I love 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen'..that's about it for Christmas music though.
 
Being a self-employed gardener in Scotland, this time of year is pretty lean so Christmas and New Year is usually a time of worry and 'making ends meet'. Same for my wife, who runs a horse-riding school with no indoor facility. Not so bad financially this year though, and I'm actually quite looking forward to it..apart from the in-laws arriving en-masse on Christmas Eve...
 
Sorry to hear your news Rain, hope something turns that around.

It was many years ago that the end of year holiday cycle failed to pull me in.  The wife and I use this time of year as a reminder of how fortunate we are (relative), so we focus on doing things for folks that need a little help.  And the local animal shelter.
 
Fortunately we live far enough away from our families that nobody visits without it being a planned trip. 
 
You're not alone in the way you feel.  It all seems so phony to me.  People that never smile have big smiles on their faces, but I've always been able to immediately ID the fakes.  It's like a world full of people with fresh Botox treatments.
 
I do take advantage of sales on the rare occasions that a good deal presents itself, but mostly this time of year is just like the rest of the year for us.  I think it helps a lot that we cook turkeys 3 or 4 other times during the year 
 
Do I feel guilty?  Not in the least.  IMO it's everybody else that should feel guilty for pretending to be somebody they aren't AND pressuring everybody else to do the same.

I gave up on the holiday 20 years ago. The kids are all grown up, so what's the point?
 
I used to love Christmas music. Now I can't even stand Greg Lake's now-standard tune.
 
I used to get giddy smelling the Christmas tree, but some decades ago it just became inconvenient trash to dispose of afterward.
 
The last time I lit the house I just left the lights up all year so I wouldn't have to take them down and put them up again. The bulbs eventually started to burn out until it just looked sad, so they came down for good.
 
Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest, gloomiest day of the year. Sunset will be around 4:15 this afternoon, but I won't notice because it'll be overcast and raining all day long.
 
It's cold. Not cold enough to deliver a blanket of snow to disguise my dead garden, just cold enough to run up my electricity bill. A bill I can barely afford, since my business of 22 years is gradually shutting down and for the first time I had zero income this month. The month/year end just means my health insurance premium and mortgage payment will be due again and Uncle Sam wants another tax payment.  Anniversaries are coming up that I'll have to ignore: the anniversaries of my mother's, father's and sister's deaths, and my wedding anniversary which I struggled so long to NOT forget.
 
Just when I couldn't feel any lower, I get a bill in the mail for an X-Ray they took of my wife on the day she died. Who orders an X-Ray of someone already in hospice, already on a death watch? Somebody who wants to extract one more dollar from you before you die. Good will toward men? BAH, HUMBUG.
 

Hi,
 
I have never been one for this Holiday or a whole lot of other Holidays.
 
I think that a lot of it had to do with mom, always getting us some new underwear, sox or t-shirts for Christmas, and you always saw your friend with something different, and more fun, at least momentarily. We never got any toys, because the family was not commercialized and we were in the bad side of things in Brazil (really bad - picture of the house in Assis was a hut!), and didn't really get "lucky" until we came to America. I guess we have dad to thank!
 
As I reach 65, another Christmas or New Year, or birthday, is just another day, that I like to be alone, and on my own ... I can write, I can play WoW, or go turn on the music ... and that is the way I like it. But one could easily say that it is so, because I never had a family, never married, and never had kids ... but then ... i do not think I was suitable material for that movie at all!
 
When it comes to gifties, though, I am usually all over it, and in some ways, I don't even want the person to know where it came from ... why? The best things in life for me, were the total surprises, and I loved them dearly. I could cry and say thanks and appreciate those I was with, and how they cared. I prefer to be "invisible" in these situations and in employee parties and gifties for our specialty group, I always donate big.
 
But, as time goes by, the only thing I would love to have is the one that will never happen ... someone that we can sit here and talk about Bunuel, Noe, Lean, Kubrick, and many other movies, and discuss our new work ... and how I have written a complete novel in my head, never done that before, and am working on bringing it down now. I have always, otherwise, been 100% insitinctive, to the point of obstinacy. I totally love the experiments and improvisations, and the new and different feelings they bring to the front, and this is hard to experience in a relationship that has demands that are not artistic "values".
 
Until something else comes along ... I just keep writing ... playing a little music ... and experimenting ... I have 3 new poems with music ... and while they are rather primitive, they are/were exciting to my inner experience ... that I did them, and will do more!
 
The rest? I don't know ... can't say! Just OK to be here ... happy ... sure ... why not?

Rimshot
Rain, I am sorry to hear that news. I can understand why you are not in a Christmas mood. I hope all goes well with you and family. 
I like Christmas because it has religious significance for me. My son Alex is home from his first quarter at college and our house is bright and cheery. Just had my company party at a nice old restaurant by the ocean.
I am in the local Rotary club and I actually rang bells for the Salvation Army last week! Never did that before. 
I think it is a time for giving. The presents are fun but the family part of it still moves me.
To each their own. I just had a birthday and am grateful to be alive and healthy. So many things to be grateful for actually. 
Christmas is good in my world. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and that next year brings you peace, love, and opportunities. 
 
Rimshot

+1
 
I also like Christmas very much as it is definitely a religious holiday for my family and me. We try our very best to celebrate Christmas in the true spirit and this still brings out the same sentiments/feelings as it was when we were growing up.
Sadly, the world outside has lost the true meaning of Christmas and the main focus seems to be only about getting gifts.....the malls and shopping centers are just full of inconsiderate/disrespectful/self centered people stampeding around like a herd of buffaloes. 
We do everything we can to avoid malls and shopping centers during the Christmas season (like most in here are doing). We generally focus on giving to families/children whom are not as Blessed as we are and bring some Christmas joy into their lives....i.e. going to hospitals/nursing homes/singing Christmas Carol's to patients/people whom aren't as fortunate as we are....is just a priceless. I always believe that charity comes from the heart and there's nothing more heart-warming when we see the happiness & joy it brings to their hearts.....you can clearly see it in their glowing eyes.......Merry Christmas!!
     

Mesh

Rimshot
Rain, I am sorry to hear that news. I can understand why you are not in a Christmas mood. I hope all goes well with you and family. 
I like Christmas because it has religious significance for me. My son Alex is home from his first quarter at college and our house is bright and cheery. Just had my company party at a nice old restaurant by the ocean.
I am in the local Rotary club and I actually rang bells for the Salvation Army last week! Never did that before. 
I think it is a time for giving. The presents are fun but the family part of it still moves me.
To each their own. I just had a birthday and am grateful to be alive and healthy. So many things to be grateful for actually. 
Christmas is good in my world. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and that next year brings you peace, love, and opportunities. 
 
Rimshot

+1
 
I also like Christmas very much as it is definitely a religious holiday for my family and me. We try our very best to celebrate Christmas in the true spirit and this still brings out the same sentiments/feelings as it was when we were growing up.
Sadly, the world outside has lost the true meaning of Christmas and the main focus seems to be only about getting gifts.....the malls and shopping centers are just full of inconsiderate/disrespectful/self centered people stampeding around like a herd of buffaloes. 
We do everything we can to avoid malls and shopping centers during the Christmas season (like most in here are doing). We generally focus on giving to families/children whom are not as Blessed as we are and bring some Christmas joy into their lives....i.e. going to hospitals/nursing homes/singing Christmas Carol's to patients/people whom aren't as fortunate as we are....is just a priceless. I always believe that charity comes from the heart and there's nothing more heart-warming when we see the happiness & joy it brings to their hearts.....you can clearly see it in their glowing eyes.......Merry Christmas!!
     

+1

I'm Hoping to have a mellow low drama Christmas my dog Duke .
We don't have a lot of bread to do anything or go anyplace special so I plan on buying some firewood and lighting up my fireplace for a little Christmas Spirit and ambiance .
I've Lived here almost a year and haven't lit a fire yet ...lighting one sounds like a nice idea .
I hope to jam away on  my Les also ...
It is always in the case because Ole Duke might wag his tail and knock it clear across the room unintentionally ... 
 
 
Sorry to hear about your situation Rain hang in there
 
Hey jbow you think I should do a u tube video on how to burn a Windows 10 computer
 
.............................not the best pic , but I took it a few minuets ago ................................

 
Kenny
 
 
 

hey Kenny, make sure the damper is open!

I try not to get too negative. I usually spend Christmas Eve by myself, watching White Christmas and then Christmas morning my daughter comes by for breakfast. Later we'll go to see family for dinner. That's about all I can handle. Like most people, each year there seems to be less under the tree and less in the bank.
 
My favourite thing about the holiday is the fact that the stores are closed. I wish they were closed more often.
 
I have no idea why big companies seem to love handing out pink slips just before Christmas. It happens every year and it's a real gut punch. I've walked picket lines on Christmas eve and done fire and flood watch while sharing my dinner with a mouse.
 
There's always something bad for me each and every year. Today it was a phone call telling me that an old friend was murdered last night in a home invasion and his son took a hatchet to the head. I'm not making this up, there's always something bad at Christmas. I choose to be as positive as I can, but it's tough at times.
 
I wish all of you the very best, I won't be a humbug.

kennywtelejazz
I plan on buying some firewood and lighting up my fireplace for a little Christmas Spirit and ambiance .
 

 

 
YIKES! MOVE THAT GUITAR BEFORE YOU LIGHT IT!!!