You're not alone Pam, I don't like Christmas very much either, I guess I'm too uptight, can't get into the spirit. Humbug

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Lynn

If you're scrooge then I must be the Grench.

I have no desire to pull out all the decorations so I can put them all away 3 weeks later (or 1 or 2 weeks by the time I actually get around to putting them up. Hell, maybe only up by christmas eve).

I have no idea what anyone wants and I don't care. I think I will do all my shopping online or in gift card form. Both sons want a hand held video game, and they will be 95% of their gifts. It's gonna look pathetic under our tree if there is one.

As far as cookies go, I would make cookies almost every day after Thanksgiving in the old days and stick them in my freezer until I gave them away on Christmas Eve, etc. This year my freezer is full of frozen left overs ready to feed my men when I am at work. I couldn't store the cookies this year even if I had the time and desire to make them, which I don't.

I hope I can find the spirit, we need something to celebrate.

The Grench

aka

Kristen

Phyllis,

Maybe it is only once a year. But according to my ghost of Christmas past, I've paid my dues and put enough sickening Christmas cheer in the bank account, to take this year off.

As for giving the shrinks something to examine....(what shrinks???) well I'm sure there is enough material to examine and have a field day.

Kristen, Are you in Whoville? Maybe the spirit will find us, but if it doesn't, I'm ok with that, how about you? Besides if living in Whoville, you know that christmsas gets stolen every year.

Scrooge

I think we can have Christmas on our terms without feeling like we have to kill ourselves...

I for one want to give thanks for still being here....I donot believe I'm here out of pure happenstance

I give thanks for the rest of the year and being able to be here with my loved ones.. and the friends at strokenet.. Everyone has definetly made the journey easier

Pam,

I was thinking this a.m. about Xmas and all I've done in the past.

It might be a good thing if all the things we did we got in return now,but

we know that's not going to happen.

I'm not going to miss doing all the dishes and cleaning up when I got little help in the past. Family used to eat and run,my b/f family. This year it won't happen

'cause this year I'm not making the dinner.

I'm booking a place at a huge Xmas buffet that will be just great,'cause I will be able to eat and run.

I'm looking forward to Xmas being over and a New year beginning.

Let's celebrate New Year's,'cause we are still here!

Take Care

lorrainelm

Pam:

over the years spirit of celebrating anything dies, cause when I was child the way we celebrated any festivals there was big difference, the excitement of food,clothes,gifts were so much, now as a adult that excitement is gone, nothing to do with stroke, it was part of growing up

but at the same token I still want to celebrate all festivals indian, amercican all for my kido, I feel having rituals and celebration I m creating memories for my son and my family.

Asha

Pam

I agree with Asha about creating memories for her son. That's what mom's do and when we think back about our best Christmas' ever most of us think of our childhoods or of the holidays we may have created for young children.

However, it's not realistic to think that each of us is going to feel the spirit of the holidays every single year of our lives. We get a free pass occasionally from all the work and effort it takes and as far as I'm concerned the 'shrinks' would be the first ones to understand that. It takes a lot of emotional and physical energy to have a joyful holiday season filled with decorations, cards, intertaining and home baked goodies. So when we are drained, we get sit out a holiday or two. Just don't plan on sitting them out for the rest of your life. Sometimes to get the joy back, we have to go through the motions, pretending until it actually becomes real without us even knowing exactly when the pretending ending the feeling it for real began.

Jean

Jean

Sister Pam

i thought that it would be easier to post my response to your query on Festivus here, since it seems like it would be appropriate for the sentiments expressed here.

from 'Wikipedia'

Festivus is a nondenominational holiday featured in an episode of Seinfeld, a popular American television sitcom of the 1990s. It was featured on episode number 166 of the show, entitled "The Strike", which first aired on December 18, 1997. Many people, influenced or inspired by Seinfeld, now celebrate the holiday, in varying degrees of seriousness.

 

According to Seinfeld, Festivus is celebrated each year on December 23, but many people celebrate it other times, often in early December. Its slogan is "A Festivus for the rest of us!". An aluminum pole is generally used in lieu of a Christmas tree or other holiday decoration. Those attending participate in the "Airing of Grievances" which is an opportunity for all to vent their hostilities toward each other, and after a Festivus dinner, The Feats of Strength are performed. Traditionally, Festivus is not over until the head of the household is wrestled to the floor and "pinned".

 

Main elements of Festivus

 

The Festivus celebration includes four major components:

 

The Festivus Pole: The Costanzas' tradition begins with a bare aluminum pole, which Frank praises for its "very high strength-to-weight ratio." During Festivus, an unadorned aluminum pole is displayed. The pole was chosen apparently in opposition to the commercialization of highly decorated Christmas trees, because it is "very low-maintenance," and also because the holiday's patron, Frank Costanza, "find tinsel distracting." Local customs vary and you may be able to decorate your pole with non-threatening plain decorations, or ordinary green garland.

Festivus Dinner: The Festivus dinner menu is flexible, but it should be filling non-holiday comfort food (no turkey, duck, goose, or ham). The televised dinner featured what may have been meatloaf or spaghetti in a red sauce. (Presumably, an entree in a red sauce is more festive.) Although no alcohol was served at the Costanza's dinner, Kruger drank from his flask, so alcohol is optional.

The Airing of Grievances: At the Festivus dinner, each participant tells friends and family all of the instances where they disappointed him or her that year.

The Feats of Strength: The head of the family tests his or her strength against one participant of the head's choosing. Festivus is not considered over until the head of the family has been pinned to the ground. A participant is allowed to decline to attempt to pin the head of the family only if they have something better to do instead. Other, imaginative, Feats of Strength have been developed, including washer tossing.

 

The Festivus Miracle

While not an official element of the holiday or its celebration, the phenomenon of the Festivus Miracle should not be overlooked. When, at one point in the episode, two bookies call H&H Bagel (Elaine's fake phone number) for Elaine, and Kramer (who was on strike against H&H, but gave in because he had to use the bathroom) answers the phone. Kramer explains that he is about to see Elaine and invites the bookies to join him for Festivus. Kramer enthusiastically declares "It's A Festivus Miracle!".

 

Kramer reports another Festivus Miracle when Gwen finds Jerry at the Costanza home, despite Kramer's previous directions to Gwen. At best a "Festivus Miracle" is a coincidence, and at worst just a random occurrence, rather than a genuine miracle.

 

Origin

The Festivus idea came to the show through writer Dan O'Keefe. His father, Daniel O'Keefe, had invented a Festivus holiday in 1966, including many of the features later included in the Seinfeld episode. The father was inspired in part by the Samuel Beckett play Krapp's Last Tape, whose protagonist tapes himself speaking at different times in his life. The original Airing of Grievances was spoken into a tape recorder, and the O'Keefe family retains some of the tapes. (The father's career as a Reader's Digest editor meant internal politics of that organization are prominently featured; external grievances were permitted.) The O'Keefe tradition did not have a set date, but would take place in response to family tension, "any time from December to May" (Salkin). The phrase "a Festivus for the rest of us" also derived from an O'Keefe family event, the death of the elder O'Keefe's mother. This is not dissimilar from an Irish wake. The holiday made it onto Seinfeld after the writing team was amused by O'Keefe's retelling.

 

The elder O'Keefe wrote the 1982 book Stolen Lightning: A Social Theory of Magic (ISBN 0826400590); the work deals with idiosyncratic ritual and its social significance; a theme with obvious relevance to Festivus.

let's schedule a Festivus chat for December 23 so we can air our grievences about the world in general...

sandy