The holiday season is supposedly the "happiest time of the year" yet here we are again and the most enjoyment I've garnered so far has been from the first snowfall. Attempts at holiday parties are falling through like weights through rotted floor boards and feelings are getting hurt left and right.
please help me feel not so alone in my grinchiness. it's hard to be a Jew during the xmas season...
I think that the problem is that everyone is being pressured being in the "happiest time of the year" and that makes it a not so happy time. Even though it the holiday season, people are having their normal problems which don't care if it's xmas or not, bundled up with all the stress of buying gifts, decorating your home, meeting up with relatives and whatnot. Just take it easy, realax, and help someone, friend or stranger, without ever thinking of getting something in return.
That's a tired and bullshit platitude. I take advantage of the time to spend it with people I love. I'll attempt to help people however I like, be that giving them presents, or just being with them, or going balls to the walls with decorations, or anywhere in between. I despise capitalism, but even more I despise the "no, like, your idea or Christmas is wrong, man, don't buy gives because, like, fuck the corporations, maaaan. Don't just follow the system, follow MY system." Herd, herd, herd into a group that fights another group for how shit SHOULD be done because THAT way is correct and THAT way will create happiness. "create" happiness. It's forced. It's bullshit.
High expectations almost always result in one or more parties being hurt.everyone is being pressured being in the "happiest time of the year"
Others have felt your pain. I used to date a Jewish girl, and she found she actually really liked Christmas, since she had never had a chance to celebrate before we were dating. Whether or not Christmas is enjoyable really depends on the people whom you're celebrating with. I happen to have a big family who are all really close and who all get along really well. I'm lucky in that regard, I guess. Even though we were all raised Christian, there's nothing remotely religious about our celebrations, and among our group, we now have a Jew, a Buddhist, a bunch-o-atheists...even a Catholic! We celebrate by drinking whiskey and playing team board games (Cards Against Humanity was last year's game, and I think my aunt kind of peed herself, which is a great way to enjoy the spirit). So anyway, my point is that "happiest time of the year" is a silly phrase, but if you strip away the historical and religious context and just view Christmas as a time when all your family, many of whom are now spread around the country, can get together for a few days and have a few drinks and a few laughs, then it's pretty damn awesome. Christians stole Christmas from the pagans in the first place; we should all steal it back!
if we're swapping videos, this is my favorite video on the matter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1uZ_W7atDE
Copying my message that I sent to you that started this thread: If you want to have to have holiday spirit, that's fine. Do it on your own though. Invite people all you like, but don't fucking pressure them into doing something or accuse them of 'lacking the spirit' because you're goddamn right I am devoid of it. If I love you, I will be there and gladly spend time with you, but I have spent far too many Christmases of my life choking on saccharine smiles and acting as if we all love each other mere hours after my father was throwing my mother through walls to ever again be guilted into another festival of hateful people.And you know what fuck holiday spirit. I can't think of a holiday that triggers me more than this piece of shit one, and every time someone forces me into doing something and putting on a bullshit face it reminds me of when I was forced to do the exact same shit when I was attempting to fucking survive, doubly so on Christmas, yet nobody gives a fuck about that and they try to force this "happiest fucking time of the year" shit for their own self-satisfaction.