You Can Stuff Christmas Up Your Arse ... If It'll Fit! posted 12/8/2008 7:01:19 PM | 1 kudo what's this?     report abuse tagged: christmas

Bionic_Angel

It's so close to Christmas now, a time of year I have hated for such a long time.

I didn't send any cards last year and the sky didn't fall, so I'm not sending any this year either. It's possible I might need to get to the root of my hatred of cards in general ... my reluctance to send birthday cards even to those I love and taking those I receive down as soon as possible. This year I will, for the first time, be going without my beloved Christmas tree. Don't ask me why when I hate Christmas I have always loved my tree. Perhaps it's the small child in me desperately holding on to something from the past. I adore decorating and looking at the finished result. The only reason I won't be having one this year is because I have two young cats who will have the thing over as soon as look at it, and I just can't cope!

I wonder sometimes if the card loathing is associated with the time when I was married. I enjoyed Christmas up until I was with my husband. His parents totally ruined the experience for me ... they'd complain because I wanted to spend some of the holiday with my side of the family. My ex-husband's birthday was New Year's Eve and his mother cooked a big family meal on the Sunday nearest to his birthday long before I came on the scene and was reluctant to change the arrangement. Then both my kids were born a week before Christmas, so eventually the whole of December revolved around whose house we were going to for what and when! Then, my marriage broke up early October, he refused to leave the house and we lived like passing ships in the night (although he expected his meals cooked and a warm body in the bed next to him and the children not to know anything was wrong ... I'll leave it to your imaginations to picture my reaction to all of that!).

Prior to the split, my parents had always been so easy going, understanding it was easier for them to come to us, but his parents didn't want to change their routine for anyone. For many years I endured the hassle of having to pack everything two small children need and dragging it along with me. My ex-husband always took his parents side with everything, I was made to feel I was the unreasonable one!

So, to the cards ... what with Christmas cards addressed to me, my husband and my children individually from work and school, the joint family Christmas card and three lots of birthday cards, we were inundated. By the time my birthday arrived in March I was sick to death of looking at them and would take mine down the very next day. It's probably time to let go of all that, but I still find it difficult to place any kind of importance on a piece of folded coloured paper with sappy printed words inside.

As I neither enjoy giving or receiving cards, perhaps I need to continue to be true to myself. It is accepted Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses and other religions don't celebrate Christmas, why shouldn't it be accepted that I, as an individual, neither send or wish to receive cards?

Presents have been thin on the ground since my divorce because I barely have the money to buy for my family, let alone give my kids money to buy me things I don't want or need. Christmas for me is a horrible, horrible consumer fest I want no part of. It's impossible though, when everyone else around me feels differently.

My kids are good, they never ask for anything, but that's probably because they know they won't get it anyway and will be spoiled rotten by their father's side of the family. It has always been a mystery to me why they spend more money on people at Christmas than on their birthdays. I do the opposite because marking the dates my children were born is more important to me than an outmoded celebration of the birth of Jesus (not that I have anything against the guy, he seemed like a pretty good sort, it's a pity the same can't be said for some of his followers!).

If I'm honest, I quite enjoyed Christmas as a child because, although we weren't religious, it used to revolve around the Nativity and all the traditional stuff, rather than who received or gave the most expensive presents.


I tried last year, and failed, not to let it get to me. I never stress about money, presents or food ... in fact, apart from the turkey and trimmings, a pudding, a bit of booze and a box of Quality Street, I don't buy anything extra, I just shop as normal.

I won't buy into all that crap. My girls always get something they need for their birthdays - this year, it's boots and winter jackets ... and they don't have to wait until their birthdays to wear them. Now they're older, we usually celebrate with a takeaway, dvd and a cake with candles.

It's all fairly straightforward and nothing to get stressed over. So why do I still have the feeling I just can't wait for it all to be over? New Years Eve is horrible too. I never go out because everything's over-priced and it's impossible to get home unless you order a cab in advance and pay a fortune for it. I enjoyed last year because the girls and I spent a nice evening together, toasted the new year in with cheap, low alcohol fizz, wrote a list each of all the shit we wanted to say goodbye to and burnt them in the garden.

I may sound like a female version of Ebenezer Scrooge before he was enlightened, but to be honest it doesn't bother me. In his day Christmas was exactly what it should be, a traditional celebration of birth and family. These days it's all about how much money we're prepared to part with and how long we can stand to be around people we hardly see all year. Old Ebenezer would have had something to grumble about if he'd been born in this day and age.

Angel has spoken .... Bah Humbug!

Copy & paste to friend: (Click inside box; Ctrl + C to copy; Ctrl + V to paste)

Blogs by Bionic_Angel: Wise Daughters & Lessons From Mothers! So Lonely... I Wanna Die! Men Are Jealous Of Women! Date Me! I Might B Pi$$ed But I Luv Ya Anyways... Original Thoughts Living, Loving, Long Distance, Long Term! Wierd Schemes & Even Wierder Dreams! More Ghosts of Christmas Past! More Ghosts of Christmas Past The Ghost of Christmas Past! How Do I Love Thee? You Can Stuff Christmas Up Your Arse ... If It'll Fit! Original Queries : Part 2 Pre-Approving Comments I have a confession to make! Original Queries Thank f*** It's Tuesday! Can You Tell Your Arse From Your Elbow? A Virtual Life Viva La Transexual! Dumb Broad Seeks Monster Man! Beware the Bitch in Angel's Clothing! Beautiful Dumb Broad Seeks Monster Guy! BITCHDOCTOR!