A big old Christmas ramble
So….Christmas…
I have done nothing.
NO-THING.
I haven’t even sent cards to the aged family, which is the one concession even I normally make with cards. I aim to do that today!
Okay, I have my USB Christmas tree on my desk and have promised flatty Christmas tree at home tonight. I have even bought my parents a teenie thing each, but they get the pleasure of my company and I’m working - unpaid - for them Christmas Day, so I figure that’s my gift.
Now I have splurged this I get to thinking that maybe I haven’t ever shared my Scrooge-like Christmas tendencies with you all. Shall I do it now? How exciting for you.
Basically, I don’t like to buy Christmas presents and rarely cards either. I see cards as mostly a waste of money and of resources and in the electronic age I will send a personal greeting to the ones I love instead. However, this is an entirely personal decision and I am not so ungrateful that I don’t really appreciate those who think enough of me to go to the time and effort to send me a Christmas card; it’s not like I judge others against my own, slightly peculiar thoughts on the matter. In fact, when a certain someone goes out of their way to go behind your back and find your address by devious means, just so they can send you a card from across the Pond, it means an incredible amount.
And presents. I actually, genuinely find the whole present thing quite upsetting.
I don’t buy Christmas presents. Well, I do, but only a couple. Part of it is is that I am saddened by how commercialisation has over taken the true meaning of Christmas. Now, okay, I am writing this from a Christian point of view and I accept that not everyone - in fact a great deal of people - do not celebrate the religion of Christmas. But, even if they don’t do that, most people still use this time of year to celebrate love and peace and family and friends. And since when did that come with a price tag?
If I see something I know someone will love, then I will buy it for them. But this whole thing where people think they HAVE to get something for people is wrong and it really upsets me. No one should HAVE to do it. Do it if you WANT to by all means, but it’s that pressure that society now dictates you have to buy things for people that gets to me. And you end up buying things that the other person doesn’t want because of this conditioned need to get SOMEthing.
And I hear friends worrying that they have not spent as much on their partners as they have on them. Again, when did it become about the price tag? If you have something the other person will get happiness from them what does the cost matter?
As far as my fiends go I would rather spend my money spending time with them. Go out for a meal, a few drinks (a few more drinks with most of my friends if I’m honest). BE with them.
I do however really like giving gifts, so sometimes I bake for my friends and family; cakes, biscuits, sweets, chocolates etc. My friends have (fortunately) come to like this because they know I have spent time and effort on them. And I give good cake *g*. And it’s why I do my gift fics on here. People are kind enough to leave nice comments on my fics throughout the year, which makes me happy. So in return I offer them some tailored to their tastes. And by the fact that some people have returned from last year, I’m guessing I didn’t do an awful job. I enjoy putting the time and effort into it and I love it when someone enjoys the results.
I often get horribly embarrassed when other people give me gifts, but most of my friends who know me well, have assured me that they understand my feelings on buying presents, but they enjoy buying for other people, including me, and so I will always take their gifts to me graciously and appreciatively in the spirit they were intended. There is an understanding that they are not expecting a bought present in return and so I don’t have to be embarrassed. Two recent examples is a friend at work who has given me a little bag of tiny gifts that she said she just saw and made her think of me and so wanted me to have them. That is kind and thoughtful and I gave her a big hug in the office and she said that was all she wanted in return. And blu04 has even been sweet enough to say my Christmas gift from her is a thank you for the fic I write throughout the year. And I gave her a fiancée so I think we’re kinda even. *g*
Christmas really stopped being fun a few years back when neither sets of parents would accept me and my partner’s choice of each other, so we had to choose between Christmas with our families or each other. She always chose her family (seriously, the signs were there. Why did it take me four years to get the message?), except one year when we both took night shifts and worked together all over Christmas.
I have actually dreaded Christmas ever since and it is no coincidence that the last two times I have needed crisis team intervention have been in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
But this year is different. My folks and I have been getting on well this last year. I don’t try to force certain aspects of my life on them now and they don’t push their opinions on me. Okay, it’s a slightly shaky foundation, but it’s the best we’ve got and I actually enjoy being with them at the moment. I am looking forward to this Christmas. Christmas Day will mostly be spent in the kitchen and waitressing, but I’ll be with both my folks, we’ll be working together and it will be fraught and frantic and fun, and then afterwards we’ll collapse together with left over Christmas dinner and a truck load of booze and chocolate. I am really thrilled to be able to say I’m looking forward to it.
Also, while I am here and in case you are still reading, if I wish you a happy Christmas, which I do by the way, but you are not religious, or not Christian, please don’t take offense. I am not trying to force my beliefs on you and would never expect you to return it if it’s not your thing. But Christmas is my thing, so it’s what I say. Leave the Christmas if you like, but please take the happiness.
I have done nothing.
NO-THING.
I haven’t even sent cards to the aged family, which is the one concession even I normally make with cards. I aim to do that today!
Okay, I have my USB Christmas tree on my desk and have promised flatty Christmas tree at home tonight. I have even bought my parents a teenie thing each, but they get the pleasure of my company and I’m working - unpaid - for them Christmas Day, so I figure that’s my gift.
Now I have splurged this I get to thinking that maybe I haven’t ever shared my Scrooge-like Christmas tendencies with you all. Shall I do it now? How exciting for you.
Basically, I don’t like to buy Christmas presents and rarely cards either. I see cards as mostly a waste of money and of resources and in the electronic age I will send a personal greeting to the ones I love instead. However, this is an entirely personal decision and I am not so ungrateful that I don’t really appreciate those who think enough of me to go to the time and effort to send me a Christmas card; it’s not like I judge others against my own, slightly peculiar thoughts on the matter. In fact, when a certain someone goes out of their way to go behind your back and find your address by devious means, just so they can send you a card from across the Pond, it means an incredible amount.
And presents. I actually, genuinely find the whole present thing quite upsetting.
I don’t buy Christmas presents. Well, I do, but only a couple. Part of it is is that I am saddened by how commercialisation has over taken the true meaning of Christmas. Now, okay, I am writing this from a Christian point of view and I accept that not everyone - in fact a great deal of people - do not celebrate the religion of Christmas. But, even if they don’t do that, most people still use this time of year to celebrate love and peace and family and friends. And since when did that come with a price tag?
If I see something I know someone will love, then I will buy it for them. But this whole thing where people think they HAVE to get something for people is wrong and it really upsets me. No one should HAVE to do it. Do it if you WANT to by all means, but it’s that pressure that society now dictates you have to buy things for people that gets to me. And you end up buying things that the other person doesn’t want because of this conditioned need to get SOMEthing.
And I hear friends worrying that they have not spent as much on their partners as they have on them. Again, when did it become about the price tag? If you have something the other person will get happiness from them what does the cost matter?
As far as my fiends go I would rather spend my money spending time with them. Go out for a meal, a few drinks (a few more drinks with most of my friends if I’m honest). BE with them.
I do however really like giving gifts, so sometimes I bake for my friends and family; cakes, biscuits, sweets, chocolates etc. My friends have (fortunately) come to like this because they know I have spent time and effort on them. And I give good cake *g*. And it’s why I do my gift fics on here. People are kind enough to leave nice comments on my fics throughout the year, which makes me happy. So in return I offer them some tailored to their tastes. And by the fact that some people have returned from last year, I’m guessing I didn’t do an awful job. I enjoy putting the time and effort into it and I love it when someone enjoys the results.
I often get horribly embarrassed when other people give me gifts, but most of my friends who know me well, have assured me that they understand my feelings on buying presents, but they enjoy buying for other people, including me, and so I will always take their gifts to me graciously and appreciatively in the spirit they were intended. There is an understanding that they are not expecting a bought present in return and so I don’t have to be embarrassed. Two recent examples is a friend at work who has given me a little bag of tiny gifts that she said she just saw and made her think of me and so wanted me to have them. That is kind and thoughtful and I gave her a big hug in the office and she said that was all she wanted in return. And blu04 has even been sweet enough to say my Christmas gift from her is a thank you for the fic I write throughout the year. And I gave her a fiancée so I think we’re kinda even. *g*
Christmas really stopped being fun a few years back when neither sets of parents would accept me and my partner’s choice of each other, so we had to choose between Christmas with our families or each other. She always chose her family (seriously, the signs were there. Why did it take me four years to get the message?), except one year when we both took night shifts and worked together all over Christmas.
I have actually dreaded Christmas ever since and it is no coincidence that the last two times I have needed crisis team intervention have been in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
But this year is different. My folks and I have been getting on well this last year. I don’t try to force certain aspects of my life on them now and they don’t push their opinions on me. Okay, it’s a slightly shaky foundation, but it’s the best we’ve got and I actually enjoy being with them at the moment. I am looking forward to this Christmas. Christmas Day will mostly be spent in the kitchen and waitressing, but I’ll be with both my folks, we’ll be working together and it will be fraught and frantic and fun, and then afterwards we’ll collapse together with left over Christmas dinner and a truck load of booze and chocolate. I am really thrilled to be able to say I’m looking forward to it.
Also, while I am here and in case you are still reading, if I wish you a happy Christmas, which I do by the way, but you are not religious, or not Christian, please don’t take offense. I am not trying to force my beliefs on you and would never expect you to return it if it’s not your thing. But Christmas is my thing, so it’s what I say. Leave the Christmas if you like, but please take the happiness.