The Ghost of Christmas Never: If Christmas did not seem right or complete this year, when did it, and what would it have taken to make it so?
Traditionally, I have loved everything about the season. But this year, I feel like I just kind of missed it. And I am not alone: a lot of people have told me they felt the same way, especially this year.
Then again, every year, I think I feel this way. Maybe I am idealizing something in the past, or have subtle expectations for better times in the ineffable future. Right now, however, money and time were short. Everything just seemed cliche’ and too familiar.
Way back in my mid teens, when Christmas first started to lose its luster, I dubbed this feeling as being haunted by the Ghost of Christmas Never. Its not of the past or future. Its sensing that a more perfect holiday season should or could be in the future, but the season never lives up to our hopes, dreams, and expectations.
I am not sure if I got that term, the Ghost of Christmas Never as something I made up or if I picked it up elsewhere. Sometimes, it feels forlorn and melancholy. Other times, I just feel nothing and kind of ignore it and hope one day things will seem more like Christmas than they do now,
What was an ideal Christmas for you, and what are you hoping it could be someday? If something was incomplete this year, what would have made the season nearer to what you wanted it to be?
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Having most of my family that passed before me return for the Season!!!
The only other thing that I would have wanted would just piss you off so I’m NOT going to say it.
Actually, Christmas is for children & I’ll NEVER have any of those. Plus people have become so freaking greedy that it’s sucked ALL the joy out of gifting!!!
It was better when my son and I would go all out to an expensive Christmas meal or sometimes stay at home and cook a great one too!
As it was not safe to travel on the highways and finances were not willing to budge, we opted to plan for a Summer visit instead, where we can still go out for dinners and check out the scenery etc
Presents don’t mean anything since I grew up not having these instilled in our lives. Hence we appreciate what we have and each company more so.
I don’t miss presents at all.
While this year may not be what one expects doesn’t mean that it won’t be better next year?
Bad timing. Christmas on a Wednesday messes things up. Any other day, you have long weekend and can enjoy it more. This year is just off.
It is because you are not a child anymore, where you got presents, did not have to gift anything to anyone else, and the most you had to worry about in life was getting beat to a bloody pulp by your dad for all those Cs Ds and Fs on your report card.
My ideal Christmases were when most of my grandparents were still alive, and I and half my cousins would congregate and I’d have two family Christmases (eve and day) with a big part of both my parents’ families, and some days before and after.
For me, this is a good question because I wasn’t in the mood for Christmas this year and I hadn’t yet thought about exactly why.
I miss my mother, who was the hub of the family, the glue that held us together. My mother would cook the meal, and we’d go to her house for the afternoon and probably to around 10 or 11 at night. I still see my stepfather and my sister, but it’s not the same as it was when my mother was around. Her house which is now my stepfather’s house doesn’t feel the same as it did when my mom lived there. He’s made some changes to it and we don’t go there as often as we did when my mother was alive and babysitting for my daughter. He’s still a great person but I didn’t have the same relationship with him as I did with my mom, so it’s just different.
Also my daughter is now 12, so not at the age where presents were toys and fun kid stuff.
It’s never been the same since my mother passed away six years ago.
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Mashed potatoes and gravy.
Christmas is what you make of it. Adopt Improvise Overcome!
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