Say it with me, the ethnonationalist settler colony Israel is conducting a genocide on the Palestinian people. This is happening in front of our eyes. We can see it unfolding in real time. It’s not too late for you to stop supporting a genocidal state and be on the right side of history instead. And let me say it very explicitly. The right side of history is the side of the Palestinian people.
I mean Jesus was born in Palestine and there are still many Christian Palestinians, some of them living in Betlehem, the birthplace of Jesus.
There’s even many news reports about how Christmas in Betlehem is canceled. I know it’s hard to comprehend but shit is really that serious. This year’s Christmas is canceled in the birthplace of Christmas.
Gaza (with the IDF nearly expanding into Syria) reduced my Christmas spirit to 10⁻⁷ well before today. A second cold in the season (with distinct symptoms different from the first) kept me from the family dinner today.
But my wife was dismissed from a 13-year job as an chief administrator of a medium sized general contractor, having been the boss’ personal assistant above her office duties. He retired, and the new exec is cleaning house (and is making some bad management decisions). So ours is going to be an It’s a Wonderful Life Christmas until we know what our future looks like, and whether we get the good ending or the bad ending.
Update 2023-12-27 Today my wife was hired. It’s a significant pay cut, but it’s working for a nonprofit she believes in serving a good cause (which is way better than the cutthroat construction industry). I anticipate she’ll be happy there and all that’s left to work out is how we’re going to pay a few more bills. So, we’re headed for the good ending.
The religious fruitcake portion of my family. I’m so tired of listening how they’re afraid of everything. This year it was the horror of how my state legalized weed, abortion, and some Disney movie had “gay stuff” in it and how thats bad because the movie is meant for kids.
Man, I read these comments and I can relate to so many of them. But honestly, this year, nothing. We’ve recently moved to an area that’s more healthy for our family. I have a partner who’s not abusive. My kids and myself are getting the mental healthcare that we need. It’s snowy outside! We have a Christmas tree and presents! It was not amazing; there was nothing over the top or spectacular. But there was nothing bad. Damn, that feels nice.
That’s about how I feel. I know I am blessed and that makes me happy. I don’t take it for granted.
Sorry 😔😐 that someone down voted your comment. That’s not very holiday so Spirit like lol… But I think almost half the comments on here always have at least one downvoted so don’t feel bad 😞
Disneyland was charging $1850 for five people for one day at Disneyland and one day at California Adventure, genie plus (some kind of fast pass replacement), and then has the gall to make some rides ineligible for the genie plus and instead you have to pay $28 a head for the fast pass. Why can’t we just wait in line? Why did the mouse feel the need to monetize every single interaction in the whole park? As great as the design is in Disneyland, definitely left a sour taste in my mouth knowing that a poor family has an objectively worse experience than a rich one, especially on Christmas. Some rides had a 90, 120 minute wait.
The fun part is that not only do you skip the line with Genie Plus but also the folks letting people into the ride will legit let an entire stream of Genie Plus payers in before letting someone who waited in line go. With the old fast pass system they were really good about alternating lines if there was a line for both fast pass and genie plus
Last time I went to Magic Kingdom in Disney world, the park was IMO legitimately too full of people. Seemed like every single space was wall to wall people and every ride, even the shitty ones was like a 3 hour wait. And it wasn’t even a holiday or a peak season time. Just a miserable experience. Feels like they just need a daily cap or something on the number of visitors because there’s definitely a point where it gets too full to be worth it for anyone.
My <1 year old nephew nearly choked to death on a nerf dart. He briefly went unresponsive before the ambulance got there and would probably be dead if both his parents didn’t have medical training.
So I guess it’s not ruined in that he’s still alive and probably okay (still waiting to see if he aspirated anything), but it’s not how you want to spend Christmas! Especially the older siblings watching all this happen.
im cpr certified and technically have the knowledge to “save” a choking person as i work a “safety job”. i often wonder if id actually be able to do it in a real situation. shits scary i hope kiddos ok.
Whew, glad they saved him! Reminds me I used to tell friends with children or that live alone they should have a LifeVac in their home medical kit. Under 100 bucks.
my mother. asked her to stop bringing up my rapist in conversation with me. she said “ya know other people have problems too.” Then she went and had holiday lunch at his house. that was before I was set to drive there for christmas, so instead I stayed home and did nothing. Turns out christmas is just a regular day.
My existence. I’d rather not celebrate Christmas, although preferably any other holiday as well. But I especially hate Christmas. I’d rather just keep going on as usual.
My mom’s a hoarder, so first thing is finding some space that will be enough for a Christmas tree in all that trash. That 2 decades old tree that will soon have no more plastic to shed really fits into that atmosphere. Then remove trash from table to put food there.
My parents will then pretend to be a moderately happy family for the next 2-3 days before returning to “normal”. (They can’t get a divorce “because God forbids it”)
There’s also the aspect of mandatory gifts. I don’t know what you want, you don’t know what I want. We could both save money (and generate less waste) by leaving that out. I don’t want anything. It’s by far worse to deal with unnecessary gifts than simply nothing.
Decorations. Why? It’s everywhere. Blinking lights, glitter, chains and whatnot. Just another thing to deal with, another thing to spend money on, more waste produced.
Music. It’s like 3 songs on repeat the whole Christmas. Everywhere I go.
TV shows. Suddenly it’s all Christmas-themed. All showing unrealistically happy families.
There’s a bunch of other reasons, but it’s hard to list those. I’d just rather not be conscious during these times, just skipping it.
At least I have a dog.
I’d just rather keep going to school. I wouldn’t have to be home at least. And almost all of my teachers are nice. School lunch is also generally good. Oh, and I can take train/bus rides. Those can be quite refreshing. I can be there for hours. If the school ends sooner, I can extend my commute. So far the best one I can take extends it from just 45 minutes to much nicer 6 hours. It includes 2 city bus rides, 1 intercity bus ride, 1 train ride and some time for a walk in a city further away.
It seems like you're going through a rough time, but that you're dealing with it in a healthy way and set to find true value in life. You will be out on your own soon enough, and you'll do great. Time goes by very fast at least in retrospect.
It seems your parents have their set of pretty deep issues, but it's at least cute that they are making the effort.
Sounds like you don’t hate Christmas, but instead the absolute fakery surrounded by piles of garbage that Christmas with your parents is. I hope you’re able to find new ways to spend time in the middle of winter doing the things you find enjoyable, with people who you find to be authentic, without mandatory gifts.
There were a lot of people I didn’t buy anything for this year because finances are extra tight. I liked that. Only bought for people that I know will enjoy and use what I got them, even though it’s cheap.
May I suggest having a Christmas with your friends, whatever way you like it?
This year I spent Christmas with one friend, and we just did whatever made us happy. We watched a few movies, and smoked some weed. She decorated the tree, I cooked my favorite meal. No gifts or anything, no yelling, just a good time. Probably the best Christmas I had in years.
Spend your time with the people you love and cherish. Christmas doesn’t necessarily need to be about family or gifts.
Best "holiday"s are the ones just chilling with friends, even if it is remote. Play some video games, go out for a walk, or maybe cook something you haven’t made in a while.
I more or less stopped doing gifts for people. Might get the kiddos something kind of useful or educational. I would rather do an activity than spend money on useless crap.
my favorite new years eve was probably the one in 2020/2021 because all my friends were online to play video games, we even held a tournament in golf with your friends haha
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