Moms Hate Christmas

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day, who had always sort of been known in our group as the one who just loves Christmas. Genuinely enjoyed the music, baked the cute cookies, decorated her apartment to the gills, attempted to decorate all of ours too if we'd only let her, etc. But she admitted that since becoming a mom (her daughter is 5 now,) she absolutely hates Christmas, and for all the same reasons I do, even though I didn't start with nearly the same positive attitude that she did.

As the wife/mother, you have to buy the presents for everyone. Extended family is hard enough, but now you have to add all of his family--people whose tastes you don't know and may actively dislike. And if you do make him buy the presents, he's gonna do a half-assed job of it at best, which they put up with when he was a bachelor but now they'll blame you for being a bad wife and not taking the responsibility on yourself.

Then everyone comes to you to tell them what your kids want, so essentially you have to come up with like 15-20 good presents for each of your own kids, because Grandma will be pissed if you say "he'll like this" and then he doesn't like it. Not impossible for toddlers, but by the age of 9 kids are almost as hard to shop for as adults. My father makes me actually buy and wrap them too, then just gives me money to cover it. If he were married, she would almost certainly do it, after I sent her an Amazon link anyway, but he's single so it's my job.

And then everyone's all "Nooo! No Christmas music in November! No Black Friday rush! Wait until December at least!" Screw you guys, the kind of Christmas you expect to have takes more than 3 weeks to pull off. I know, I know, everyone's got these fond memories of all the great traditions your mom did for you. And she did love you, and vicariously loved your enjoyment of it.

But I'm telling you, she hated every minute of it.

Send them all Chanukah cards, and be free forever. ;)

Clodfobble;944484 wrote:

Then everyone comes to you to tell them what your kids want

This is the worst. I don't even know what the hell to get my kids and I'm supposed to give away the few decent ideas I might come up with? Fortunately, my wife gets most of the pressure to come up with the ideas.

I don't spoil my kids. At least, I don't think I do, but they have everything they want that can be bought for under $100. And I'm not buying my son the damn hover board he keeps asking for. His grandparents don't want to hear the hover board idea either.

Oh, and guys, if you are wondering what gift to get your woman, maybe this isn't so good around the holidays, but at other times, this is the best gift ever. Maye she will let you try one, and you will understand.

I have to disagree, if you do that, no matter what day of the year, she will have started a diet within the previous 48 hours. You uncaring monster, you unsupportive beast, how could you be so mean? :rolleyes:

Send everyone a gift card for Amazon.

"Prime if you like them" ... "Non-Prime" if you don't

.

It's unhealthy. Sure. But she doesn't have to eat the whole box at once.

Sure, but the timing proves you can't read her mind, so you become a disappointment. :lol2:

Now if you're faced with a daunting holiday season, perhaps you should start with an Advent Calendar that gives you a shot of gin each day.;)

I dont like christmas much anymore either.....

1) The decorations are ugly as sin.... (These crappy LED lights instead of the GOOD bulbs we used in the 80s and before)

2) Its all about $$$$$$$ now..... The real meaning of christmas is long gone :(

Well I'm a mum and I still love Christmas. Last year was the best one in years. This one is going to be weird. Not sure what's going to happen yet. My brother and sis in law are going to be with her family during the day, so it'll just be my tribe (whoever shows up for it) and my Dad and Ma for lunch. Big family do in the evening which is always the highlight for me, although I'm not too sure about the venue the oldies have chosen this year. I think it's going to be hot and stuffy and cramped and all the little kids are going to be whining because there's nowhere to play. It's at my Aunties place, and there was a function there last year with only about 30 of us, and it was cramped. Christmas night is about 80. I'm not sure the oldies thought it through really, and I suspect they might be sorry they didn't leave it to my generation to sort it out.

I fought the long war. We do almost zero gifting outside the house.

The only gifts that we give, are to family. everybody else gets cookies.

Griff;944558 wrote:

I fought the long war. We do almost zero gifting outside the house.

Us too. We do a gift exchange thing on my side of the family where each relative gets one name assigned to them. So I'm responsible for one sibling/in-law/parent/niece/nephew and that's it.

glatt;944581 wrote:

Us too. We do a gift exchange thing on my side of the family where each relative gets one name assigned to them. So [strike]I'm[/strike] [COLOR="Red"]my wife is[/COLOR] responsible for one sibling/in-law/parent/niece/nephew and that's it.

Fixed. :lol2:

:p:

Yeah, well, at least it's less work for her.

Christmas isn't the same since Grandmadigr passed. It used to be a huge production, with dozens, and dozens for dinner/gifts. Other than a few little things the 'rents and I get for each other, we don't do a lot gift-wise. Momdigr has a few gifts for some of those at her church, Popdigr buys for a couple of his oldest hunting buddies. For me, it's Momdigr, Popdigr, Best Friend, and that's it.

I'm thinking of making My Bartender a muddler for Xmas. She doesn't have one, and the bar won't get her one, cheapskates. If you muddled, what would like your muddler made out of?

Gravdigr;944608 wrote:

If you muddled, what would like your muddler made out of?

Whatever you have on hand. Walnut would look nice. But any hardwood should do. I made one out of maple from a branch I cut out of the tree in our front yard. If you want to get fancy, you could put a piece of wood on a lathe, but really just any stick and a file or sandpaper can make a nice muddler.

Popdigr has a nice little lathe in his shop. I thought about sugar maple, it's fairly hard. Then I thought about aluminum. Then I thought sugar maple, with a fitted aluminum tip on the bidness end. Would any old aluminum be [strike]food[/strike] drink safe?

Drink safe? Sure. But the epoxy you use to join the aluminum to the wood probably won't be. And if you use a machine screw to join the two together, that joint is gonna get full of gunk over time.