the stress,
the cost,
the stress,
the stress
why do we do this every year?
also to be actually productive: how do you keep costs down? and do you have any strategies for giving and receiving gifts without having or inflicting a mental breakdown?
I find Christmas to be much cheaper than getting married
tell your family that you have become a Jehovah's Witnesse for the month of december each year
Problem solved
Sorry, you should say "does anyone else hate the holiday season"
At least op didn't mention 'Father' Christmas 🙄
I hate Christmas 2 more than christmas 1
I like Christmas because I like buying gifts but only for my immediate family. I don't really find it stressful either.
In our household we don't give present we give cash :) that way nobody is complaining about shitty present.
So you just swap money…
Can you give $5 and get $50?
I like Christmas. People getting stressed out when it is meant to be the season to relax and give thanks with your family.
Unfortunately a lot of people have been sucked into the marketing.
I love it, time off work, my days are spent mornings doing weights and exercise, midday start eating and getting pissed, 2 weeks straight, glorious. See the family and nieces on xmas day, one of my favourite times of year……actually anytime I am not working is a good time of year.
I share the same sentiment. Even if Christmas wasn't called Christmas. Its nice to have a set time of the year that's dedicated to catching up with family and eating good nostalgic home cooked food. Especially for the seniors. And then you can share New Years with friends. The two combined is a great way to end the year. And if you get a few days to yourself to catch up on your favourite hobbies, that's even better.
I do feel for those in retail or someone with a really nasty relative. Or if your having a really tough time financially or medically.
If he does not have those issues, OP needs to stop worrying and stop watching free to air TV, you will avoid 99% of the commercialism just in that.
OP needs to celebrate Festivus so he can have the Airing of Grievances.
Christmas has become that commercialised, that everyone has forgotten the religious significance of the day. The focus is on presents, but people like OP are stressing out. Take a step back, spend time with family, have a nice lunch and if religious, go to Church.
Online shopping removes most of the stress… Don't go shopping, buy everything online, even Xmas food and have most of your family overseas so you don't have to drive around visiting people.
I believe the loved ones need care, love, time and help much more than Christmas presents and occasional lunch companionship. If people could help their elderly on a regular basis (even better if they could live with them), it will be far more appreciated by them rather than meeting them twice a year just for lunch/ dinner or giving a present. Society will keep changing and so will lifestyle, but we can't shy away from this bitter fact which will always stand true.
We live in a consumer world with always feeling not enough. Just get over it and live a normal life, you will be fine. If people say bad things to you about not giving gifts just meh and get on with life. I know its easy said than done. Look after yourself. Watch the documentary on Generation Wealth on Amazon Prime to feel good and reset your life.
I can't stand the ads on TV. Something along the lines of "Please donate so Joe get a xmas present like all the other kids"
Like that's important. I get it, we live in such a society where this is the norm and they feel left out, but big whoop. We have more than most countries.
I don't celebrate Xmas, but the vibe I get is that if you don't celebrate for religious reasons or even worse, you just decided not to anymore, people are still confused as to why you don't and look at you differently.
It's all about the pressure of society.
For example. I've never celebrated my birthday. Something I grew up with and something I still don't celebrate. People are always shocked and feel so bad for me and can't understand why I don't celebrate. While it's nice to celebrate these things, I don't see the need. I personally don't want someone to feel like they have to buy me something. Especially if I know this person can't afford it, but they feel the pressure to buy a gift.
In terms of the stress, you also don't want to tell people you're not buying gifts and don't want gifts, as you then have to explain yourself, etc. So you beat around the bush.
In the last couple of weeks I've gotten out of this habit. If I don't want to be involved in anything, I just straight up say I'm not interested. I'm no longer stressed nor find the need to explain myself.
So if you want to reduce spending, then by all means, do so. But if you don't feel like giving or receiving giving gifts, just deal with it the one time and let everyone know that you no longer want to be involved.
After reading your post my immediate thought was I feel sorry for you.
Lol
No
Step 1: don't do Christmas
I thought you'd brought me undies :( … again
I'll chip in. We don't do the commercial Christmas - I'm Muslim btw.
Brought up as a kid in a culture which celebrates it is interesting from my perspective.
Always had a "father Christmas" in the background somewhere and am aware that my grannie used to bake cakes & pass it on to all the neighbours around her way on the "big day" (this is what Christmas was referred to in Fiji). When I was a kid in NZ, had cards given to me & gave them to friends… but got that "magical" feeling from watching christmas related movies on tv.
Now, I personally don't partake in the religious aspect (ofcourse), the sharing of presents or cards, but what my family do are:
- get together
- have lunch or dinner
- enjoy ourselves with good banter (and the occasional blue but that's a normal month for us)
I'd say bring Christmas down to the level it used to be 70 or so years ago before Coke decided to turn Father Christmas red and into a commercial entity to "buy buy buy".
So as with most other commentators, can suggest, that cards/presents are for kids. Enjoy time with family; be open with them if you find it stressful and let them know what it is - they'll understand.
Is Xmas still as sexist as I remember it? My last memory of going to a big family and relatives Xmas is all the men chowing down on the mountain of food that the women had prepared, then heading off to the RSL for a few hours while the women got stuck into the mountain of washing up.
I've a pretty strong feminist family,
But when it comes to family gatherings, they all go straight to stereotyped roles
Obviously things have improved a lot over the last 20 years… but we're still a long way off
You can't change people habits over night.
Both sides need to change, not just one side.
Hence why I've always said modern feminism is lazy,
This is most obvious when it comes down to dating/relationship
talk the talk, dont walk the walk
Is Xmas still as sexist as I remember it?
Were the women forced to cook or did they opt in? The women I know who partake in the "sexist" activities, i.e cooking actually enjoy it.
Just do a secret santa or bad santa, limit price to $30-$50 and make it cheesy fun gifts, takes all the stress out.
Don't give, just receive, easy
Our family does a Kris Kringle every year. We use an app which secretly and randomly picks who we will be buy a present for for that year and we have a $100 limit. It definitely keeps the cost and stress down every year, could imagine it would be very tough for people with big families and extended relatives.
Just don’t do anything!!! Silly post
Say NO to all religious holidays!
all within your control, we have a rules with our extended family
no need for present just get together eat, drink and be merry.
No stress Xmas is just eating and getting together and relax
I neither hate nor like…
I enjoy it except for gift giving which is just a hassle. Rather than slogging through the shopping mall, this time around I got all my gifts delivered from Amazon. Much less hassle.
Why do anything in life? There is stress in everything we do.
Christmas is about spending time with family and celebrate a year pased and new year coming (good or bad). It is not about giving and receiving presents. If you are too stressed abt present, start shopping early and pick reasonable presents with sensible cost to fit your budget. I don't know why you are stressed about receiving presents but I love when someone gives me a present. It's not about the present it is about the thought they put in to choose something to buy as a gift to you.
You need to relax more and take it easy. Where would life be without festive season at all?
Excellent post, spot on.
Yeah, I agree…
There is always stress in everything you do and it all depends on whether the end goal is worth it…
If i wanna travel, obviously there is stress in finding accommodation, getting the best deals on plane tickets etc…
If i wanna go hiking, there will be the stress in packing your 15-20kg hiking pack etc
As an adult though we should start understanding that we do have the options not to do anything so if there is no xmas then so be it…
Love it. Love the holidays and girls in sexy Santa outfits.
I hate the lead up to Christmas
Christmas itself I love, getting and giving gifts, drinking, eating, spending time with loved ones, what's not to like
But yeah, hate the shopping and spending and everything being so busy and chaotic leading up to it
My family does a $10 limit on all gifts and it has to come from an op shop.
You number everything and pull em out of a hat.
Easy as.
I dont mind extra paid holiday and luckier if its on Weekend.
Look at the bright side… the glass is half full not half empty… etc… Chill its Christmas
bargain hun(s)tress
Username (almost) checks out.
What stress is there?
Cost? Many things are discounted so its a win for you.
I rarely like Christmas. It has never been about what is under the tree for us - but who is around that tree - and those around that tree I don't really like them :D
I rather like this Christmas since we aren't flying anywhere like we normally go.
Also because of COVID, I don't need to worry about hosting/going to parties.
I buy Christmas gifts from Gumtree the day after Christmas for next years Christmas. Because….I am cheap and good use of garden shed.
I kind of hate all the retail holiday sales garbage. Ironic coming from someone on Ozbargain.
As we've gotten older, I'm assuming most of us are now in our 20s to 30s.. Mostly 80s, 90s, early 00s kids who can now afford to buy things as we are now part of the main economic sector.
But the stress you feel is similar to me and I think I have figured us out. We grew up different to our parents. The increase in everything, rent, expenses, insurance, fees, mortgages, competition, social media etc is something that has added a massive amount of unfair pressure. It's something we cannot avoid. When something like Christmas comes around, all of that already present stress just get elevated and you just never get a chance to actually feel whatever it is they say you should feel.
You are always running to catch up, constantly and never actually arrive at your destination because for most of us it's impossible to get there
Might not make much sense to everyone, but this is how it feels for me.
40% of Australians (and growing) do not celebrate Christmas, myself included. It's fast losing it's annual cash boost power to retail and they're seeking new holidays to focus on to drive revenue.
Christmas is the celebration of the northern hemisphere's winter solstice, it's honestly silly to celebrate winter in the middle of summer. The southern hemisphere's winter solstice occurs between June 21st and June 24th each year, Christmas in Australia might make more sense to people if it was moved to June.
40% is a ludicrous exaggeration. If you mean only 60% celebrate Christmas in the religious sense that would be about right but then your whole second paragraph seems to ignore that aspect of 'Christ'mas. And make yet another far fetched claim that in the modern day, Christmas is a celebration of the winter solstice… Good grief…
I know what you mean by stress. For me it can be around gifts. I’m fine buying gifts for my kids - I love this part of Christmas - but I buy throughout the year because there’s no way in hell I’m going anywhere near the shops at Christmas time as I can’t handle all those people and their energy. The problem was more around gifts for everyone else. I’ve almost solved this problem:
1) No buying gifts for any adults - unless you are spending the day with them. This includes friends, parents… any adults. If you are spending the day with parents then the gift can’t be more than $40.
2) No buying presents for nieces and nephews. There’s too many of them and there are too many issues to think about. Example: my sister hates plastic and stereotypical female toys like dolls. So if I bought my niece a plastic doll my sister wouldn’t let her daughter open the gift or she’d take it off her daughter and issues. Problem and stressful situation solved - no more gifts.
3) On Christmas Day, every adult puts a wrapped $10 gift onto a table and picks out a random number. Number one chooses a gift and unwraps it. Number two either takes that person’s present or chooses an unwrapped one. The game continues on. It’s fun and all you had to do was find a $10 gift and you’ve got an entire year to buy that one present.
The only way I haven’t solved this yet is point one. Some people I can’t buy for. What will they like that’s under $40? This means I end up driving to the shops, wondering around the stores looking for something random they might like and it’s so bloody time consuming! Will the person even understand the shit I went through when they open up that shirt that’s too big from Lowe’s?
I absolutely love christmas. I love spoiling my kids and christmas and their birthdays are the time to do it.
I usually start buying gifts online from June or so each year. By December i've usually spent a lot more than I planned to spend with little effort to do so. Outside of my kids I only have my mother, 2 sisters and my ex (kids mother) to worry about. Which doing online shopping months in advance truly makes it easy.
Been about 3 or 4 years since I screwed around with lay buys and going into shops for christmas and since then life has been so much easier and less stressful. Doing it over the space of 6 months reduces the financial burden a lot too. The stereotype is a guy waits until the last minute to do his shopping. Yet if I haven't got gifts for everyone by November I actually start to worry about if I can get it done in time. With the kids I just keep buying all the way up until shipping dates cut off to be here in time for christmas basically. But I know if stuff didn't arrive they have plenty already.
without having or inflicting a mental breakdown?
No idea what you're talking about.
Give socks as presents. Kids always lives socks.
I feel your pain OP, I really don't like Christmas at all.
All of my family live interstate and I'd been travelling there every second year for two decades. I despise it because my mother becomes overwhelmed and completely disregulated on Christmas Day. It's just awful and nobody really has what could be described as a 'great time'.
I usually come back more stressed than I was when I left.I mentioned to my partner one time that the best part of the trip was the drive up and back.
Things all changed two years ago when we decided to stay at home and just have a small Christmas lunch. It was SO good. Nobody was screaming, everyone just did whatever they liked and we really enjoyed the day. We haven't been going to the in-law's for a few years now, so we side-stepped that ugly alternative too.
I really dislike how commercialised it has become (like every other holiday).
It was so much more about family and far more magical when I was growing up.
Now, it's just a lot of gifts that pike up in my garage, never being opened.
I end up donating at least 50% of the gifts my kids get since they never open them.
Waste of money but at least I know some underprivileged and sick children are getting some happiness.
Consumerism is why
Only rich people love Christmas.
Christmas is fine when the outlaws aren't around. This year MIL is around and is a fkn buzz kill.
Stuck with the stupid c**t till I head back to work.
it's over for another year.
plenty of time to get presents for next year planned.
Is the sith?