I understand where both of you are coming from, Shubla and Jordan, a few years back I got annoyed about how commercial Christmas has become and the amount of money it can cost, I have to say at this point that I'm not religious, but, I respect the meaning it has for many others and that was part of what caused me to get annoyed about it, along with the expense of gifts, esp for children and also as Shubla has mentioned the fact that we stuff ourselves stupid with food, a lot of which gets wasted, when there are others in the world dying of starvation.
So, I made a decision not to do Christmas, I told everyone way in advance, like in June, that I wasn't doing it, wouldn't be buying any presents and didn't want anyone to buy anything for me. I explained my reasons and kept on about it for the whole rest of the year, a lot of friends and family even agreed with me, then Christmas arrived and absolutely no-one had respected my wishes and they had all bought me presents and my boss at the time even turned up at my house with a Christmas dinner all plated up.
I felt dreadful, I felt guilty, upset and angry and also embarrassed ... it is so ingrained in our society as Jordan says.
Since then I now look at it differently, as a child you are hopefully always with your family and loved ones but most of us as adults have moved on, have our own lives, are busy with our own families, work and social lives and can unintentionally neglect our closest family. For me, Christmas is now a time when I have days off of work, can relax and spend time with those who matter the most, I can decorate my house with pretty things, buy gifts for the ppl I care about (which don't have to cost a fortune, I tend to buy a lot of local hand-crafted goods as they usually mean more to ppl than the standard gift items ... obviously not for kids, lol) and it's a chance to show them that I do think about them and am grateful for them.
And there are things you can do for others or those less fortunate or alone, I spend all year doing charitable events, I do a lot of sponsored events such as walks, bike rides, swims ... and a friend of mine owns a catering business and every Christmas (and at other times of the year) she cooks meals for people who are alone and delivers them, all free of charge ofc, I help her with that as do some of our other friends. My brother, before he died, used to cook and deliver dinners to ppl in his neighbourhood who he knew were alone at Christmas and another friend of mine has a gardening business and he and his wife invite all the old people he knows are alone to their house on the 26th and cook another Christmas dinner, those who won't or are unable to attend they also deliver it to them and sit and spend time with them, so, it's not just about being greedy or selfish, it's what you make it yourself, it's about family and friends and sharing with others and that makes it ok as far as I'm concerned.
(edited for a spelling mistake.)
Last edited by Amanda44 on Thu Dec 28, 2017 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
by NOOBY93 » Tue Dec 26, 2017 8:33 pm 
