When X happens just before Christmas

[Elvis]

Y'know, 2 minutes too late and I'd feel like a jerk, Ksandra. But I posted before you so hah!

[Ksandra]

lol it's ok, like I said I don't remember my grandmother at all and I only have one small memory of my grandfather. I do feel sorry for my mom though :/

[Dimmauk]

No one has it worse than that chick from Gremlins.

Phoebe Cates yum

[Jones]

I'll agree that is being around all the family, and the implied "happiness" of the time of year that amplifies the situation - X. I know my wife's brother was murdered 3 days before Christmas and the whole family is super-charged emotionally. They look at Christmas as an annual family grieving time and for the first few years after the death, anyone who showed an ounce of joy was promptly sobered up by the rest of the family. Now that almost 10 years have past, it's gotten a lot better and the family has moved on, but not forgotten. The reason that it has lasted this long is because it's an annual time when they are all together. If he had died in September, I think the grieving process would have came a bit faster.

Also, America in particular has led the charge in commercializing Christmas to the extent that it is today. A huge focus is placed on everyone from society to give and get this one particular time of the year over others. For me and my family, just everyone coming together is good enough. We are all scattered about, but we seem to make it to one common spot at Christmas time. Most workplaces give time off for Christmas, so it's a convenient time for many to take a small vacation to visit family. We don't do presents (except for the little kids, now that me and my siblings have kids of our own). We just spend the time catching up on things and trying to convince other siblings to move to our town (dunno why, but it happens every year).

[Kohan]

My relatives and I celebrate Christmas more so for the spirit of it. We're not as worried about having presents for everyone, as most of the time, we can't afford that and we freely admit it to one another. We do buy things for the kids, but not an excessive amount (as they get things throughout the year, during their birthdays, et cetera). Also, not all of us are religious, which is why I say we do it "for the spirit of it" -- it's about being with your family and friends and having a good time.

Coincidentally, my grandmother did die around Christmastime a number of years ago -- can't remember precisely how many, maybe eight or so -- but it never put a damper on the holidays for us, despite the fact that she was arguably my kindest grandparent and we missed her much.

[Elesirdur]

Having unforeseen financial issues around Christmas sucks. I've lost my job, had my rent increased, had my hours cut, got a stupid speeding ticket, and had the headgasket blow on my car I needed for work during late november or early december. (Not all at once though, just thinking of separate incidents in past years)

When money's already tight with getting gifts and going out celebrating with friends, having to lay down nearly $750 to fix my car so I can do my job suuuuuucks.

Never had anything particulairly bad emotionally happen at the holidays like getting dumped or anything.

Although the Christmas when I was 16 my mother had gone into the hospital for a hysterectomy on Dec 24 (preventative measure against uterine cancer, it succeeded) so we had "Christmas" on the 22nd so we could open presents and have a big meal before her surgery. So I wake up on the 25 and go to open the one gift I had left myself and find the house strangely empty. My father wasn't at home (I'm an only child with no extended family living with us) and his breakfast was half-eaten. I didn't think much of it and figured he had gone to see my mother at the hospital and let me sleep in (this was my first XMas working at EB so it was my first day off in 8 days).

So I fix myself some breakfast and then got a call from the hospital at about 11 AM. Apparently they were calling to ask me to move my dad's car since he had been transfered to another hospital - with a kidney stone that was coming out...on Christmas day.

I take the bus down to get my dad's car and then drive over to the General hospital on the other side of town (where my mother recovering as well). I should mention that I only had my "L" in my province's graduated licencing program which did not allow me to drive alone, so that was kind of sketchy. So I get to the hospital and go see my dad, who was in the process of passing the stone and didn't want to be seen - although the nurses did request that I ask him to stop shouting curses from the pain (apparently morphine doesn't work all that well on him lol).

Anyway, both my mom and dad were okay but it was just a really funny circumstance (for me at least, my dad didn't enjoy that christmas day one bit)

[Zimbabwe Justice]

I've never been able to truly enjoy Christmas since I hate every single member of my family and the people that I do want to spend it with are busy with their own families.

[Belipo Jones]

To the OP; I always thought that X-Mas was just a cheap way to abbreviate Christmas

this

[tyven]

my girlfriend just got laid off this morning. i blame this thread

[Dimmauk]

my girlfriend just got laid off this morning. i blame this thread

Sucks. Fuck companies and their stock prices.

[tyven]

Sucks. Fuck companies and their stock prices.

yea now i gotta leave work early and go by booze and flowers. her getting laid off costs me money, what a sick world

[Norelco]

my girlfriend just got laid off this morning. i blame this thread

Sorry

[Dimmauk]

yea now i gotta leave work early and go by booze and flowers. her getting laid off costs me money, what a sick world

Sounds like her getting laid off is gunna get you laid.

[Rizer2]

to get a little technical...

While some people think it's disrespectful to the holiday to abbreviate "Christ" from Christmas using an X (you'll hear some say "don't take the Christ out of Christmas!").. most people don't realize X refers to "Chi" which in biblical times Chi Rho (often seen as an X with a P running through it) was used to symbolize the word Christ...

...or something along those lines...the more you kno!