Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Life Gripe: Christmas, Ba Humbug!

 Today I have a Life Gripe and it's on a very touchy subject, Christmas.  Ba humbug I say, especially the shopping and gift giving part.  Christmas has become no more than a huge money making shopping time of the year.  I mean it's all about the gifts.  People are getting TV's, camera's Wii's and Xboxes when I'm happy if I get a new pair of socks.  I mean there are people out there who don't have a home or can't even afford to eat and we're out buying expensive gifts? Where did our priorities go? Now if your one of those who helps others during one of the most difficult times of the year, then good for you. You should be commended because there are very few of you left.  
Take myself for instance. I know I need to do some shopping sometime soon, but I just really, really don't want to. Why? What are my reasons? Here are 4 of them.  
  1. I don't want to get out in the cold.
  2. I don't want to deal with the rude people.
  3. I don't really have the money to blow. 
  4. I'm not in the Christmas spirit.
It's so cold outside I just hate to be out in such bad weather and for what to scrounge up and go spend money I really don't have to buy gifts for Christmas. And hey, if I don't give a gift, you can bet I won't get any.And omg, the people you have to deal with out there are so rude. Especially in Walmart. And not just the customers, but the employees too. Just plain vain and rude. It's so bad that I feel I'm going to get in a fight every time I go out, so why bother? 

And why am I spending money when I still owe hospital bills and my car still needs worked on. Now don't get me wrong. I do love to give. I so badly want to buy my son a great gift because he wouldn't expect it. We've never had a lot of money so he's use to getting average gifts. So if he was to get even one great thing he wanted, he would totally be surprised. I would love to be able to do that for my son, but I can't and that is so heartbreaking and one of the hardest things in the world when there are some sons out there who every year get what they want for Christmas. And I'm not just talking about kids, I'm talking about adult sons too. My son has always gotten something for Christmas, even when he was little. It was always nice, but not necessarily what he wanted because we couldn't afford it. So yes, ba humbug. 

I'm not so much in the Christmas spirit because this is a time of year that is just very difficult for me for many reasons. I've lost both parents and miss them badly. Matter of fact we buried my mother on December 17, 2001, so Christmas since then has been a difficult time for me. I struggle financially and going out and seeing or reading on Facebook or Twitter about everyone else doing all this shopping and Christmas dinners with family hurts me when I struggle to make ends meet and have lost both my parents and live 1 1/2 hours from the rest of my family. I rarely get to see them anymore because my vehicle needs work that I can't afford and it won't make it on long trips.

To top it all off my husband could care less about Christmas. He usually works right through it. He waits until like three days before Christmas and buys me a "have-to" gift. No thought, nothing special, just buys something for the sake of getting me something. I miss those days of sentiment and being surprised now and then. All I do is try to get through this difficult time of year best I can. And sometimes it's not pretty. It's very difficult to do with all the non-stop chitter chatter about it on a daily basis. And although I do love Christmas at heart, those are my many reasons why I now say ba humbug, because it breaks my heart.

Today's Life Quote:

Sometimes I wish I were a little kid again, skinned knees are easier to fix than broken hearts. ~ Author Unknown