[nukecad]

I hope everyone is well and enjoys their Christmas and New Year, whether on their own or with a crowd.

But:
Does anybody else get fed up with being told that you shouldn't, indeed musn't, be on your own at Christmas?
(I'm just watching another one on BBC breakfast news trying to tell me just that).

They can't seem to understand that 'on your own' is not the same as 'lonely'.

I quite enjoy being on my own at Christmas.
I can do what I want when I want, eat what I want when I want, drink what I want, watch what I want to watch on telly, etc.
If I want to socialise I can go to the pub for a drink or two. (I do realise that not everyone can do that).

I don't want to sit about (on a plastic chair at a plastic table) with a bunch of strangers.
I don't want to be fed dried out turkey with cold gravy and cold vegatables. (Boiled to death and with no seasoning because that might upset some dietary requirements).
I don't want to be forced to be 'Jolly', singing insipid childish songs and playing stupid games.
It all seems like practice for being in an instution.

If that is something that you would like then fair enough.
If you would like someone to come round and visit you at home for a while then fair enough.
If you would like to visit someone else's home, maybe invited for dinner then fair enough.

But please don't try to force me to join in with what you think I should be doing when it's not what I want.
And don't try to make me feel guilty, or even inadequate, for prefering to be on my own.

Also - Whilst some like the Salvation Army work year round, where are these other Christmas 'do gooders' for the rest of the year?
Do I suspect they are doing the 'Christmas Charity thing' just so that they can feel good about themselves? - Yes I suspect many of them are.

It's The Good King Wenceslas syndrome - Give the peasants leftovers (supermarket out-of-dates from the foodbank) at Christmas, you've then done your bit and can forget about them for the rest of the year.

To paraphrase and old RSPAC advert:
We are old/disabled for life, not just for Christmas.

[phaedra]

Bah Humbug! (but also very true!)

Nothing particularly "Christmassy" goes on here nowadays, kids are all adults now.

My Autistic son will be playing online games with his friends around the world at God knows what time of the day/night as usual.

My daughter will be here (has been for a few weeks now!) and my eldest and his partner are over from Amsterdam and staying with his partners parents until early Jan.

They'll be over here for a bit on Christmas Day and we're hoping to get out for a meal before the New Year.

Other than that there's nothing going on, nobody wants a Christmas lunch cooking and it'll just be yet another day but with the shops closed!.

That being said, Happy Christmas Nuke and the same to everyone else here

[StarBright]

Can understand all of that, media hype up Christmas as the all singing all dancing family celebration & for a huge amount of people it's not their reality weather it's their own choice or not & get sick of all the weeks of hype that come down to the fact this year it's Wednesday & Thursday 48 hours, the same goes for New years eve.

The charity ads on TV really get to me it's horrible what people go through every day of the year so when I see Crisis & Salvation Army talking about giving a set amount of money to invite homeless people in to one of their Christmas places to have food & drink it makes me mad enough to spit that they then chuck them out for 364 days before letting them in somewhere warm. Why can't there be places these people can sleep inside every day?, why can't the food supermarkets that donated to food banks be donated to these homeless people as well with a roof over their heads every night, open up hall's, sports centres, community rooms, put sleeping bags on the floors why are people left to rot outside what ever time of the year it is?!

Don't get me started!

[Sky]

I hate Christmas and all the hypocrisy it brings with it. All it is now, is a seasonal 'rip-off' as big businesses push to sell us things we don't need at deliberately inflated prices. It'll all be much cheaper in a week or so - everyone knows this, but are still stupid enough to fall for it.

I too like to be alone and for the last thirty plus years I've always managed to avoid it by going fishing, camping or abroad. However, having been in a wheelchair for the last few years none of that is possible any longer.

I don't watch TV - haven't done so for about fifteen years. I can't stand the BBC and their loony-left attempts at programming us into their way of thinking. I can't stand adverts for the same reason, so won't watch any ITV. For the same price as a TV licence (which I don't have or need) I have annual subscriptions to Amazon Prime and Netflix and although both have a lot of crap available, at least I get to choose what I want to watch.

In a couple of days it's Wednesday. I shall eat what I always eat on a Wednesday - a chicken Vindaloo curry with mushroom rice, sag aloo and a couple of poppadoms.

I deliberately don't go out anywhere once the festive music starts playing. This gets earlier every year and the way things are going I shall end up staying home from July to early January because of it. Thankfully, my hearing has gotten a lot worse in recent years so I have to wear hearing aids - now at least if push comes to shove and I have to go out; I can switch them off.

FWIW - I do the best I can for my friends and family ALL year round - not just on the one day. I also don't believe in fairy stories that were written originally as a means of controlling the populace through fear.

I can't wait for the New Year - we should hopefully get maybe six months without any of it before it starts all over again . . .

[beau]

Christmas is far too commercialised for my liking. Hubby and I have a quiet day at home with a small meal. I too haven't watched TV for 16 years, I hate it with a vengeance, neither do I watch Netflix or anything like that. As well as not being able to remember what has happened 2 seconds ago the movement makes me nauseas and I am noise intolerant so I sit in silence.

As for the outrageous prices being charged for gifts, I buy all mine in the sales for the year, birthdays and Christmas. In fact I have already started for next year from Debenhams sale to be delivered to my home. Will be on Boots 1/2 price sale tomorrow, also to be delivered. I have some money off vouchers for our local factory shop to be used from 6th Jan, their sale will be on so I will be getting the menfolk jumpers from there. Saves me a small fortune and I don't have to worry about birthday and Christmas gifts for the next year. They all go in boxes, on the top of the wardrobe in the spare room, box for male and one for female. I have a grid on which I list what is for whom and for which event

Call me mean if you like.

[Sky]

Haha - nice. That's not mean Beau - it's working the system and it shows an intelligent and organised mind.

I won't buy or accept gifts for/from anyone. My family respect this, but very few other people do - they just call me mean or miserable. I don't care TBH - I refuse to accept social programming.

[gothitjulie]

I hate all this christian crap that gets put upon me, I have no idea what it's all about other than blatant conspicuous over-consumption & mass pollution.

Neighbours empty rubbish through my letterbox & call it "christmas cards".

Local cults empty rubbish through my letterbox & call it "Christmas Service Times".

If I'm trying to get to a shop in town to get some food I have people dressed as some sort of demons jumping out in front of me demanding monies to support their ill gotten spawn who they can't support themselves

Oh well, it's fun cutting a pentagram into the turf up by their local coven.

[Archersmate]

I have to admit this is not the first Christmas I’ve struggled with, I think people with children often just try to give the kids a good Christmas, but those of us who are not breeders don’t have to make the effort.

The enforced jollity, getting every present wrong, ever decreasing Christmas card list, and now a more restricted diet. Having a spouse who has never made any effort to participate in Christmas adds a further dimension.

But recent Christmases’ for me have been blighted for numerous reasons, I’ve got two days to go and I’m getting closer to explosion!

I can’t win and feel like I need to book somewhere for next year on my own!

[gothitjulie]

Years ago we booked a holiday in Egypt to get away from it, alas the hotel had an xmas tree & played damn xmas carols

Fortunately there were places to escape from it, such as the beach

[davy]

i live with my kids and partner but this year my mental state is all over the place so i sorted the dinner then stayed out of the way for the rest of the day. and new years eve i will be in bed early for the 7th year in a row.