It doesn't feel like Christmas to anyone I know

Does it feel like Christmas to you? And, if it doesn't, why not?

(I have no idea how to make a poll, or I would do that)

I read a lot of news, including this site, so I excuse myself for these feelings. My kids don't, though. In fact, they're the first ones to get hyper excited.

I'm not talking about the spiritual meaning of Christmas - just the simple "Christmas time of year" sort of thing. I don't have it. We're going to have a white Christmas for the first time in years. The decorations are all up. I've been shopping and so on, all like usual. It just doesn't feel like the right time of year for Christmas.

I'm not saying that I don't feel like Christmas is going to happen - it's only four days away, after all. I just feel very odd this year - and so does every single person I've asked. Every single one feels kind of "nothing" about Christmas this year. None of them are TimeBomb kind of people.

My friend is going to have a baby a couple of weeks after Christmas - her sixth - and she says that she just can't get motivated to prepare for it. She can't picture herself holding the baby or caring for him at all. She mentioned that before I ever asked her about Christmas.

I don't have gloom and doom. What's really odd, is that I feel like putting up Easter decorations. How weird is that?

Feel free to move this thread if you need to.

I think there are so many distractions - political, Iraq, natural disasters (i.e. Katrina and the aftermath) that Christmas has been put on the back burner this year?

It's almost an after thought. Something we have to go through the motions with.

Beginning on Friday afternoon, barring anything really hideous or out of the ordinary happening, I'm not going to watch any news - I'm going to completely concentrate on having a wonderful Christmas.

And, I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas!

Turn off the distractions and have a great time!

It definately feels like Christmas to me. Not trying to ruin anyone's "pity party" because i love a good pity party everyonce in a while, but Iwas almost in tears buying gifts this year for the young ones of the family.

I felt better than i have in a long time.

Nope. Doesn't feel like Christmas at all. No idea why. But this year, more than any I can recall, leaves me feeling "empty".

I've heard from a lot of folks saying it doesn't feel like Christmas or that they just can't quite get into the "Christmas spirit" this year. As for me, I kinda vacillate between "yes it does" and "no it doesn't" so I'm not a good indicator. My DW is *determined* to get into the spirit this year whether she wants to or not in order to make it special for the kids - so that helps me.

So that's my input, fwiw.

Strange, I get in the Xmas spirit, but not really looking forward to it as my usual self does. My daughter who is 9 doesn't seem that excited either. I'm also 5 months pregnant and we found out it is a girl....still haven't bought ONE THING yet...just can't get into it.....weird.

I love Christmas! It feels very much like Christmas to me even without the snow. But boy, oh boy, would I ever love it if it could snow around or on Christmas. I come from New England where I grew up with snow. I remember when our tree was in the dining room and I would sit at the table looking at the tree with all the pretty lights and outside the window was the shimmering snow piled high in our bushes. What a beautiful site! I too, remember going out on snowy Christmas Eves and my parents driving me and my brother around to see all the light displays that folks in our neighborhood put out. Just about everybody put up lights back then.

I have enjoyed this year playing Christmas carols on my stereo and writing out our usual 500 Christmas cards with the oil lamp burning on my desk. I also loved baking with my son while the carols were playing. I baked for some of my family members who live too far away to visit with in person.

I even enjoy wrapping the many gifts I have saved up throughout the year for people. I have a 6 foot table set up in my bedroom where I wrap all the gifts.

We also have a 6 foot folding table in our diningroom on which I put a red tablecloth and lots of Christmas goodies. That is where we have one of our two Nativities. It is set up right in the middle to the back of the table. The other is on our mantle piece.

This is also the one time of year when I get to see my brother. That is very special to me. Since he cannot come for Thanksgiving, we celebrate it on Christmas Day, and I am really looking forward to that once in a year feast.

There is a large Christmas tree in our family room now. I put up the lights with hubby's help and then all of us shared in hanging the ornaments together.

I love to open the Christmas cards that come in. I hang many of them up around the house.

On Christmas Eve, my son's best friend will come over. I always make mini sandwiches, hot cider and banana bread for the occasion. After that, we set out for the goodie table in the dining room.

WE have candles in all the front windows and two small artificial Christmas trees with lights set up on tables. One of them has a train set which we leave running on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

All sorts of Christmas decorations, I have collected through the years, adorn the various rooms of the house.

Lately my family and I have been practicing singing carols together while I accompany us on the guitar. Then on Christmas Day we will give a little concert for my brother. We started that tradition 4 years ago. Although we aren't the greatest singers, we still have lots of fun.

I know I am most fortunate that my husband is working, my little family is well and with me. We have a large lovely home in the country and a few wonderful friends. Our preps are full and we have a sense of security. For now all is well and I am very very thankful. I know it will not always be this way so I treasure each moment I have now with all these blessings.

I know there is alot of terrible news out there, but I can still make room for joy.

Merry Christmas!

Could it be we're all burned out and overspent already ?

Could it be we're all burned out and overspent already ?

I don't know about you but with a bunch of sickness going around....high gas prices.....bosses telling you to take time off (as in contracts slim)....without pay and the stress of what Bushfraud and company have been up to......

People are burned out and overspent.........I don't know if i'll be back to normal even if i tighten my belt till June 2006. And I haven't bought one gift this year.

I plan only to send 2 gifts......a christian book for my mom and a hobby book for my dad.......that's it..........I'm tapped out and just can't add any more to my credit card.

And I'm single with no kids........living in a very cheep apartment where there's a good chance of a break in.

So yeah......it doesnt' feel like other christmases

Well, I'm glad some people are feeling "Christmasy." I was starting to think there wasn't anybody. I knew this was the right place to ask.

I am by no means glooming and dooming. I have no "something terrible is going to happen" feelings. I have no idea why it just feels like the wrong time of year for Christmas. Both my kids said the same thing - before I ever said anything. My oldest daughter says she feels like we ought to be going to Lent services - so I guess she and I are together on the "Easter" feeling.

Who knows? Maybe a resurrection is near.

Feels like Christmas at our house. Snow on the ground. Girls home from college. Spent a day shopping at the mall. Baking cookies every day.
Wrapping presents. Watching old Chrismas movies in the evenings. Tree is waiting in the garage for Christmas Eve.

Presents will not be extravagant, but everyone is enjoying being together and remembering how much we love each other, and how blessed we are and how little we need.

(So much nicer now that they aren't teenagers anymore.)

Maybe that's why I'm not in the Christmas spirit; I haven't done hardly any baking, and what I did, was gone in a couple days, because I had to take it to a party.

We do have snow, for the first time in a long while, decorations are up, inside anyway. Money isn't really a problem this year, but I still haven't bought most of the gifts. I love to buy for others, so don't get me wrong, but I feel almost like it's a waste of money/time, and I'll regret it soon. Like there are more urgent needs, but I really don't see that around me.

Hope it's nothing other than being tired.
cr

I have an odd request - could everyone who comments on this thread and whether they're feeling the Christmas spirit please give your location?

I'm curious as to whether or not there might turn out to be a particular area of the country where people are feeling this way (perhaps sensing that something might be about to occur?)

For my part (here in Portland, OR), I'd say this year is pretty typical for me in that except for a few blurps of Christmas excitement when I started doing the shopping, I hadn't really been too excited until the last couple of days. Feeling the anticipation pretty strongly, now, though.

I think we don't feel like it's Christmas because it falls on a Sunday this year. I love it when it falls on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday! But Sunday?

My MIL isn't decorating, my Sister-I-L isn't having her usual Christmas eve party. It's almost as if my entire family is walking around in some great big funk, including us.

I got out some decorations and put up some lights and I think they look good. I might keep them up all year However, DH & I keep catching the same cold over and over since before Thanksgiving and when you're sick you don't care about anything. (And if either of us are sick on Christmas day I will be so mad ....!!!! The last thing I want to do is be in bed on Christmas...geesh!)

But I really do think it's because it falls on a Sunday. I don't know why, but it's as good an explaination as any other, no?

Mary (no garden, no lamb)

I think that it is awesome that you feel like putting up Easter decorations!! If I were you that feeling alone would excite me. Go with that feeling!!

Doesn't feel like Christmas, but I have a good excuse. Normally, in times past, I would go spend it with my mom or up north with my daughter and sis. Both mom and kid are in heaven now (where it's Christmas every day) so I won't be traveling anywhere this year....
BUT.. (it's a secret-don't tell anyone) I am getting married between Christmas and New Years day, so I WILL party!

Part may be the falling on Sunday, part may be the 'warfare' against it. I haven't done much this year; just doing other things. Tree decorated last night, cards sent just 20 minutes ago. Just drained from things in general, I think, including wife's recent dual layoffs. I always try to ignore everything from the day after Thanksgiving till the end of the 2nd week of December anyway. The weather has certainly felt Christmassy.

Cardinal said:

Doesn't feel like Christmas, but I have a good excuse. Normally, in times past, I would go spend it with my mom or up north with my daughter and sis. Both mom and kid are in heaven now (where it's Christmas every day) so I won't be traveling anywhere this year....
BUT.. (it's a secret-don't tell anyone) I am getting married between Christmas and New Years day, so I WILL party!

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Cardinal, congratulations! That's so awesome!



I don't exactly feel too "Christmasy" myself, but at least I don't feel THIS bad, hahahahahaha:



"Bad Santa:"

I go back and forth too. My daughter and her boyrfriend are coming home on leave, so I'm excited about that. I have baked and decorated, but still can't really get in the mood. Both of us being layed off doesn't help. We've had to cut back on our gift givng, but that's not really a bad thing. We have snow, we've been shopping together, and it still doesn't feel right. I can't explain it either. I think part of it is that the whole family can't be here on Christmas Eve this year. That's always when we have our big doings. My little brother used to always stay here over his Christmas break from college, and that was always a lot of fun. Now he's lucky to get home for a day or two. This will be the first year that Santa doesn't come here and I think that has a lot to do with the let down feelings. All the kids and grandkid are out on their own, so it'll just be me and hubby on Christmas morning. Once there aren't any kids home it never seems the same.

It doesn't feel at all like Christmas to me, either. I think it is because of the lack of Christmas music in the stores & in the commercials on TV.

I used to love the Budweiser commercial with the Clydesdales pulling the wagon through the snow, but I haven't seen it this year. All the commercials either don't mention the season at all, or if they do, it's "the holidays".

Maybe that is the problem. It isn't Christmas this year, it's The Holidays.

I think watchin has nailed a lot of it.

Here's another thought from another place that may help explain why this one feels different:

Deep down, I think most people have at least a gut feeling that many, many things about society are hanging by the slinderest of threads. It's not just the energy crises. Our political overlords have unilaterally decided that they are changing the composition and nature of society, of nations themselves. But natural resource shortages, and energy in particular, may, indeed, be the fire that lights the fuse, so to speak. The rise of a chauvanistic Chinese nation state intent on taking over metals and oil in the heart of the West itself, not to mention regions that historically have been in the Wests "sphere of interest". And an increasingly monolithic and aggressive moslem theocracy that already controls most of the world's oil. Just as people knew great changes were at hand before the 1914-1918 war but never dared predict the devestation that would result, or just as people knew throughout the 1930s that Europe would again go to war but had no idea of the degree of the catastrophe, I think most people realize we face implacable foes but can't really imagine how bad the coming conflicts will actually be. It doesn't help that we are governed by fools, even if the average Westerner deep in their hearts realizes what tasks lie ahead.. As a German general once said of the British Army, "lions led by donkeys

I took this week off from work (nightshift), so I can spend more time being around people. I went to a small party of our church choir this last weekend, and last night, some friends and I went to a choral concert, "A Baroque Christmas," in a beautiful gothic cathedral here in SFO. What talented and dedicated people, the choir, the musicians, the conductor, who is also the parish's music and liturgy director. They played excerpts from Mendelson, Vivaldi, Corelli and Hendel and the audience got to sing along to "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "The First Nowell," "Joy To The World," and even the Protestant Hymn, "While Shephards Watched Their Flocks." It was just glorious music.

That said, today I am still troubled in that I don't feel the same way about Christmas this year as in years past. I am decorated to the gills but this hasn't provided the usual comfort and joy that I expected. Perhaps it's because people are still suffering from the hurricanes and earthquakes and tsunami of last year. Perhaps it's the rapid decline of our society, perhaps it's because that world peace is ever more distant. Perhaps it's news overload.

In any case, this season feels different. All I know is that I have to be around people this year, whether with my family, my parish community or my neighbors. The season of giving may be just visiting my elderly landlady who just lost her eldest daughter to ovarian cancer, after losing her youngest to breast cancer two years ago. It could be giving a homemade casserole dish to my neighbor who is still mourning the loss of her mother, her best friend.

All around me people are coping the best they can and me in my own little world, oblivious to it all. Yes, I'm racked with guilt, that I'm sitting here comfortably while there is still so much need....and yet I do nothing.

I'm going to see if I can make a difference today and the day after, even if all I can do is give a smile or just listen.



"Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant." Mt. 20:26

In any case, this season feels different.

Exactly. For me, it's kind of a lingering malaise that I can't define. But it's sucked the joy out of the season for me.

Is it an age thing? Because we're getting older?

Wow! It feels like Christmas!

I made up my own mind that no matter what the rest of the world is doing right now,

My family is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ!

Focusing on his birth in your mind and heart, this is turning out to be my best Christmas ever! I cannot begin to describe the joy I feel inside. This is the moment, now is the time -- think deeply about what Christmas is truly about. You WILL feel the joy and excitement of Christmas!

I wish and pray for joy to each and every one of you. It can happen!

I'm going to see if I can make a difference today and the day after, even if all I can do is give a smile or just listen.

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gillman, what you said above are the two BEST things anyone can do to help other people through hard, lonely times. Seems to me you have the very essence of the "Christmas Spirit" already in you! How Excellent is that?

Mary (no garden, no lamb)

Dennis Olson said:

In any case, this season feels different.

Exactly. For me, it's kind of a lingering malaise that I can't define. But it's sucked the joy out of the season for me.

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It is the same with me... Somehow, for some reason
I feel like something is walking over my grave - like
feeling...........................<center>

This is actually a better Christmas for me than in the past few years. But, it is always a 'happy' season if there is music or giving involved. If I'm not singing in the choir or helping a charity, then I don't have the Christmas spirit no matter how much decorating or cooking I've done.

One tradition I have is to sit quietly at home late on Christmas Eve and listen to, oh, maybe something by Vivaldi, and then lift a glass to The Big Guy and say "Happy Birthday!"

That usually puts me in the spirit even if I've been cranky and rushed all season.

Pearl

Could it be because Bush has torn out our guts with his stupidity?
How about the fact that many of us believe that 9/11 was an inside job
Or, the fact that our politicians are more concerned about pleasing Israel than representing Americans
Or the fact that the good jobs have all left the country and many are unemployed.
Or any of these
We no longer hear real Christmas songs on the radio.
The threat of war hangs over our heads.
Other people who hate Christmas are trying to ban public displays.

How much can we take without it affecting us?

Something happened yesterday that helped me a little. I got to watch the old Suzy Snowflake and Hardrock, Cocoa, and Joe spots that they used to show at Christmas time when I was a kid. Anybody that's interested can go to www.wjactv.com and see them. I was so excited when my hubby told me they were on. I always watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but I haven't seen it yet this year.
One thing that is really going to thrill me is watching my son see his repaired childhood stocking. My mother had beautiful stockings made for each of my kids when they were small. Made out of felt with sequins and beads and just beautiful. When we got Adam's out of the attic last year we found that it had been chewed up by mice. Even though he's an adult, I thought he was going to cry. He was very close to my parents and treasures anything he got from them. Well, I rescued what I could from it and remade it the best I could. My daughters think it looks like the original. I broke my neck to get it done for this year so he can see it before he loses his sight. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he finds it Christmas Eve.! That is really the only thing I can honestly say I'm excited about. Oh, the gag gifts too! I have more fun coming up with them than anything I find in a store. I guess the more I think about it, the more I'm finding to look forward to. THANKS GUYS!!!!

I am half way in the Christmas mood, I really want to be outside clearing brush. I am in cooking. I did make Walmart and the people were older 70 to 80s and all were Merry Christmasing me so I sorta got in the mood. Been joking about Santa bringing reindeer poop to my granddog. She has found her stocking twice. geez. If I could only get people grandkids. LOL.. Hubby got in the mood and stuck a gift card in our neighbors mailbox signed santa. Amount will not go far with 8 kids living there. Wish we could have done more. Maybe the spirit will hit us on Christmas eve.

We have a two year old around here, so it Really Feels Like Christmas! This is the first Christmas that she can really participate in.


We took her last night to see Santa Claus, and when she got on his lap, she wasn't really interested in telling him what she wanted for Christmas. She just wanted to play with his white, hanging beard. She's never encountered anybody with fake fur hanging down their face before.


It's so great shopping for a two year old, and a great diversion from all of the hardship that Hurricane Katrina has inflicted on all of my extended family.

,

I've never been real into it in the first place because of seeing it as a paganized Roman Catholic holiday that wasn't really Jesus birthday. But, I like the kids to have a special day with presents.

This year I can hardly think about or pray about anything but the Iran situation and impending "doom"...I assume it'll be the start of mideast war turning into WW111. I don't feel afraid and indeed I even feel a certain amazement at watching bible prophecy unfold before my eyes. But the implications of war are so HUGE for us all that I don't think about christmas much at all.

So it looks like, from what I can tell, that this feeling stretches through at least California, Georgia, Maine, N. Carolina, Cincinnati, Pennsylvania and Texas, which pretty much means across the whole country.

I've given some thought to this since my original response, and although it is true that I'm feeling some Christmas spirit, and I think it would be slightly more honest to say that, yes, I'm feeling some Christmas spirit, but I've had to work hard to get there. I didn't really notice at the time, but I've been sort of compelling myself to feel happy about it.

For some reason, though, it seems counter-intuitive to blame what everyone's describing on what has happened the past year. If anything, all of the war, death and disaster that has occurred seems like it should be more of a reason for people to celebrate this year. Call it a defiance of the darkness.

I don't know. I'm not trying to raise an alarm or say that I think anything IS going to happen. But I find the comments here very interesting. There was an experiment done not too long ago where people were shown a series of photos, while their various body functions were being monitored. What the experiment showed was that people had a physiological response to the "negative" or unpleasant photos BEFORE they actually saw them. And the Global Consciousness Project, by using random number generators placed in various locations around the globe, showed that our group consciousness registered a "disturbance in the force" hours before the first plane hit the first tower on September 11.

So I can't help but wonder if its the past or the future that is making everyone feel this way?

I'm sort of going through the motions here, as well. I got cards send out after Thanksgiving and a few decorations up. That's the extent of it. My area plunged into the deep freeze, January weather, which might have something to do with my mood.

I never looked forward to Christmas that much anyway because I usually had to work, but even though I'll be home this year, it just doesn't seem like Christmas to me, and I can't seem to get into the spirit.

No Christmas spirit here. Had a S-I-L die unexectedly from a diabetic coma (she really loved Christmas too) about 2 weeks ago. Husband and son at odds with each other for a while but they've finally resolved their differences (the stress didn't help me much).

Leftover crap to deal with from Hurricane Rita (roof still not fixed). Possibility of Bird Flu & the rumblings of WW3 looming in the Middle East.

Haven't decorated indoors for Christmas because my Terrior/Rotty mix would have destroyed anything we would've put out. We've since purchased the indoor "pen" that folks here recommended and nothing has been destroyed since so maybe decorating the house will lift my mood.

No small kids in our family to buy for, everyone has the means to purchase whatever they want prior to Christmas so it's hard to buy something special. I really hate just buying "stuff" that isn't needed or used, so I agonize over gift purchases. So it will be a mad dash in the next few days to buy a few token gifts to go along with gift cards for my relative's favorite stores.

Probably need to get away from the internet for a couple of days and avoid all the doom and gloom in the news for awhile.

It doesn't feel like Christmas in N. California.....I wonder if it is because so many companies don't bring out the spirit like they used to... very few places are playing Christmas Carols.....no one SAYS Merry Christmas anymore, just happy holidays......it is now politically incorrect to BE in the spirit of Christmas. Even the Salvation Army isn't allowed to wish you a Merry Christmas..all they do is ring that blasted bell! No more creche on the town hall lawn......fewer people putting up lights.......no nearly as many Christmas parties.
We are being indoctrinated into an atheist nation.....how sad.
OK now I 'm depressed.

.................to get ya back into that Christmas mode................go out and pickup the 1988 movie Scrooged with Bill Murray .
Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS YA`LL.

I think alot of people in this nation, within our generation, had our eyes opened very quickly this last year. I think we were made to realize almost overnight that everything we've worked for can be snatched away in an instant. most people I know have finally gotten to that point in life where they have gotten the eduactions, they have a job, a life, a car, a home, a family. But during the years it took us to gather these things we weren't told about how disaster could take it away in masses. We were prepared but are we really?
Of course we knew these things could happen...but did we really believe it?

The war, the disaster, the news...I think it has everything to do with this.

I think we're coming to the beginning of a truth in our lives.
We can't see it but we know its on the way.

Its almost like standing at the door waiting for a guest to arrive but you don't know when that guest will get here. And when he does, will he be friend or foe?

Just MO of course.
But I think deep down inside we all know what we're trying to say and I'll bet if we could say it like we wanted to, we would all be in agreement, especially on who the guest is.

No decorations, no music, and no trees.

The only decorations I have seen all month are colored lights on two airport shuttles. Only one radio station plays "Christmas" music, but they won't play actual christmas music, only gag songs and rock'n'roll versions. Actually it's a little better this year because they finally added some pieces by Bing Crosby, Gene Autrey, and others of that era. But still no schmaltzy stuff. Even the internet radio stations won't play anything traditional, but they are a little better than the local r&r station plays. I haven't seen a single tree lot. Phoenix used to have dozens of tree dealers, as well as large numbers of trees in grocery store parking lots. I haven't seen even one this year.

The stores don't contribute anything to the holiday. The most the stores ever do is to hang seasonal posters, and they haven't even done that this year. It's like the whole country just doesn't have the energy to do christmas. Or the money.

could it be that, as Christmas became more secularized and commercialized over the past years, and/or decades, and given the happy holidays pc version of an old fashioned Christmas, that everybody is coming to terms with the emptiness of a holiday that has lost its meaning?

think about this: forget the gifts
forget the cards
forget the decorations
forget all the office parties
forget all the stuff in the stores

how many americans are walking around, without all of the above-mentioned frivolity, and have the spirit of Jesus in their heart?

after all, isn't he the reason for the season?

someone in my office today was talking about the lack of christmas spirit this year, and said that God must surely be unhappy at the lack of Christmas spirit that seems to be going on.

i spoke up and said that maybe God was happy that people were getting tired of the commercialism and secularization of December 25th, and that maybe what we are supposed to learn from this is the true meaning of christmas.

just my 2 cents. or 1 and 1/2.
no flames, please.
breezyhill