Holiday Cards, Gifts, and Get-Togethers.

[MROSS]

Any experiences with greeting-cards, gifts (receiving, sending), and get-togethers?

I have half and dozen people (mostly family, adn family freinds) ffor hoidaly greetings, gifts, and get togethers.

One person I had hoped to get-together with after meeting awhile back is recovering from COVID.

 

[Au Naturel]

Other than my immediate family (wife, daughter, granddaughter) I am Scrooge incarnate. Bah! Humbug!

 

[Outdated]

To me Christmas is for children, and as I don't have any it means very little to me. A bunch of public holidays when most of the shops are shut.

 

[lovely_darlingprettybaby]

Just do not buy gifts, people expect it too much and it gets stressful
Maybe just a card and some chocolates
And bring like some alcohol, a plate of food or something else practical to get together.

 

[Forest Cat]

I sent my Christmas cards in the mail a few days ago and the Christmas presents are wrapped and hidden. I like all that stuff and without Christmas, december would just be another dark and dull winter month. So I seize the opportunity to be festive.

 

[Wolfnox]

Sure. In the old days I went to three different family gatherings. Where we eat and open gifts. It was nice though I couldn’t really understand the social aspect of it being young and with no knowledge of autism.
Always enjoyed the presents.
Kinda sad now. So many are gone on. And what was happy gathering are made in bitterness and loss.

 

[Forest Cat]

Kinda sad now. So many are gone on.

Yeah, same here. But I try to keep it positive and nice.

 

[Wolfnox]

Yeah, same here. But I try to keep it positive and nice.

It’s probably naive but, I’d like to one day share Christmas with someone special. Just for a little while on that day. Just to be happy together.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

My wife's family is pretty close and we often have get togethers. Specifically, with Christmas, we are having it at our home this year. Some are spending the night. For the most part, it's just a good meal and catching up. A lot of good discussions, as they are the types of people that discuss ideas. We are all adults and do not exchange gifts. When the kids were little, they received gifts.

 

[Aspychata]

Not much going on, but l am really looking forward to next year. Some big changes are finally rolling in and l feel much better in general.

 

[Au Naturel]

I always figured any old excuse for a holiday. Holidays were either a day off or a day with a pay differential. If I was working in an office, it meant free cake.

I find Christmas programming to be mostly dreary Pollyanna drivel.

My experience with family gatherings is mostly of people refusing to let go of their childhood and holding onto their traumas as if they could somehow undo them if they relitigate the past. It never works, so it is the same old dysfunction the next year. We now limit our gatherings to immediate family only, which is much more pleasurable. I still have to watch what I say, or one particular person will launch into every conspiracy theory that MAGA ever endorsed and then accuse me of "motivated thinking."

I don't do cards. Save a tree and the postage.

 

[Rodafina]

I've always enjoyed wishing people "Happy New Year" instead of the other holidays. I guess that for many people New Year's is all about partying and getting sloshed, but I think it's a nice time for contemplation and introspection. Resolutions are not important to me, but I do see January as an interesting opportunity for a fresh start simply because everything on the calendar will repeat once again.

The New Year celebration isn't so much about giving or receiving gifts and it is more neutral in terms of people's different cultures. I think it's a nice holiday to recognize.

I have enjoyed writing Happy New Year cards to the people that I deliver food to.

 

[Forest Cat]

The New Year celebration isn't so much about giving or receiving gifts and it is more neutral in terms of people's different cultures. I think it's a nice holiday to recognize.

When I lived in the city, there was always big New Year celebrations but one thing I didn't like at all was the next day. January 1st. I would go out around noon and the entire city always looked like what a house looks like after teenagers have had a home alone party. It's a special atmosphere that you only see and feel on January 1st. It's unusually quiet and everything seems a little 'off'. Like twilight zone 'off'. And everyone was hungover and it was like all the air in the city was stale. It's a terrible way to start a new year, a wrecked and trashy city with stale air and hungover people.

 

[Rodafina]

When I lived in the city, there was always big New Year celebrations but one thing I didn't like at all was the next day. January 1st. I would go out around noon and the entire city always looked like what a house looks like after teenagers have had a home alone party. It's a special atmosphere that you only see and feel on January 1st. It's unusually quiet and everything seems a little 'off'. Like twilight zone 'off'. And everyone was hungover and it was like all the air in the city was stale. It's a terrible way to start a new year, a wrecked and trashy city with stale air and hungover people.

Yes, I never understood some of the customs that involve these sort of things. I think this is why I enjoy sharing New Year greetings with my elderly people at work. They are all beyond that nonsense and are just happy to wake up each morning. No days are worth squandering.

My New Year's eves have always been quiet and solitary and simple. Midnight doesn't even matter to me.

 

[VictorR]

When I used to work in the office, I'd always give cards and tokens of appreciation to my work friends and cubicle neighbors around the holidays. It was nice to get cards as well, especially in a world where we don't (hand)write as much anymore.

 

[MROSS]

Just reviewing the responses in this disc. thread both reinforced, and provided perspectives what are famillar holiday routines.