![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I expect people will accuse me of being bah humbuggy, but, hey…
Say something like, "It's three weeks until Christmas" (when it is three weeks until Christmas, of course), and the standard response from most adults is a pained, "Oh, please, don't." Library book issues plummet in December, as people say with heart-felt regret, "Oh, I wish I had time to read, but I've got so much still to do." (By the way, it always bothers me when I hear parents say to their children at the end of November, "You can't borrow any more books today, because Father Christmas might bring you some." Subtext: "I'm too busy rushing around like a headless chicken buying presents, and will forget to return them, so you're not allowed books for the next month.")
Yesterday, I heard someone complain about how they'd been out for six nights out of the past seven at various Christmas parties, "and you have to go, haven't you, because it's rude not to, but it's just too much." Today, I heard someone explain at great length about how they "had" to spend Christmas with various relatives they had nothing in common with, and how much they were "dreading" it. Someone else said how their mum used to spend all of Christmas day cooking, and then would go to bed after the washing-up was done, exhausted.
The shops are full of stressed people, their tempers close to breaking, struggling desperately to buy something for distant relatives they don't know – and what chance is there that they will get something the relative actually wants? Parents are scouring the shops for whatever the media tells them is this year's "must have present", and fear their child's Christmas will be ruined by not having it.
While a lot of individuals have very happy Christmases, an awful lot of people seem to be made very stressed by something that's supposed to be joyous. I wonder what's gone wrong.
Say something like, "It's three weeks until Christmas" (when it is three weeks until Christmas, of course), and the standard response from most adults is a pained, "Oh, please, don't." Library book issues plummet in December, as people say with heart-felt regret, "Oh, I wish I had time to read, but I've got so much still to do." (By the way, it always bothers me when I hear parents say to their children at the end of November, "You can't borrow any more books today, because Father Christmas might bring you some." Subtext: "I'm too busy rushing around like a headless chicken buying presents, and will forget to return them, so you're not allowed books for the next month.")
Yesterday, I heard someone complain about how they'd been out for six nights out of the past seven at various Christmas parties, "and you have to go, haven't you, because it's rude not to, but it's just too much." Today, I heard someone explain at great length about how they "had" to spend Christmas with various relatives they had nothing in common with, and how much they were "dreading" it. Someone else said how their mum used to spend all of Christmas day cooking, and then would go to bed after the washing-up was done, exhausted.
The shops are full of stressed people, their tempers close to breaking, struggling desperately to buy something for distant relatives they don't know – and what chance is there that they will get something the relative actually wants? Parents are scouring the shops for whatever the media tells them is this year's "must have present", and fear their child's Christmas will be ruined by not having it.
While a lot of individuals have very happy Christmases, an awful lot of people seem to be made very stressed by something that's supposed to be joyous. I wonder what's gone wrong.
