Does anyone else feel this way re: the Holidays?

[allie&mattsmom]

*Sigh* - What is wrong with me? I just can't seem to get in the Holiday Spirit this year, and I love the Holidays! I don't know what to buy anyone and I don't know what to tell people when they ask me what I want. My DD-10 and DS-8 are really hard to buy for this year, especially DD. The only things our DD wants are a lap top and/or a cell phone ! Yeah, right! So DH & I break down and decide we'd buy them each a Play Station Portable and a game and movie to go with them. So after we share a huge sigh of relief that finally we have purchased something they'll surely love, the kids recently tell us they would never want a PSP. So, back to square one. Then, DH & I decided we weren't going to buy for each other b/c we recently bought a big screen TV, so that would be our gift to eachother. But I don't feel right not having anything for him to open, but what to get? And this morning he's asking me what I want because he's going to get me something. Same situation with my mom. We're going to Florida after the Holidays, she's paying for the condo and we bought her airline ticket & paid for the rental car for her Xmas gift, but she has to have something to open! My nieces & nephews won't give me any ideas what they want, so I guess they are just getting mall gift cards. I just feel so blah and ba humbug! I know part of it is I really miss my Dad. It's coming up on the 3rd anniversary of his death, so that's got me sad. And seeing my mom sad about my Dad makes me even more sad. Plus this nasty, snowy weather! Okay, I'm done! Thanks for letting me get this out. I feel better already . Is anybody else feeling a little bit like this too?

 

[NMAmy]

I am, too. Part of my problem is that we're doing Christmas really early this year--I think I'm just stressing out. We're having our extended family get together this weekend and, since dd will be spending Christmas with her dad, I'll be recreating Christmas on the 18th.

I think I'm just too stressed what with working full-time and trying to get it all done. I got the stomach flu on Sunday and I was yelling at DH from the bathroom, "I DON"T have time for this!"

Sunday afternoon I watched part of It's a Wonderful Life and I've been listening to Christmas music non-stop in the car in an effort to get into the holiday spirit.

I hope it perks up for both of us!

 

[akhenaten]

Sounds like its time for you to shift the emphasis from buying things....

I am not saying don't give anything but try and keep perspective....

make things, bake things, donate things/time.....

spend time together....a family gift of a trip to the theatre ....etc...

Hope you find the spirit.....

 

[Planogirl]

I've noticed that many people have the blues right now. Between the weather and missing loved ones, I think that this time of year is hard. It's supposed to be all about "joy" and "cheer" right now and I don't feel any of that either.

The gift buying can turn into a chore too like you said. If I'm not really buying anything for someone but want to make sure that they have something under the tree, I'll get something small that they'd enjoy like some very good chocolate or maybe a good paperback or two. It's just so they have something to open.

 

[Andrea]

i feel the same way, we dont have kids but my mother in law asked us on thanksgiving to make a list of everything we want and we passed them around in an email so people can buy stuff off of them... well my mother in law bought "everything" off of the list.. i was like what.. now what....

so my sister in law passed another list out for herself and her hubby and i went to go shopping and i called my mother in law and she again bought everything off that list...

my hubby and myself only had like 2 or 3 things on it becauses my sister in law said nothing over 15.00 please..
we said ok,
well now it comes to it i have spent 150.00 on his mom (which i wanted to) but i ended buy a hoodie for one of my brother in law for 80.00

now i cant find anything for his mom, his brother in law, and his brother

i want to cancell christmas

 

[ZachnElli]

I'm not in the holiday spirit at all this year. I can't believe it's almost here. My dh lost his job a month ago and we are just so stressed out. We put the house up for sale too. Not a fun time for us. I just want to move back home (we moved out here for this job only a year and a half ago).

 

[akhenaten]

I'm not in the holiday spirit at all this year. I can't believe it's almost here. My dh lost his job a month ago and we are just so stressed out. We put the house up for sale too. Not a fun time for us. I just want to move back home (we moved out here for this job only a year and a half ago).

You sure have a lot on your plate!!
Keep it really simple and try and just be thankful for what you have....these things will pass and you still have each other....

Good luck to you!!

 

[luvwinnie]

I know how you feel. This is the 2nd Christmas without my mom and everything makes me CRY!

 

[C.Ann]

I'm so thankful that I'm living with my DD, her DH and my granddaughter - otherwise I'm not sure I could make it through this first Christmas without my DH.. Keeping "in the spirit" for my granddaughter is a big help, but last night as my DD & I were driving home from shopping and I was looking at the decorated houses and listening to a Christmas song on the radio, I started to tear up..

It's going to be hard, but it's something that simply has to be done.. I'm just about finished with my shopping and soon I'll start decorating my DD's house and baking cookies with my granddaughter..

It's hard to stay sad when I'm surrounded by three of the funniest, most caring, most loving people in the world.. I'm one lucky lady and for the most part, life is good..

 

[NMAmy]

I'm not in the holiday spirit at all this year. I can't believe it's almost here. My dh lost his job a month ago and we are just so stressed out. We put the house up for sale too. Not a fun time for us. I just want to move back home (we moved out here for this job only a year and a half ago).

I'm so sorry to hear this. I hope things start going better for you soon.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

I'm sorry you do have so much to bring you down.
This year I looked at what we are really celebrating- the birth of Christ. It has helped to think more about Christmas and less about all the hassles.
I'm not saying this works for everyone.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I feel blah b/c hubby is away. I cannot climb ladders right now--so no lights on the house or fetching the rest of our decor. He did get down the tree for me on his last visit.

My housework has gone to the toilet and any task in my home is daunting. So I am very blah about the holidays--not bah humbug...just blah .

I haven't gotten our advent candles yet either . We leave in less than 2 weeks for Christmas with Daddy--so when my household duties disappear and we can just go have fun for a couple of weeks..I imagine that it will be much better for me.

 

[lovemygoofy]

There aren't enough hours in the day for everything that I need to get done before the holiday hits. I love the holiday season but my Matt is deployed again and it's just so hard to enjoy anything when he is gone. Our annv is Dec 21 and we had a Christmas wedding so anything Christmas is tied to our special day and makes me think about him not being here. I'm trying to buy for both sides of our family, get my dh's presents wrapped and shipped, get evreything within our FRG ready to go for all our soliders and get the children's party ready. I just don't think I can make it to Jan 1 before killing over. Hope someone catches me when it happens in the long long lines of wal-mart I'm trying really really hard to enjoy the season and the real actual reasons for it but with everything pressing down sometimes you get caught up. I really hope that everyone feels better as the holidays get closer and C. Ann, I have been thinking about you alot lately. Hope you get through your first Christmas

 

[WIcruizer]

Christmas is always a tought ime for me. I'm very busy at work the last two weeks of the year, we travel a lot to see relatives, spend a lot of money,,,all reasons for stress rather than joy. Watching our kids open presents always made it worth it. But now they're older, and we have a really tough time finding enough things for them to open. They only want big ticket items like laptops, small plasma TVs, etc.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I've downright hated the holidays for the last 5 years. When my mom remarried all our traditions flew out the window, and we had to start from square one with a dope who could care less about traditions. Christmas has always involved a lot of bouncing around, between my parents' houses, and the grandparents' house. This year there will be less of that. My dad will be 3000 miles away on business. He's ordering our Christmas gifts online and having them shipped to our mom's. We'll be giving him his gifts when he finally comes home late February or March, because he doesn't want us paying for shipping since he'll just be driving them back across the country.
On top of that I'm trying to get through all the papers and finals. My classes end Friday, major paper due Monday, then it's home for a few days, before I drive back up here next Friday for my one and only final. Then at least I get to be home for a month. It just doesn't feel like Christmas time at all. I've been listening to Christmas music, with headphones on. One of my roommates hates Christmas music, so we can't blast it like we normally do at home. Even the weather is different. We don't always have snow by this time this year, and we barely have any now, but it's not normally 20 one day and 60 the next at this time of year. The pollen count isn't normally this high this time of year either It's all just so different this year.

 

[GeorgeG]

I have surmised that the "Christmas spirit" isn't always what many people think it is. I've always liked Christmas, but years of having to spend it with too much family (in-laws) crowded into a too small house (nobody has a house big enough for everyone) with too much noise and confusion has made me re-evaluate the whole concept.

We have recently moved to Florida from New York and most relatives simply assumed we would be returning for the holidays. Nope! Ain't gonna happen. It's too cold, too noisy, and too much "spirit" that has little to do with the real holiday. We're staying right here in Florida and going to Walt Disney World, something I've been wanting to do for years. I wish we were staying over, but I doubt there are any rooms available at the resorts. We're close enough to day-trip and that's what we'll do.

Just the two of us hanging out will be all we need. True Christmas spirit is in the heart, not under a tree.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

I have been feeling the same way. I usually love the holidays. I love the decorations, the christmas trees, the lights on houses, etc. but this year I cannot get into the holiday and either can my mom. We all know it's because we recently lost 3 people in the last 5 months (my 2 grandma's and 1 grandpa) and we no longer have anybody to celebrate our holidays with but my mom, dad, sister, BIL, niece and nephew, and my boyfriend and I. I remember just last year we had a huge family gathering and now they are all gone.

 

[WIcruizer]

It's too cold, too noisy, and too much "spirit" that has little to do with the real holiday. We're staying right here in Florida and going to Walt Disney World,

The answer was right in front of me all along. Maybe from now on we spend every Christmas at WDW!

 

[Snowysmom]

I can understand the lack of holiday spirit. This year I have none. My father (87) is not doing too well healthwise. He just sleeps most of the day and won't walk around getting some much needed exercise. He had knee replacement surgery in May and he did not recover well. My doggie has been diagnosed with bone cancer in one vertebrae and while we had surgery done, they could not remove alot of the tumor so it grew back quickly. Cancer treatment will not work at this point so she is basically in pet hospice care here at home, not in any pain at this point. She is only 8 and a well loved doggie. So this year, with these 2 things going on, we are pretty much out of holiday spirit at our house. If we could get one more Christmas with Snowy, since she loves to "open" gifts, maybe the mood would be better. Also, I would like my father to get a bit more interested in life and not sleep so much.
It is a tough time of year for bad things to happen (not that there is ever a good time of year!)

 

[Daisy Duck 5]

I dont like how everyone now thinks they have to get what someone wants. What ever happened to just surprising someone you love. How about just going into a store such as Walmart, Toys R Us or Target and getting all your gift shopping over with. To get in the Holiday mood make some cookies or a gingerbread house with your kids. If you can't think of any gift ideas start a treard asking for help finding the perfect gift. People here on the DIS always have great ideas.