Is it just my circle, or has it been a challenge getting into the Christmas/holiday spirit the last couple of years?
Sure, the first year (or two) of COVID were wretched, but most of those barriers have since cleared — yet I’m still struggling. I’ve noticed the same with a number of people within my family and neighbourhood.
How are others feeling? Are you struggling, yet succeeding? If so, how are you breaking through?
This year has been bad in my area. The cost of living crisis, lots of illness sweeping through, general stress, it’s all meant that no one has really had the Christmas spirit this year. And I’m not talking gifts or anything like that. I’m talking about having hot chocolate, wearing pjs, admiring other people’s decorations.
We’ve all commented that we haven’t been feeling it, and no one can pinpoint why exactly, but I think there’s just too many bad/stressful things going on for people to have the emotional resources left to be positive
I’ve never been much of a Christmas person. But 2020-2022 were the most Christmasy I’ve ever felt (probably because we were at home and decided to embrace with a tree and roast dinner etc it rather than our usual travelling holiday).
Now that we’re fully back to our old lifestyle, I don’t even notice that it’s Christmas/end of year until someone brings it up.
Well for me yeah for years and I felt guilty not being happy and enjoying the holidays with my family. Covid unrelated. Antidepressants helped me enjoy it atleast a bit.
there are a lot of factors for me but i feel it, and i think a big part is climate change. i live in new england and it was 60 degreees and raining the other day, pretty hard to get into the holiday spirit when it’s spring outside.
Also, before the goblinos start, yes there are many places where christmas happens in summer, summer type weather, etc, but that is not how it was for me growing up and most of my adult life.
I mean, the point of the special is to find meaning in the holidays regardless of the rampant consumerism, but the impact of the message is dampened a bit by Hallmark putting out new charlie brown Christmas tree ornaments every year.
That said, it’s also okay not to have holiday spirit if you don’t find anything about this time of year meaningful. For many who aren’t practicing Christians, it’s a time to be with family because most companies tend to give days off anyway, but for those of us who have cut ties and don’t see the significance of decorating and whatnot, it’s perfectly fine to enjoy the time off without feeling festive.
It was a favorite of mine as a kid. For me, all the nativity reminds me of the war in Gaza and the Christian Nationalist movement infecting the US government and stripping away civil rights.
Generally the high extinction risk from compound crises (climate, plastic, etc.) has dispelled any notion that what I do here or happens to me matters at a greater scale.
If I ceased to exist this moment, it might cause a small amount of local harm, but little wake. These days, I’m a practicing absurdist, mostly that means I’m aware of my grief and dispair in fine detail, a geographic manifold I’ve well explored.
Ignorance and Want are no longer child wretches hiding in the fold of the robes of a Christmas spirit, rather now have become massive kaiju thundering across the countryside ravaging the population with withering gaze and breath of biting hyperborean frost, leaving a path of toxic wasteland in their wake.
Maybe you’re focusing on the wrong things? Christmas, for me, is a time to show my family that I care for them. Yes, through gifts, but also through time spent with them. It’s a chance to speak others’ love language. For me, doing things for others is how I really feel better about myself.
I was forced to realise before covid, that my family is dysfunctional and delusional. This obviously extends to family events such as Xmas.
I lost interest many years ago in the whole theatrics of it, it’s a capitalist holiday and nothing more. My family touts that “it’s about the thought and the people” when in actuality it’s always been about the gifts (and by extension, money spent).
With that said, covid caused a pause in a lot of said family relations, and that was the straw that broke the (camel’s) back. Most of my family is now rarely in contact, and Xmas as a family event finally bit the dust.
I’m on top of the world, and there’s still money in my wallet, as well as less familial bullshit.
It’s obnoxious from start (last week Oct) to finish (1st week Jan). Shit music, saturation marketing, shit social obligations, travel and/or houseguests, waste of money, house is cluttered, etc. it’s draining.
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