The Christmas Thread

[Tigranes]

Those of you who enjoy the good things about Christmas, good on you and feel free to tell us all about it. Those of you who get surrounded by rampant consumerism, formalised hospitality and fake cheer, you will be even more inclined to share.

 

I'm most interested this year in what everyone got and gave for gifts, especially between intimate relationship the leeway for funny gifts is small. (Damn the lack of html.)

 

Personally, while I don't mind overmuch (yet), I think it's quite interesting how;

(1) while I prefer to give gifts more spontaneously, as I feel that is more sincere than having to give on giving days, it turns out that if you get the gf/etc something 3 weeks before Christmas, that only raises expectations for the "real" gift. Thus we have this fixation of sorts.

(2) as the video points out, the said gift for gfs/wives/etc must be romantic; my gut feeling is that for many (not all), funny/practical/absurd/cute gifts are acceptable but only as supplementing the "proper" romantic gift. Again, the 'proper'.

(3) for men who don't have skills in performance, arts, crafting or earning lots of money for extraordinary events, jewelry (along with some junior partners like shoes) emerges as the perfect 'solution'; it meets the (1) & (2) requirements while being relatively easy to buy and pick for the man. This is quite interesting/ironic when considering the role of jewelry marketing in helping building up this status.

(4) while it's tempting to write this off as socially conscious/conditioned women having typically womanly and thus unreasonable expectations in the romantic sector, I can't help but think that there is a solid process of legitimisation going on in the heads of many individual women when they come to expect (1) & (2) that is not necessarily "but diamonds are how you show real love!!11!1"...

 

[Gorth]

Got too much interesting stuff going on in my life atm. Mixed up the dates and forgot it was the 24th today

 

I'm not a Christmassy person. Haven't really "celebrated" it for decades. Might buy a good bottle of Cognac and have a double serving, but otherwise too busy for all the stuff that seems to excite people so (i.e. worry about about gifts, decorations, more gifts, all the usual consumerism stuff). Gave a chunk of money to some salvation army guy collecting for the needy. That'll will have to do for Christmas presents.

[Raithe]

I have the mixed dealing of christmas.

 

On the one hand I am heartlessly jaded and cynical over large amounts of it. On the other... I can be gleefully childish on the idea of the festive and the concept of snow and a christmas tree, and the whole concept of people wanting hope and good cheer.

 

Plus I find that the whole Christmas period kind of runs across a series of hm, lets say meaningful anniversaries which always adds a certain tinge of melancholy and grief that never quites goes and can almost turn to obsessive.

 

So I'll push to get the tree up and some decorations out (mostly tree decorations with a few room) , nothing in the extreme and tacky. And then I'll bounce between the gleeful and the glum.

[Hurlshort]

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I enjoy giving gifts as well as receiving, and I actually like wandering around looking for individual gifts at the mall.

 

I always like getting up early on christmas morning and opening presents. Since having children, though, it is a totally epic event. The whole month of december is awash with stuff that lights my daughter's eyes up.

[Nepenthe]

Never been a Christmas person, sure it was like the second birthday as a kid, but my "gift haul" was always very modest compared to everybody around. I didn't get the huge piles of loot everybody else was getting, even as a kid. (I got my first gaming console when I was 23 and paid for it with my own money. Apparently you need to have at least two at fifteen or you're nobody...) But yeah, lots of happy memories as a kid, lots of looking broke people throw away insane amounts of money on an older age.

 

That said, I enjoy buying things for people who are important to me (more than I enjoy getting things from them, in fact. Though it's nice to be remembered. or would be.). Unfortunately, that's a pretty short list these days.

 

Mostly spend Christmas with my mother these days, as my father is with his new family. Good time for winding down a bit.

[Monte Carlo]

I used to be Grinch-like, but now I have children it's much easier because obviously they love the whole thing to bits.

 

I am off to the countryside for the Holidays visiting family. I will be offline until next week I guess, so I'll take the opportunity now to wish you all a very happy Christmas wherever you are or whatever you're doing.

 

Cheers

MC

[Serrano]

Merry christmas everyone.

 

This year I bought games, films, audio-books, a cd player to play said audio-books,

Edited December 24, 2010 by Serrano

[Tigranes]

It is now Christmas in New Zealand. Have a good one.

 

I might say that my stepdad is the best Christmas relative in the whole world, because every year he needs, wants, and gets, some new socks.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Merry Christmas.

[Malcador]

Christmas is a pretty dull time, and being around all these happy people is making me really uneasy. Skimped on gifts this year, bought one gift pre-Christmas, and one is post-Christmas, so I'll look bad when they're exchanging gifts. Ah well

[Guard Dog]

Well, I do like Christmas. Amazon has taken care of the gift giving for me. I mean how cool is it to buy everything on one site and have it sent directly to the recipient gift wrapped with a card?

 

I don't have much in the way of family these days. My ex-wife and I have not spoken in years, both of my parents have passed away over the past year. My brother and his family are on the other side of the country and while we speak three or four times a month, I don't forsee any visits anytime soon. I don't keep close friends, just the occasional girlfriend and the old drunks down at the VFW. But that dosen't bother me much. I have a bunch of elderly dogs living with me and I like making treats and stuff for them for christmas. I'll probably spend tomorrow morning drinking coffee on the porch reading a book and watching the dogs do their thing. It's raining now and it's supposed to snow tomorrow, I hope it does. I'm totally at peace with where I am in life now. I wish some things had turned out differently but I've done well with what I had.

 

I'm going to the Toys for Tots party tonight. That is the only military thing I'm still involved in (unless you count American Legion & VFW) If you give at the silver level (more than $5k per year) you get an invite. The lady I'm taking has never been to one before so it should be fun.

[Raithe]

Well, I do like Christmas. Amazon has taken care of the gift giving for me. I mean how cool is it to buy everything on one site and have it sent directly to the recipient gift wrapped with a card?

 

I have to admit, I do appreciate the whole concept of that..and the effiency of that process. But to me it just..makes the gift rather impersonal. Wrapping it personally and putting a handwritten note actually "feels" like it means more. Because you're taking an effort in it.

 

Just whacking off a couple of mouse clicks and a short typed in keyboard prompt..just. makes it feel too mechanical to really mean something. Not saying I wouldn't do it under certain conditions, but generally I'd rather have them sent to me, then wrap them up and deliver them.

[Starwars]

Gave up on most of the gifting this year (just the parents who I bought some books for that I know they wanted), and it took a lot of stress away from the holiday for me. Giving up the gifting worked very well among the people I know, and just having the basic cheer and wishing each other Merry Christmas made it feel like a very warm holiday this time around. Hope it's something we can keep up for coming years.

 

For most of today, I've been at my parent's house and we've had a bunch of relatives over. Merry times were had, good food was eaten. Had a few too many different drinks (beer, wine, gl

[Orogun01]

My favorite Christmas song

[Raithe]

My favorite Christmas song

 

That would work better if it could be seen outside the US..

 

Still, it's crossed midnight here in the UK.. so I shall wish all you folks a Merry Christmas day..

[Orogun01]

My favorite Christmas song

 

That would work better if it could be seen outside the US..

 

Still, it's crossed midnight here in the UK.. so I shall wish all you folks a Merry Christmas day..

Right, I forgot that about Hulu. Can you see it now ?

[Hiro Protagonist]

Right, I forgot that about Hulu. Can you see it now ?

 

Nope, doesn't work.

[Orogun01]

Right, I forgot that about Hulu. Can you see it now ?

 

Nope, doesn't work.

Really?! Well I think I found the only video that will work

[LadyCrimson]

I'm a well-known Xmas Grinch...although this mostly has to do with how I can't go anywhere for 2 weeks without being driven insane by crazed traffic/shoppers, rather than an actual dislike of the holiday itself. But we're not a couple who celebrates it/gives gifts etc. Just another day.

 

However, I do like eggnog.

Edited December 25, 2010 by LadyCrimson

[Gorgon]

Had to pay a bloody fortune for a locksmith to come on Christmas Eve 02:00 at night, although the alternative would unquestionably been hypothermia and death.

 

My new jeans were the culprit, the stitching in the back pocket had come undone leaving a hole for my keys to escape through.

[Hurlshort]

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Sorry to hear that Gorgon. It might have been cheaper to break a window

[Krookie]

Merry Christmas everyone.

[Syraxis]

Merry Christmas everyone.

[Moonfever]

Those of you who enjoy the good things about Christmas, good on you and feel free to tell us all about it. Those of you who get surrounded by rampant consumerism, formalised hospitality and fake cheer, you will be even more inclined to share.

 

I'm most interested this year in what everyone got and gave for gifts, especially between intimate relationship the leeway for funny gifts is small. (Damn the lack of html.)

 

Personally, while I don't mind overmuch (yet), I think it's quite interesting how;

(1) while I prefer to give gifts more spontaneously, as I feel that is more sincere than having to give on giving days, it turns out that if you get the gf/etc something 3 weeks before Christmas, that only raises expectations for the "real" gift. Thus we have this fixation of sorts.

(2) as the video points out, the said gift for gfs/wives/etc must be romantic; my gut feeling is that for many (not all), funny/practical/absurd/cute gifts are acceptable but only as supplementing the "proper" romantic gift. Again, the 'proper'.

(3) for men who don't have skills in performance, arts, crafting or earning lots of money for extraordinary events, jewelry (along with some junior partners like shoes) emerges as the perfect 'solution'; it meets the (1) & (2) requirements while being relatively easy to buy and pick for the man. This is quite interesting/ironic when considering the role of jewelry marketing in helping building up this status.

(4) while it's tempting to write this off as socially conscious/conditioned women having typically womanly and thus unreasonable expectations in the romantic sector, I can't help but think that there is a solid process of legitimisation going on in the heads of many individual women when they come to expect (1) & (2) that is not necessarily "but diamonds are how you show real love!!11!1"...

 

Hm, ate so much, I feel likw popping. to me it's all about the meal.

Course presents are nice.

Diamonds are forever.

Merry Christmas everyone, and a Happy new year.

[Azure79]

Hope everyone had a great Christmas.