Current Events > Do like your Christmas less than when you were a child?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Honestly, I much prefer Christmas as an adult.

I loved it as a child. Now it's just annoying and depressing.

Nacen posted...

I loved it as a child. Now it's just annoying and depressing.

What changed it for you? When did it happen?

._. I don't do good Christmases. Never really had any except when I was super young.

Definitely less than when I was a kid, but the last few years I've found it a lot more special than I did in my 20s/early 30s.

TomClark posted...

Definitely less than when I was a kid, but the last few years I've found it a lot more special than I did in my 20s/early 30s.

Do you have kids of your own? Ive known a few people who claim it gets much better then.

For a while I didnt care, married my wife, we never had kids, her one sister had 4 and other had 2, and buying for them, surprising them, doing fun things around the holidays like "Elf break-ins" in their bedrooms in the middle of the night, its rekindled it for me. Some of them still believe in Santa, they are all under age 11, and creating that magic and joy for them is a lot of fun.

Glob posted...

Do you have kids of your own? Ive known a few people who claim it gets much better then.

I don't yet, but being with my current missus has made a huge difference. She's fully into Christmas every year and starts getting excited from mid October and, well, it's infectious, haha.

It really is all about who you spend it with, and Christmas with her just feels... better than with any other partner I've had.

Definitely.

A big part of it for me is that my aunt and uncle, mildly-to-moderately racist as they were and him an asshole to boot, did a big to-do when I was a kid. Their house would be decorated the way you'd see in movies, they'd have steaks cooked on a grill, the whole nine yards.

And then it turned out my aunt had been secretly accumulating credit card debt, she has a nervous breakdown when she was found out, my uncle was a relentless asshole about the entire situation, and there was a massive falling out between my dad over the way my uncle had been treating his sister. Since then, we don't really do Christmas all that much. We have a visit, but there's no big fancy dinner or exchange of presents.

I like it about the same amount tbh.

Hard to say. I didn't like it even as a child but I can't be sure about the difference as I spent it with family then but not anymore. I don't observe any holiday.

I loved it as a kid, but for different reasons than I do now.

As a kid it was all about that excitement of what Santa would bring, and then spending the rest of the day playing with said stuff. Inside or outside. Seeing the gifts your friends got, etc.

As an adult with nieces and nephews it's about trying to create that atmosphere that I remember. So nowadays it's more about the family time together and giving kids those memories for the future.

I enjoy both.

I'm less excited about it now. It's basically a flat exchange of cash for things I may dislike. I don't have kids.

I love Christmas, but I also know I loved it a lot more as a kid because it was like all I thought about for weeks. So hard to answer the poll as technically it is "much less" but that sounds negative.

Of course. Now it's just a money drain. Best thing about it is time off.

shnangyboos posted...

Of course. Now it's just a money drain. Best thing about it is time off.

I agree that the best thing is time off but thats partly because I get 5 weeks for it. Its hard to beat that.

Glob posted...

I agree that the best thing is time off but thats partly because I get 5 weeks for it. Its hard to beat that.

I get like a week and a half, but it's better than working that time. 5 weeks sounds pretty nice, though.

It's just a time off from work. My family aren't christians, or catholic, or any of the western religions, so we celebrated for the kids. Now the kids are all grown, so it's just a get-together.

As an adult, I feel like most of the magic is long gone, though I do still enjoy Christmas very much.

A fair bit less as that feeling of getting something great under the tree has passed for at least a couple reasons. Not to mention being single around the holidays limits the potential for intimate memories (not necessarily those intimate memories.) Finally I think that the Christmases of the future will eclipse ours as far as gaming goes assuming we make it through climate change and what not. Hopefully my nephew growing up will make Christmas better throughout his childhood.

That said Christmas Day is always something special even if the pregame isn't what it once was. Back as a kid the anticipation made the thrill of December 25 all the more enjoyable. These days it's the mental equivalent of a phantom limb as I can still remember it and get a sense of it but it's no longer there. Christmas Eve got the worst of it as back in the days of my childhood it combined with the next day to form the best 48 hours of the year. These days it feels more like an inverted climax as the disappointment of losing that building joy from youth has yet to fade for me. But Christmas Day is still about 75% as great as it was.

Christmas as a kid was always special and even as a young adult. Christmas as a parent is SO much better. You get to build core memories in your childs life and the enjoyment and excitement of seeing someone receive a gift is much more rewarding than getting a gift.

Not to mention putting together memorable family gatherings and making the food for those.

When you make your own money and buy your own shit; Christmas is meaningless

sonichu posted...

When you make your own money and buy your own shit; Christmas is meaningless

Not necessarily. it's still nice to get stuff that you might not otherwise be able to get on your own. It doesn't compare to being little when your birthday and Christmas were the only times of year where you'd be able to get new toys/games but it's still nice.

sonichu posted...

When you make your own money and buy your own shit; Christmas is meaningless

Nah. Giving presents has always been better than receiving them.

It just makes me feel lonely and miss my dead dad.

much less negative

Yeah definitely less but I still enjoy the weather and seeing the Xmas lights around my neighborhood

1990 was the best Christmas ever, for me.