Christmas?

[annwfyn]

This is a quick poll. It is designed to help me tailor my friends groups over the next month to ensure maximum reader satisfaction over the next month, so do fill it in!

[Poll #1798653]

Comments

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

Christmas planning won't really start til after the 9th, when I will be free of exam hell, but I am more than haappy to be party to both the good & the grump of eeveryone else's thoughts on the matter!

[fearmeforiampink]

I always associated Chrismas with family. Partly, I think, because my half brother Nick often visited then. That, and it epitomised the 'Have good food, discuss things with interesting guests, and do things together as a family" side of things that I liked of family time as a child.

On the other hand, since both my parents have died, going back to the family home for Christmas isn't really an option (especially given as it was sold a few years ago), and whilst I love my brother, I have very little in common with his girlfriend and her mother, and this fear I'd find Christmas with them rather full of silences.

It was one of my longest friends who (without specifically intending to) created the model I now follow. He invited me to spend it with him and his parents. Which was a perfect solution then, as I knew both him and them really well, was very comfortable around them, so I had a relaxing and low stress Christmas with people I cared about.

And since then, I've just each year found a friend who I can stay with for Christmas, and rather enjoyed spending a little time in these different places, whilst still with people I've known for long enough that it's a nice, relaxing time and has the 'family'-esque elements I'm after.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

I've been following the 'friends for Christmas' approach too, and it has restored my joy in the season. After all, your friends are your family, aren't they?

So much so, that even though my parents are back in the UK now I'm still spending Christmas in London, and not going up to Lincolnshire until the New Year!

The fun has already begun, with the traditional negotiation of this year's Stocking Wars treaty (deemed necessary after Christmas 2009, when a certain amount of competitiveness resulted in stockings containing echidnas and kakapos) and the working out of who's cooking what. It's going to be awesome :)

[faerierhona.livejournal.com]

My family are very close, but we are always happy when friends come to join us (as they often have) and if anything happened to them I would do a friends thing too

[nadriel.livejournal.com]

I tend to have quiet Christmas with family and what friends are available and willing to socialise.

[faerierhona.livejournal.com]

I love Christmas - I love the food and presents and family things. I love shopping for gifts and for me it is about the family thing - a time when we all get together and don't even argue until my brother's fourth drink :-P

I do also realise that all that can make it utterly miserable for others, such as my friend whose child was adopted out or people with no money/ famiy. And I am absolutely OK with people talking about that, of course

What I am *sick* of is how all the cool kids hate Christmas and all it stands for and it's all commercial and mainstream and OMG Mummy bought the wrong brand of shoes/ MP3 player/ won't buy me that car I wanted, so it all sucks

Leave me alone to enjoy it!

[anonymous-james.livejournal.com]

To a large extent I agree with Rhona about the commercialisation of it.

For me it's about getting some much needed rest and mental recouperation when the nights are so long and the days so short.

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say Christmas is a miserable time of year for me, but it's certainly been more of a chore than a joy for the past several years because while I have quite a well-formed idea of what Christmas should be like, I've ended up doing what other people want to do (with the notable exception of Christmas 2010 where I instead had my heart meticulously broken into exactly a million pieces, though I suppose that still counts).

Christmas is one of the last bastions of (childless, unwed, renting) adulthood which I've yet to unlock. I would love a grown-up Christmas with grown-up friends in a grown-up house doing grown-up things, but it never seems to come together that way.