Xmas is just another day and New Years day is just a day to suffer a hang over. No different to any other day of the year.
Christmas likes: festiveness, decorativeness, carols - i.e. the creative/imaginative/arty side of Christmas. And the food. Bread sauce with cloves. More bread sauce. Bread sauce for breakfast. Christmas dislikes: The annual fight with myself about thinking present-buying is a ridiculous activity but at the same time not quite being able to overcome the feeling of obligation. Pain and stress every year. Plus the fact that my partner and I have four sets of parents between us, putting pressure on us to travel constantly, see everyone etc. etc. This year I volunteered to go 'on call' for work - nets me £200 plus any overtime incurred, and hopefully gets me out of a few obligatory relative visits. New Year doesn't really feature in my consciousness.
I bleeding hate Christmas. And I have a real fscked up pile of reasons why. When I was just old enough to remember, my mother left us on Christmas morning in the care of my grandparents and didn't return for a long, long time. The wheels of the law turned, and my grandparents ended up adopting my brother and I. She visited sporadically until the courts put a stop to it. My son got sick for the last time on Christmas Eve, and passed away January 7th, the day before he would have been two. We still question if forcing the doctors' hands at some points might have saved him. I've essentially got no family, and I don't buy into the commercialism one bit. I privately remember that we syncretistically set up this day to remember Christ's birth, and the rest can go to hell. Besides, I used to work retail and I'm very allergic to chocolate.
I sympathise for any retail workers; I had the misery of three Christmases in a supermarket which I vow never to repeat. I like Christmas, and kind of like New Year. I buy all the stuff I want myself anyway so it's not a materialistic want, after spending lengthy periods of time away from home I value being home (at any time of year) much more. Christmas just happens to involve my mum going all out with her awesome cooking which I'll never turn a nose up at. My family is small, but it's nice to see them all in one place from time to time, my direct family is close but beyond that it's a bit distant. New Year is just a night out or party frankly, it just happens to have a toast and some number shouting before an arbitrary time. The only difference it makes is that I keep writing the wrong number and have to scribble it out for a month or so when writing the date out.
New year is just a night like any other. It is just used as an excuse to get bladdered. Some years I'm asleep at midnight, and other years I just don't care lol. I found Christmas stopped being fun as soon as I became an adult. I've since noticed that the magic is only there when you are a child yourself, or spend it around children you care about. It is too commercialised these days anyway. I am usually sick of it before it arrives. And to anyone who does xmas shopping in December I heartily recommend donning headphones and listening to music on your mp3 player/phone. It will keep the insanity at bay.
Can't stand either. Never have. Don't even like my own birthday. All feels so false. Even have to work it, don't get the weeks off like so many others do. Bah humbug.
Talking of holidays, what is it with the younger generation that feels the need to have a day off when it is their birthday?
Seems to be a thing with companies giving the day off (often just using up a days holiday automatically) for your birthday. But yeah, as you say. Seems like they want it. I don't, the last thing I want is sitting around thinking about how i'm a year older. Haha.
That's a normal thing in the UK? Most people in the US just go to work and pretend it isn't their birthday.
For some reason it is in my work contract that I'm entitled to having my Birthday off, never taken it though in the three years I've had my current job. I have however taken off the current week to convert my bathdump into a bathroom, so maybe my idea of time off isn't really representative
It's becoming more and more popular for younger people to take their Brithday off. As nice as it would be for me, I'm a contractor, so taking a day off like that would be a big loss.
I think it makes more sense to take your own birthday off rather than taking a day off for someone else's...
I can see absolute no point in taking ones birthday off, perhaps the following day if you have a heavy night out. But the actual birthday day for a grown up? Come on.
The OH and I often go for birthday lunch together, having taken the day off work. It's nice - it means we can go somewhere that's usually heaving at the weekend, and just have a bit of time out for us. Both of us work stressful jobs, long hours, that sort of thing, and it just makes a bit of an occasion of it.
It is nice if employers give you an extra day off on your birthday, I can see the appeal, well I wouldn't if my birthday wasn't within 14 days of Christmas. As it is a lot of my family have birthdays in the 2 week period leading up to or following Christmas. As such as much as i like December and January it ends up being more expensive with 8 close family members birthday's, Christmas and new year. Oh and my car tax and MOT are due the end of December too... As a kid I loved it, as a young adult 18-24 not so much. Now as a parent in my 30's I love it again, but that is because of the kids enjoyment more than my own. Fortunately Mrs Bear loves Christmas and I get forced into being jollier.
Birthday off makes no sense. It's not like you and your spouse have the same birthday, so you can't enjoy it together. It's unlikely that anyone you know will have the day off, and it's only one day, so all you can do is sit at home alone thinking about all the things you haven't accomplished since your last birthday. Holidays make sense because friends can come over and enjoy them with you. Birthdays, no.
That's just it - I will book hers off and she will book mine off, because we would never find time to go and have lunch/generally have a day out together otherwise. I fail to see the point of being off on my own, though...
