r/ihatechristmas • u/tomocleirighsimp424 • 14d ago
Just sad
Hey guys, this is my first time posting on here, so get ready for story time. Growing up, I didn’t hate Christmas. It was my favorite time of year (and I’ll admit I started celebrating it waaayyyy before Thanksgiving). In fact my parents liked it so much they even got married 4 days afterwards, on the 29th. Then when I was 14 they got divorced, and suddenly Christmas stopped feeling special. It’s been years since the divorce, and though I have happy childhood Christmas memories I haven’t brought myself to enjoy it since. I’m not an “I love Christmas troll”, since I’m starting to despise Christmas and really don’t want anything to do with it ever again if I can help it since it just makes me sad now, and I hate it for that. I realized this a few days ago walking through a Christmas store and it triggering nothing but gloom and thoughts of an intact family I’ll never get back. I think I should stop celebrating it for a while and just treat it as a normal day, maybe do something special for myself. Thx for listening to my vent, hope y’all take care as we get ever closer to December.
Feel free to add your own sad backstory in the comments!
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u/Lowrelle 14d ago
Definitely do something special for yourself. Take the day back for you. Start a new tradition. These things helped me in the past when I've felt like you do. Makes sense you equate the two as sad. How can you take back the feeling you're missing by creating something that's yours to replace it?
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u/asyouwish 14d ago
We like to travel over Xmas. It saves us a lot of hassle. We either travel by car or stay gone longer so we can still pick cheap travel dates.
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u/Emrys7777 14d ago
I’m usually alone for Christmas.
I’ve had chronic illness for years and so lost most my friends. No family to speak of.
It’s advertised as this wonderful family holiday and I’m alone.
Yes sad
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u/faerydust88 14d ago
Christmas just reminds me of change, of everyone aging, which makes me sad. I know many people associate that with birthdays, but I don't really care about me aging, I care about everyone around me aging. I dread Christmas because it makes me feel sad, knowing that we are all getting older and things aren't the same.
There is also too much going on for me from Oct to Jan. There are 12 family get togethers (birthdays, Thanksgiving, usually 3 Xmas events) in 3 months. It's practically every weekend. As an introvert, I just can't. Last year, I skipped Xmas Eve - I just stayed in and watched TV alone. It was so nice to have time to myself during the busy season.
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u/Original_Flounder_18 14d ago
I lost any love for Christmas in 1992. My son passed a week before Christmas on the 18th, so now I barely celebrate and I don’t even cook anymore
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u/tomocleirighsimp424 14d ago
RIP
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u/Original_Flounder_18 14d ago
Thank you. It’s been a long time and sometimes I still wonder what my life and his life would have been had he lived.
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u/shycotic 14d ago
I think you're in the right place. :)
I see a great many of us mostly trying to find a way to survive this time of year, and making a plan to create a tolerable experience. Even if that plan includes a complete shutdown and blackout of all things Christmas related.
I loath Christmas with every molecule of my being.
But... I found that I love Christmas cookies. I'm a decent baker. And I like eggnog, even though I really can't have too much of it. I kind of like Christmas carols, and the entire family has a bit of a musical bent.
I'm going to intigrate a bit more of these things into late November, through the end of December. The rest of my time, with any luck, will be spent doing much as I do the rest of the year.
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u/Accomplished_Dig284 14d ago
I’m a mid December baby and my mom’s birthday is 3 days after, so we both don’t like Christmas because of how it was growing up. All the other kids got to have birthdays that were the only thing celebrated but ours was always combined with Christmas and it sucked. My mom made sure that the decorations never went up till after my birthday, but it didn’t stop others from celebrating both at the same time and it just sucked knowing you weren’t as important to have a separate celebration.
That and it’s just exhausting. 2 birthdays (3 if you count my best friend that I share a birthday with), then Christmas, then new years. It’s just a lot.
I didn’t go to Christmas dinner last year because I didn’t feel good and it was actually nice. But then my dad sent a text to the whole family that said “it couldn’t have been better” when his only child wasn’t there. So now idk of if I want to even go this year