like all the fuckin ads with the hugging families around winter. any educationally normal adult knows everyone just gets more stressed, with travel and gifts and social obligations and everything, but you’re not even allowed to…openly feel that, it seems? it’s like there’s this happiness benchmark you have to reach, otherwise you’ll feel even shittier and sadder for not having a happy holiday season
This year I started Holiday shopping about 6 months ago. I am 99% done, just have to wrap them. Cut way down on my stress levels. 10/10 would recommend.
Don’t let others dictate how you feel around the Holidays. Need some days off for you? Take em. Don’t want to drive/fly across the country? Don’t. There will be a next year. Focus on the now and how you feel.
Where is the unpopular opinion?
The unpopular opinion is thinking that it’s an unpopular opinion.
The trick is to figure out what you want your holidays to look like, and then just do that.
We’ve got a weird tradition of going to the beach every Christmas Eve, wandering along the freezing cold pier, getting cheesy chips, then heading home where my husband pours himself a glass of something luxurious and watches Zulu while I generally get in a spot of knitting or gaming or something.
This year, his mam is trying to organise a big family party on Christmas Eve. Whole family will be there…except us. We’ve got our tradition and we like it. No stress.
I wish I could convince my family to drop the presents altogether. We’re all adults now, no grandchildren, and all we do is trade money between most of us with gift cards, but still have to find presents for my mother, father, grandma. Kinda stressful when most of them get themselves what they want when they want it.
That’s not an unpopular opinion. It’s even a plot device for a lot of holiday movies.
not even allowed to
Just so you know, you can live without conforming to other people’s expectations.
Especially when said expectations are dictated by ad revenue.
If you love the people around you, you’ll buy all the shit we sell and give it to them. You do love them, don’t you?
Yep I’m a looser, I am expected at a Christmas gathering, I am expected to bring some food, gifts for 7-9 childrens that aren’t mine, a gift for the host, a costume etc… I’m so broke I don’t eat every mealtime and I have to buy all that shit that will be thrown in the garbage bin a few days later. And if I don’t show up I’m an asshole who doesn’t care about my friends and family. I love puting up decorations and having a good meal but what if I can’t afford it, take out another loan that will come back to haunt me later on ?
Well, Christmas is one of the most fake holidays there is. Mostly due to it’s timing during the year. It’s the easiest and most important time to sell things. So 99% of what you are “supposed to feel” is just a commercial trying to get you to buy that feeling.
Christmas can be that whole relaxed hangout with family thing and not have store bought presents like on TV in a small town. If you don’t live in a small town, assume almost no Christmas stuff from TV will be possible.
Also most families only have 1 or 2 important Christmas traditions, there’s just such a wide variety of them that for movies to “appeal” to a wider audience they have to do a bunch of stuff to hopefully hit upon a tradition that matters to as much of the audience as possible.
Also most families only have 1 or 2 important Christmas traditions, there’s just such a wide variety of them that for movies to “appeal” to a wider audience they have to do a bunch of stuff to hopefully hit upon a tradition that matters to as much of the audience as possible.
I never thought about that last part, but it’s so true. Movies try to check of every single holiday box, but most of us only do a few of those things. Like, I can’t remember the last time I went to a tree lighting. Maybe as a kid. But every Hallmark movie features the whole community in Town Square gathered for it like every single town stops what they’re doing to all just gather around a tree across the world.
