Yes it’s over...!!!

[soulstyledevon]

Am I the only miserable git that isn’t too keen on Christmas and NY festivities...?

Looking forward to getting back to work and planning 2018 van adventures.

HNY
The misery guts.

 

[BerndRos]

A man after my own heart...

 

[Walrus]

You are not alone.

 

[Jay586]

Just tedious...I keep saying we should go abroad & get away from it all.

 

[jts46]

Thanks for above 4 comments.

 

[Borris]

Christmas:

High stress + high work load + high expense + high expectations = Baa Humbug.

Throw in a stinking cold and hey presto, Crappy Christmas.

 

[Hotel California]

I don't go in any so called "hollidays" where it's obligated to buy presents , get drunk and be happy ....
I get drunk when i feel like and buy presents when my wallet allows it , and happy ...only when i'm out in the Cali...
Hit my bed at 10pm yesterday woke up from the fireworks (witch was not allouwed by the police due the wind but all those @ssholes just ignored the precautions) checked the dog and got back in bed .
As for escaping away from it all , we usual go to France with no tv and limited internet but it's thesame everywhere in the end.
Just wanted to wish you all the best here
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/2018-new-years-wishes.22363/

 

[Borris]

Actually, I always get grumpy around September every year when I see the first signs of Christmas starting to appear in the shops. It's not the cost, the workload or the stress it creates but just that fealing of being pushed towards something that I am reluctant to get involved in yet. Then follows what seems like months of canned Jingle bells, jingle bells music in every shop and lift you enter along with Noddy Holder screaming out that same old hit over and over again on the wireless. By the time Christmas is actually upon us, I am running very low on that "goodwill to all men" thing. If it were all to start the week before Christmas it would be more than soon enough for me, but then again that's a blokes view.

Thank goodness for school nativity plays I say. The unpredictability our younger grandchildren being "herded like cats" by their respective handlers into performing their well practiced pieces is the highlight of my year. Utterly priceless! That's when Christmas begins for me.

Only 358 shopping days until next Christmas.

 

[RodCouncil]

Christ get a hobby, I was out training enjoy the time off, doesn't matter that it's Christmas.

No more Brexit to vote for? Miserable buggers.

 

[westfalia]

Actually, I always get grumpy around September every year when I see the first signs of Christmas starting to appear in the shops. It's not the cost, the workload or the stress it creates but just that fealing of being pushed towards something that I am reluctant to get involved in yet. Then follows what seems like months of canned Jingle bells, jingle bells music in every shop and lift you enter along with Noddy Holder screaming out that same old hit over and over again on the wireless. By the time Christmas is actually upon us, I am running very low on that "goodwill to all men" thing. If it were all to start the week before Christmas it would be more than soon enough for me, but then again that's a blokes view.

Thank godness for school nativity plays I say. The unpredictability our younger grandchildren being "herded like cats" by their respective handlers into performing their well practiced pieces is the highlight of my year. Utterly priceless! That's when Christmas begins for me.

Only 358 shopping days until next Christmas.

On the wireless. LOL.

 

[bigmac77]

Just tedious...I keep saying we should go abroad & get away from it all.

I'm am abroad and they do it here too, just in the sunshine.

 

[Jay586]

Christ get a hobby, I was out training enjoy the time off, doesn't matter that it's Christmas.

No more Brexit to vote for? Miserable buggers.

For me, it's the extreme distress my dog suffers with the fireworks at NY. Plus the people I know find all the perfect nuclear family stuff propagated in the TV ads, gets them pretty depressed. Hard to escape if you have limited mobility or whatever...

Nothing to do with brexit.

 

[Borris]

Christ get a hobby, I was out training enjoy the time off, doesn't matter that it's Christmas.

No more Brexit to vote for? Miserable buggers.

Yes, I am a miserable bugger when it comes to what Christmas has become but not on what it actually represents.

Brexit?

 

[RodCouncil]

Yes, I am a miserable bugger when it comes to what Christmas has become but not on what it actually represents.

Brexit?

Then focus on that and stop whining, I don't fall for the mass buying of crap and commercial madness either but instead take the time off from work to spend it seeing family, friends and riding the bike in the winter wonderland.

It's shorthand for miserable old ppl from the UK who enjoy nothing more than moaning and mass self harm, sweeping generalisations aside of course.

 

[Borris]

Then focus on that and stop whining, I don't fall for the mass buying of crap and commercial madness either but instead take the time off from work to spend it seeing family, friends and riding the bike in the winter wonderland.

It's shorthand for miserable old ppl from the UK who enjoy nothing more than moaning and mass self harm, sweeping generalisations aside of course.

Happy New Year.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Then focus on that and stop whining, I don't fall for the mass buying of crap and commercial madness either but instead take the time off from work to spend it seeing family, friends and riding the bike in the winter wonderland.
.

I had a brilliant 3 days surfing on the North Yorkshire Coast. That was the best part of Christmas.

Spending time with extended family which I only see once a year is something I can do without.
It’s true what they say,
“You can choose your friends” hmm...

As for the commercial side of Christmas, I find it sickening. My inlaws spent a fortune on our soon to be 2 year old. He was still opening gifts at 4pm. I was not happy, it’s not needed and not what Christmas should be about.
There will be an interesting conversation before next year.

We have been skiing a few times over Christmas and it’s a much more enjoyable Christmas.
One gift per person, dinner together, staying active and not having to meet up with boring Tom, Dick and Harry just because we share some blood line of sorts.

HNY
The Original Baa Humbug

 

[soulstyledevon]

I'm am abroad and they do it here too, just in the sunshine.

We have just walked 5 miles round Draycote water and got absolutely soaked.
Slightly envious of your sunshine
Enjoy

 

[RodCouncil]

I had a brilliant 3 days surfing on the North Yorkshire Coast. That was the best part of Christmas.

Spending time with extended family which I only see once a year is something I can do without.
It’s true what they say,
“You can choose your friends” hmm...

As for the commercial side of Christmas, I find it sickening. My inlaws spent a fortune on our soon to be 2 year old. He was still opening gifts at 4pm. I was not happy, it’s not needed and not what Christmas should be about.
There will be an interesting conversation before next year.

We have been skiing a few times over Christmas and it’s a much more enjoyable Christmas.
One gift per person, dinner together, staying active and not having to meet up with boring Tom, Dick and Harry just because we share some blood line of sorts.

HNY
The Original Baa Humbug

I agree on the spoiling, even after having the hard conversation with my parents they went OTT with our 8 week yo.

We do secret santa with Fridas siblings and a shared gift from the siblings to the Swedish in-laws, it's much more sensible here and more focused on family time and being outdoors too.

I did miss the UK this year, just silly things like going to the pub or eating a quality pork pie

But given it's an enforced holiday by and large I see it as a nice opportunity to escape work and completely relax, watching films and sat with the cat in front of the fire, I think the darkness helps with the relaxing, I come home from training and just decompress with the family.

 

[GrannyJen]

I also have that "Thank goodness it's over feeling".

At the Gym today starting the same tedious tiresome business that I find I need to start every year. Getting back to my comfortable running weight

The treadmill was groaning today under my gross tonnage of MIRO, and I was telling it have a happy new year because this year my target weight loss is only 3kg as it's ben a quiet Christmas

and .... I can get Amazon delivering tomorrow again, can park in the supermarket car park and not have to put up with all that terrible "Jolly Jolly music".

 

[alter]

I think no one forces you to spend your money to show that you are able to make unnecessary gifts .... like those people who go to the cemetery only in the days of November that are dedicated to the dead .. and all the rest of the year no! I read that someone is happy to go back to work! but is he crazy? go back to work as well 'pay me the pension! there were some nice days without work and thoughts, to spend with the family and maybe around with California .... what more do you want? sorry, maybe I'm wrong ..

 

[soulstyledevon]

I actually quite like work Alter.
However i must say, I only work 3 days a week. I decided to enter semi retirement at 38. I wanted to maximise time with our new son and make sure he came first before work commitments.
But i enjoy going in and see my friends and doing some work. Just something different to focus on.
I know its mad, but work canbe good if you enjoy it and have a good group of people to work with.

 

[Amarillo]

We spent Christmas with our two sons and my parents is a Sicilian farmhouse.

The boys had a Fantasia DVD and road floor mat to share from my parents. They each had a stocking filled with fruit, a mini snow shaker, a small packet of Haribo, socks and a t-shirt.

For lunch we ate roast lamb on the patio, followed by oranges picked that morning in the farmhouse grove.

After lunch we drove to the beach and played on the sand.

All in all a pretty good day.


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[WelshGas]

Then focus on that and stop whining, I don't fall for the mass buying of crap and commercial madness either but instead take the time off from work to spend it seeing family, friends and riding the bike in the winter wonderland.

It's shorthand for miserable old ppl from the UK who enjoy nothing more than moaning and mass self harm, sweeping generalisations aside of course.

Glad you’re no longer in the U.K. poor Sweden.

 

[WelshGas]

Christmas and New Year is what YOU want to make it.
Yes, it’s over commercialised in some aspects but unfortunately that’s life.
Christmas is, at heart, a religious festival but has been hijacked by many vested interests. It’s upto you if you want to join them or not.

 

[GrannyJen]

Christmas, as a holiday, means little to me for I am retired.

Christmas as a religious festival means a lot to me for it is a cornerstone of my faith.

Christmas as a time of seeing joy on little children's faces, especially my grandchildren, means everything to me.

Christmas as a time of wasteful, first-world over-indulgence makes me sad but not despairing or reclusive. In contrast, Christmas as a time of sharing, not just with family, but with the homeless and destitute, I find redeeming.

In essence, Christmas, as with life, is what you choose to make of what it offers for each of us as individuals.