Xmas 2022

[Mr EliteL]

...jol--SHADDAP

*ahem* I mean the time this year has flown by and it's less than 4 days until the big celebration before the year ends. Surely decorations are up in your home by now, or there are plenty in your area to know of the occasion. Got a tree up, no matter how big or small? Got presents ready or got some last minute shopping to do? Whatever's going on, hope it all works out in the end.

I can be a bit of a grump leading up to it and quite possibly on the day. Certainly enjoyed Christmas when I was a kid, was amplified even more with both my siblings and a second Christmas on Boxing Day at my Dad's side as they had such a homely house with a fireplace and big tree. Now I'd just prefer to treat it as another day but slightly special to spend time with my family I guess. If I had my own kids or perhaps a partner I'd definitely feel differently. It's still a good day once it's over with (unless something catastrophic happens).

This year I have gifts bought, but yet to be wrapped so I have to get on that soon, then I'll be fully ready for the day to commence....once I supply all the punters with their produce. The amount sold today, I'd think that's everyone and no one will be back for the next three days but low behold there's more and more people coming in, especially the late comers on the Eve asking "do you have any [ITEM] in stock" and we're "Yes the last few days we did, where were you??!!" *shot* I take it all back, I like our stock to be huge and have lots to do, just as long as it's only my department I'm working on.  That's enough from me.

[Moonface]

Surely decorations are up in your home by now, or there are plenty in your area to know of the occasion. Got a tree up, no matter how big or small? Got presents ready or got some last minute shopping to do? Whatever's going on, hope it all works out in the end.

 to everything here. Absolutely all of it. If not for a housewarming party on the 28th I wouldn't actually bother with decorations at this point but I'm obliged to do it now for visitors.

I can be a bit of a grump leading up to it and quite possibly on the day. Certainly enjoyed Christmas when I was a kid, was amplified even more with both my siblings and a second Christmas on Boxing Day at my Dad's side as they had such a homely house with a fireplace and big tree. Now I'd just prefer to treat it as another day but slightly special to spend time with my family I guess. If I had my own kids or perhaps a partner I'd definitely feel differently. It's still a good day once it's over with (unless something catastrophic happens).

Christmas got a spark back for me when I moved to the US mostly because I get to experience it with people I hadn't ever done so with before, and Shira's drastically different handling of gifts compared to my parents adds excitement back into unwrapping gifts for me. My parents share a similar sentiment to you though in that it's basically another day and would probably only be a special thing now if we're visiting each other for it or if I ever leave a grandkid on their doorstep and have them deal with it for two weeks.


I can't really tell if my spirit for Christmas is low this year because I genuinely don't care much this year, or the lack of decorations and a tree in the house prevents the mood and atmosphere from building up. Maybe I'll find out if I can drag myself to the closet and pull out all the bodies decorations and the tree to put them up tonight.

[Mr EliteL]

Yeah I'd think a different area with different people could change an outlook for Christmas. I'd probably be the same a bit and have some excitement return for me, but I'm not looking for any so I'm fine with it at the moment.

Haha, yeah I had no part of decorating this year, I just got it down from our loft and let my mum and sister put whatever they wanted up. If it were up to me, I may have done it as late as today too or if I were expecting visitors before/on the day, but only a minimal amount. Don't have to go mad, just a tree and a couple other things perhaps if I were in charge.

[Karo]

Merry Christmas eve everyone! My house isn't decorated thsi year either ;u; I kinda feel like the holiday kinda snuck up on me.

[Moonface]

Did anyone here decorate for Christmas? So far it's either someone else did it in the house or nobody did it. XD

Anyways, it's 12:12am here which means I can be the first to say...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!  

[aerodynamik]

Merry Christmas everyone!

[WR91]

Merry Christmas everyone...and a very happy new year!

[Mr EliteL]

Yup, Merry Christams to all! May everyone have a joyous and relaxing day. 

[Moonface]

Currently heading over to my mother-in-laws place to have breakfast and then open presents! 
Did anyone open any of their presents yet?

[Mr EliteL]

My day has been pretty good. Played Genshin in the morning, my dad and family friend joined us (mum and sister) after midday, was still playing Genshin until dinner was ready though. Had a roast dinner and afters, which was some type of christmas pudding with two mince pies with cream and custard. I had a bit of custard as I'm not too keen but was still good. I washed up what I could while they went for a walk (I've been up and about at work so didn't need it), watched the King's speech, opened presents, had some snacks, played Scrabble with four players (I won, naturally) and our game of cards.

My presents have been just right, which is great.

Three albums, expecting one more;
-Battle Beast's No More Hollywood Endings (I got this so my mum had something to give, she got me other stuff below)
-Mike Oldfield's Tr3sLunas
-Mike Oldfield's The Songs of Distant Earth
Food (2 Mini Cheddars tubs, chocolate, Hello Panda, Shortbread, Vintage Cheddar and Gazpacho Soup)

Couple more presents when my brother and his wife visit tomorrow.

[Kyng]

I hope everybody here had a merry Christmas !

I got quite a bit myself - including some model railway stuff, books, chocolate, and a LEGO Formula One car (this one, so it'll take me a while to build it )

[ShiraNoMai]

That actually sounds like a lovely day, EL. Glad you had an enjoyable time, and hope today was just as good with your brother and sister-in-law visiting

Dang that LEGO set looks sick. Should take a picture and post it here when you finish it

I got a couple handful of things from my Amazon wishlists (including some bottoms, a rice cooker, a couple of books), a fucking amazing set of official Super Nintendo World Yoshi charms from Moony, and a few other odd bits from my mother and others. Definitely feel a bit defeated this year by Christmas--there were many things I've wanted to do, set up, and get for others and just simply did not have the time, energy or finances to put those thoughts into action.

[Mr EliteL]

Ah, it's the good type of LEGO model where it isn't so obvious it's LEGO with smooth/flat surfaces. Nice.

Yeah thanks, Shira. Yesterday was fine too, work in the morning which was practically dead, filled next to no stock but was clearing things from Xmas Eve and helping the mass amount of markdowns on our department. Afterwards got some bargains of Xmas snacks...mainly chocolate, then normal price of soup and cereal bars for work in the mornings. Then went home, they both arrived along with my dad who joined us again, had some party food with them, opened presents (for them and by them), played a Christmas newspaper quiz (was a group effort, wasn't competing) and some games they received. They went home, I played Genshin.

I forgot to mention we played a different, not so Christmas themed newspaper quiz on Christmas Day too, it was a "Can you beat the Chaser" with 40 questions. I was useless with 7/40, sister and dad got 9/40, friend got 11/40 and my mum got a whopping 26/40. (Chaser had 38/40) We all could've got more though as there was some we realised we did know after. I'm usually bad at quizzes anyway because general knowledge is not my forte and couldn't careless, I quickly did them by myself first and called out questions/answers to the others who wrote on paper.

The only thing that sucked is I felt an illness coming on where my throat kept going dry, and still got the start of it today which feels like a cold for now.

I got Chaos;Head dvd and Digital Chess Timer, two things I wanted.

Yeah that's unfortunate you couldn't do everything you wanted because of those various reasons. At least you got some great gifts. 

[Dragon Lord]

I got a very nice weighted blanket (something I had talked about wanting to get for a while), a pizza cutter that's one of those big blades instead of the small circular ones (something else I've talked about wanting to get for a while), and this little metal picture thing that's a human hand a cat paw fist bumping each other. My mother got that last one for me because it reminded her so much of me and my cat Eli. I'll raise my hand to him and say "give me paw" and sometimes he'll put his paw on my fist, so she said she had to get that for me when she saw it, haha.

I won't have a chance to get to my sister's to see them for Christmas for probably another week or two, so not sure if I'll have anything from them waiting for me.

[Frank]

I honestly had one of the worst Decembers ever. There was something major every week, including Christmas eve/Christmas day.

I was beginning to type it all up, but I'm deciding to just leave it in the past. Here's to hoping the 2023 Holiday season treats me better!