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Bah Humbug | Pad Patter 11.29

bellbird

bellbird

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What gets your tinsel in a tangle at this time of year?
Or are you like Buddy the Elf and just 100% joyous no matter what?
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Sneak peaks of the December BYOC have me feeling merry but shopping centre carparks have me feeling like Scrooge... possibly the best reason to shop online...
 
My kids have watched Elf the last two nights and I still haven't seen it. Lol. They both loved it. It's on my to-do list this holiday season. Mostly I'm pretty happy go lucky, but when I have so much stuff on my to-do list (other than watching a fun movie) I'll tend to get a little stressed. Especially if I don't get enough sleep. I've learned that it's always better for me to just go to bed and deal with things later, rather than stay up late and be over-tired. I don't deal well with stress when tired. Lol!
 
I'm very low key about Xmas. We don't decorate the tree until the 18th (my mother's birthday) so I take my time with decorations. I try to do minimal shopping. And I try not to get stressed about any of it. If we had more relatives around, I'd probably do more. Also, my teenage boys are not interested in some of the traditions that we have anymore. Sad when you have to do it alone!
 
I only become Bah Humbug ish because it's so overdone everywhere and too early, lol. It makes people crazy, stressed and costs too much money. I like quiet, family, and less stress! Making cookies, watching a movie, seeing friends and family. Spending time, playing games, a few presents, etc. I do tend to lean toward Buddy, and try to be happy and joyful most times... I just wish the world was a little more for experience rather than stuff.
 
My fave thing about Xmas is the lights, the outdoor ones, the tree and the fireplace mantel. I'm excited to get our tree up this wkend. I'm feeling much better but the rest of the family is sick so depending on how they feel it might get postponed one more week but no matter what, it will go up this wkend or next. I love to sit in the LR in the evening and look at the tree and garland/lights around the fireplace. I don't put up many decorations anymore (too lazy and hate packing it all up to put away) but i will always have a tree. What I don't like about Xmas is the stress of shopping, finances, gift buying. I have started to scale it back more and more each year as I refuse to overspend anymore. Hubs and I don't buy much for each other anymore, there is no need to. We buy stuff when we want/need it so a few small gifts is fine for us. So, I am not letting the stress of Xmas overwhelm me. I am going to be happy, enjoy the smells and sights of Xmas and will not worry about the diet until the new year :)
 
jk703 said:
I only become Bah Humbug ish because it's so overdone everywhere and too early, lol. It makes people crazy, stressed and costs too much money. I like quiet, family, and less stress! Making cookies, watching a movie, seeing friends and family. Spending time, playing games, a few presents, etc. I do tend to lean toward Buddy, and try to be happy and joyful most times... I just wish the world was a little more for experience rather than stuff.
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I'm with Jenn... I've really been in the Bah Humbug crowd this year. I think Christmas is way too commercial and it gets so overwhelming that I just want to throw in the towel and cancel Christmas all together. I was seeing Christmas stuff this year with the back to school stuff. Marketers pretty much skipped over Thanksgiving. It's all about Black Friday which has now become Black Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday! There seems to be no regard for family time and being grateful for what you have. It's all about getting more and competing to see who can get the best deals or give the best presents. I was delighted to see Smiths Marketplace state in their ad that their Black Friday sales would start on Friday so their employees could spend Thanksgiving evening with their loved ones.

I kinda feel like Cindy Lou Who in the Grinch when everyone is running around trying to buy up all the presents and she is confused and wondering, why? Isn't there more to Christmas than presents?

I want my kids to remember the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas is about Christ. Hence, Christ-mas. It's about His birth. It's about the saving gift He gave us. The holidays, (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa) are about spending time with loved ones and helping others. It's about spreading cheer and making this world a better place. That's the kind of Christmas I want. I don't need a lot of presents. I just need time to spend with the ones I love and time to serve others and spread a little Christmas Cheer (love) to those less fortunate.

Writing this has really helped me get out of the Bah Humbug mood. It's helped me push through all the commercialism and has me thinking on what's really important to me. That's what I'm going to focus on this year.

Merry Christmas Everyone!
 
The only thing that brings the Scrooge out in me is when my family refuses to help put up Christmas decorations. I had to order everyone to the tree to decorate it two days ago, then they all vanished when more needed to be done. Needless to say I'm done with decorating since no one else will help, or put them away in January. One year we didn't have a tree or any decorations because no one would help me. Better believe that the following year my husband was orchestrating the house and tree trimming!
 
QuiltyMom said:
The only thing that brings the Scrooge out in me is when my family refuses to help put up Christmas decorations. I had to order everyone to the tree to decorate it two days ago, then they all vanished when more needed to be done. Needless to say I'm done with decorating since no one else will help, or put them away in January. One year we didn't have a tree or any decorations because no one would help me. Better believe that the following year my husband was orchestrating the house and tree trimming!
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I feel the same way Jan. I hate doing all the decorating by myself. Everyone wants the decorations up but no one wants to help decorate or put them away once Christmas is over. I'm always bribing them to help. But not this year, if they don't help, then we won't have any decorations.... just the lights on the house, because I already paid a company to put those up... hehe
 
@keepscrappin Kayla, I love the fact you pay someone to put the lights on the house. That's genius! We're in a 3-storey townhouse so we don't do lights. It's waaay up there! Besides, it would look silly for only 1/5th of the roofline to have lights!

The one thing that did get decorated was the sofa and chairs in the living room. My MiL bestowed upon me her Christmas pillow collection, and that's one largebox worth of stuff to open up and place around to make the room festive. And nothing breakable, either.
 
QuiltyMom said:
@keepscrappin Kayla, I love the fact you pay someone to put the lights on the house. That's genius! We're in a 3-storey townhouse so we don't do lights. It's waaay up there! Besides, it would look silly for only 1/5th of the roofline to have lights!

The one thing that did get decorated was the sofa and chairs in the living room. My MiL bestowed upon me her Christmas pillow collection, and that's one largebox worth of stuff to open up and place around to make the room festive. And nothing breakable, either.
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We starting paying a company to do our Christmas lights several years ago after my FIL fell off his roof and broke both wrists while putting up lights. I didn't want that to happen to my hubby and it's been the best. My hubby loves outdoor Christmas lights, so that's been the best gift I can give him and one that he really wants. The company custom fit the lights to our house. They store them. They put them up. They take them down. They come out and replace a bulb when one goes out. It's a little pricey, but definitely less than a hospital visit. I took advantage of the early bird / good weather discount and had them put up in October. Hiring a company is definitely the way to go for outdoor lights.
 
We haven't decorated yet and I'm getting a little antsy. The decorating doesn't give me anxiety, but buying gifts for everyone does. I never know what to get the in-laws. I want to make/bake something for all of my neighbors and friends and that can sometimes stress me out. Otherwise I really enjoy the activities. We have piano recital, a couple of parades, parties and some small town festivities that I really enjoy.
 
keepscrappin said:
Christmas is about Christ. Hence, Christ-mas.
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I had this discussion with my kid last night. We talked about why we don't call it "X-mas" in our house.

My bah humbug is the Christmas stuff out before Halloween. Since I just avoided all stores except the grocery store, I didn't have a ton of time to get worked up. And at Costco, I just refused to go down the Christmas aisles. I have a 25 days of Christ project I'm finishing up that will be new this year and I'm looking forward to it.

I've been in a funk the last few years for Christmas, but I'm not this year. I'm really looking forward to Savoring the Season.
 
Last year I was . . . adjusting to Olivia being at college and then coming home and she was weird about being back home, so everything was just weird overall . . . and yeah, bah-humbug. LOL

This year, I'm happy and delighted with Christmas. All the decorations are done (it only took FOUR days), so that makes me happy. It took so long because I had to take so many breaks in between unpacking and then decorating (darn back pain NEVER gives me a break), and admittedly, THAT made me cranky and cry . . . mostly because I don't like my house being turned upside down, but I had no choice and it was scattered everywhere for days. We even had family stop by in the midst of it all and I was so embarrassed. They were more than delighted to see my house in a mess because they never see it that way, and had great fun picking at me. LOL It turned out to be a good memory.

So overall, I'm glad for Christmas. I'm really enjoying little moments with my family. Enjoying a cup of hot cocoa, sitting and watching the lights of the tree or admiring our other decorations, watching Christmas movies, going out to eat.

I don't like that Christmas commercialism horns in on other holidays, but for me, Thanksgiving is intertwined with Christmas. The part about being thankful and then having such hope spring from that . . . well, I already feel that Christmas has started for us.

Anyway, I hope that each one of you survives the bah-humbug (been there, done that, don't want to go back) or that you enjoy each moment of the season that you are celebrating.
 
They were playing Christmas music in JC Penney on Veteran's Day. You'd think Patriotic music would be in order.

I always make a point to stop into Nordstrom and thank the store manager for not putting up decorations before Thanksgiving.
 
Somehow I've learned to shut out the commercialism of Christmas. Maybe it was five years of depression when there was so little energy. As you know I started fighting Bah-humbug a month ago. I'm still fighting. I refuse to give in even when it feels like part of my life is falling apart (I'm quitting school and doing who knows what).
If you are really struggling go read that thread again.
https://the-lilypad.com/forum/threa...ng-apart-cant-keep-it-together-anymore.45593/
Figure out what is important for you and what can be left aside. Don't make yourself miserable. Make a simple fruit loaf or something easy if you bake for your neighbors.
It was our first snow yesterday. A little bit of joy. I saw my first lights in the neighborhood. Just two little joys on a day I would normally feel sorry for myself.
 
jk703 said:
I only become Bah Humbug ish because it's so overdone everywhere and too early, lol. It makes people crazy, stressed and costs too much money. I like quiet, family, and less stress! Making cookies, watching a movie, seeing friends and family. Spending time, playing games, a few presents, etc. I do tend to lean toward Buddy, and try to be happy and joyful most times... I just wish the world was a little more for experience rather than stuff.
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I totally agree with you. The commercialisation of Christmas drives me crazy. I steer clear of shopping malls if I am able to for the whole of December.
 
I'm excited for Christmas ... but I do want to keep it simple this year if possible. Shopping has barely started but we are just about done decorating inside and we "guilted" the husband into putting up a few lights outside too! (And that is huge, bc that hasn't happened for awhile.) He needs to buy some more outside lights, bc one tree is only partially light. LOL.

I will admit I was complaining just a little about decorating the tree/house all by myself these last 2-3 years and my 16 yr old son said "then why do you do it?" To which I replied "for you guys mostly!" He said he didn't care, but I know that isn't true. So I just smiled and continued to work away until it was done. He actually helped a little bit by climbing up on the ladder and placing some things high up for me. (I'm the shortest one in the house, hee-hee!)

This all happened Sunday. And wouldn't you know ... after the kids left for school Monday morning, I came down to make coffee and the lights (inside) were all on. It was my son! He turned them on to enjoy them while eating breakfast for a few minutes before he had to catch the bus.

So moral of the story ... don't listen to those teens ... even if they say they don't care, or they tell you don't bother, or they don't want to be involved ... the truth probably is ... they secretly LOVE it!

Also ...He hurt his eye today at school in wood shop class and I had to run him over to the eye Dr. Later I dropped him at home to rest and my daughter and I were out at her after school activities. When we came home a little while ago ... guess what we found ... again the whole house was light up inside. He is definitely not the Christmas Humbug he makes himself out to be. I find it hilarious! And heart warming! :heartslub
 
bestcee said:
I had this discussion with my kid last night. We talked about why we don't call it "X-mas" in our house.

My bah humbug is the Christmas stuff out before Halloween. Since I just avoided all stores except the grocery store, I didn't have a ton of time to get worked up. And at Costco, I just refused to go down the Christmas aisles. I have a 25 days of Christ project I'm finishing up that will be new this year and I'm looking forward to it.

I've been in a funk the last few years for Christmas, but I'm not this year. I'm really looking forward to Savoring the Season.
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@bestcee I'm with you on the Xmas thing. It really saddens me that Christ has been taken out of Christmas. (I do have to be honest in that I remember writing it that way as a kid. I grew up, thank goodness.)
 
bestcee said:
I had this discussion with my kid last night. We talked about why we don't call it "X-mas" in our house.....
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Iowan said:
@bestcee I'm with you on the Xmas thing. It really saddens me that Christ has been taken out of Christmas. (I do have to be honest in that I remember writing it that way as a kid. I grew up, thank goodness.)
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I'm not a fan of the Xmas thing... it feels like we're X-ing out Christ. If I do shorten Christmas, I always do Cmas instead. That just seems more friendly and Christlike to me.... hehe :tree
 
@carilyne It is a daily battle to overcome the humbug! I'm so glad that you are being successful, one day at a time. Thanks for reminding us to find the small things that bring us joy!
 
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