I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself here.

The run up to Christmas can be pretty fraught, so I decided that perhaps we need a thread for holiday-related rants, just to blow off a bit a steam.

Let me kick off with this...

There I was, working on a Christmas-related project in the kitchen. And I thought, okay, I know it's still two weeks from the actual day, but it wouldn't hurt to listen to that two CD Christmas compilation that I bought a couple of years ago, would it? Might get me in the proper mood for splashing gold and silver paint all over the place. Yeah. That's what I'll do. I'll listen to the kind of music that for fifty weeks in the year I'd never even confess to owning.

So I put on one of the twin CDs.

Bad move. I mean, really, really bad. Misery making, in fact. For all sorts of reasons, only one of which has to do with the awfulness of Cliff Richard's recording of "The Millennium Prayer".

First track. "Angels," by Robbie Williams.

Now, don't get me wrong. I actually like that song. I mean, I really like it. I like it enough that when I recently put together a compilation of some of my favourite songs I included this one. But what, apart from having angels in the title and in the lyrics, does it actually have to do with Christmas? I've listened to the words pretty carefully, and I don't see any connection, myself.

Any Robbie Williams fans out there care to shed any light on this matter?

Next track. "The Power of Love," by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Anything to do with Christmas in that one? Not that I can see. In fact, seeing as how it doesn't have any angels, either, it strikes me as being even less Christmassy than Robbie Williams.

Track three. Ah, hah! This one has Christmas in the title. Okay, so it's "I Believe in Father Christmas", but at least we're finally on topic here.

Track four. Chris De Burgh's "A Spaceman Came Travelling." Now, see, I have a problem with this. Okay, so it's an allegory or something, but it doesn't really bear that much resemblance to the Christmas story.

Track five. Cliff Richard. Enough said. Trouble is, he turns up again later.

By this time, I've got quick-drying paint on my hands, my brush, my palette and on the ornaments I'm decorating, so I'm not in a position to drop what I'm doing to put on a nice upbeat requiem mass instead.

And so the music goes on. And on. And on. And... Well, you get the picture.

Does anyone happen to know whatever became of Mud? Because after listening to their song "Lonely This Christmas" I'm really tempted to seek them out and do them some serious damage. It's not just them, either. There is also The Magnets, going on about how "everybody knows it's hard to be alone this time of year."

Well, cheers, guys. I really needed someone to point that out to me because I'd never have guessed.

Just once, I would like for somebody to write a song saying that, hey, it's okay to be on your own at Christmas because it sure as anything beats spending time with squabbling families or visiting people you avoid for the rest of the year.

Well. I guess it could be worse. I could also have been subjected to Kylie Minogue's "Santa Baby" or "Christmas Wrapping" by the Spice Girls.

Oh.

Wait.

They're on the other CD...

Chris (who has another vent ready to go, all to do with inflatable Santas that hohoho at the unwary pedestrian)

Oh dear, Chris. See, this is why the music industry will never eradicate the 'scourge' of downloading. Who the heck wants to shell out cash for compilations picked by idiots that are invariably packed full of songs you won't give tuppence for and usually end up only containing two at the most you'd ever want to listen to more than once?

Especially when these days you can hop on the net and compile your own collection of songs you really like?

I'm with you on Sir Cliff, btw.

LabRat (who is actually having a stress free Christmas this year for a change, thanks to the fact that she unexpectedly and quite out of character got UberOrganised in October...)

Robbie's "Angels" and Christmas? I would have never made that connection.

I'm totally with Labby on the downloading songs department

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

Ick. That's why I *don't* buy albums sound unheard. Yay for downloading!

Doran (who wishes she had the money now to actually purchase some of the albums she's fallen in love with, and has to put them on a wishlist)

Yuck. This is why I go for the *good* Christmas music. Trans-Siberian Orchestra, for one. With the exception of that and the Grinch soundtrack, I have 902 megs of Christmas music, which includes Bing Crosby and other old classics.

Ahem. Does anyone (apart from me) still use dial-up?

Downloading? What's that?

Chris

Ooh, ooh, I get to vent? Oh my god. I work at Bath & Body Works in the mall. I've been listening to Christmas music since OCTOBER. I worked from 12pm to closing today and it was just MISERY. /me crawls into a ball and cries. Okay, maybe I wouldn't go that far. But you know what the real problem is? I can only deal with needy people for so long, and ever since I had my vicious fall in the stockroom, I've been having to work the floor til my leg is healed. Misery. Okay, I'm done. I love this thread! I may be back before the holiday season is over. :p

JD

I have the utmost sympathy for anyone who has to work in stores in the runup to Christmas. I'm always greatly surprised we don't have news headlines about store assistants running amok through the streets en masse waving axes.

I'm just grateful that I can avoid stores at Christmas these days, thanks to the net. Oh the pleasure in sitting down at the screen on an afternoon, with my favourite Christmas songs softly playing and a glass of wine at my elbow as I order my gifts in blissful peace.

Sure beats all those crowds, muzak, queues, stifling hot stores...<shudder>

LabRat

When I worked for McDonald's, I spent two Christmas seasons at a Wal-Mart location.

I still have nightmares.

Christmas has been pretty easy so far... just got some shortbread cookies to bake for work. It's been fairly quiet there, so nothing much to rant about except for the store's hours next week -- 6am to 10pm. (5:30am on Saturday). It's already hard enough getting up at flippin' 5am to get to work for 7am... *sighs*

The best though is the weekend -- I normally finish on Friday at 8:30pm, but on the 23rd, it's 10:30pm.

At least I finish at 2:30pm. I have monday off, as a holiday, along with my normal days off on Sunday and Tuesday.

I was suppose to be making christmas cards for my friends in the cast/crew of the play I'm in yesterday.

I went to a movie instead.

Now...well...no cards, and I won't be seeing most of them after today! While I realize this is entirely my fault, it's just one more thing that makes me think Santa's lifelong goal is to irratate me.

You've my new hero. <G> I loathe writing Christmas cards for family and neighbours (funnily enough, in contrast, I really enjoy choosing just the right card and writing them out for friends. Go figure). Just loathe it. Every year, it's the bane of the season for me and the only part of Christmas I truly detest. I put it off till the very last minute and then have to rush to catch up.

So anyone who decides to go to the movies instead gets the thumbs up from me.

LabRat

I, joy of joys, bliss of all bliss, am in peace and quiet this year! my mother is not nagging me to do all of the stupid christmas decorations she always complains about anyway (and to be truthful, in my parents' house, calling it "putting lipstick on a pig" is hardly approaching the situation), and whining about the whole thing instead of making the obvious decision. if you whine about having to put up some garland, THEN DON'T PUT IT UP, DEAR! if you don't want to do it, DON'T DO IT! for cryin' out loud! the hardest decision i will have in all of this is which mass to go to---10 pm christ eve, or 8:30 sunday morning. decisions, decisions, decisions......

oh --- ps---

christmas music. besides the usual first mannheim steamroller one (the second was only so-so and after that, they were a fine waste of plastic) and george winston, i've been drifting irish. celtic christmas silver anniversary edition, celtic christmas 1, 2, 3, and 4....although one was fabulous, three was fabulous, 2 was so-so, and i actually don't ever listen to four. so every other one of those compilations is good. also.....just a couple of winter solstice discs..... "celtic solstice", good interesting music on it, but whoever put that project together was drunk. some artists go completely uncredited or even mis-credited, track 7's description belongs with number 8 on the cd, etc. MANY mistakes. what else....the only merely average disc Anuna put out, "winter songs". their average is someone else's astounding, though.

7 days until Christmas.

Absolutely no ideas of what to get for people's presents. No motivation to think of and go get presents... not to mention going to the mall makes me want to cry, even more so when it's packed. No one in the house has had the motivation to put up lights or the tree or any decorations.

I'm actually a bit worried because this is the worst case of bah humbug I've ever had.

Sara

My only holiday-related gripes this year are more school-related than holiday-related.

I'm in my senior year in high-school, and I'm taking three subjects this semester - not that much... considering some high schools don't even have our semestered system and have their students doing 7-8 subjects at a time, instead of 3-4. But still. I have 3 major assignments all due next week - and major means major. All 3 make up 15-20% of my final mark in each subject. The major assignments are always due at the end of the semester, but to free us from work over the winter break they're all due now.

I think I spent the last few weeks internalising the worrying process and pretending to be the eternal optimist, as usual, until I had a nervous breakdown last week. It doesn't help that I need a high mark, not just a good one, to get into the university I want.

I'm going to need the winter break more than I ever have in previous years.

And while we're on the topic of the break - my cousin was supposed to visit for a few weeks. I haven't seen him in more than a year, and three years before that. Since we grew up more like siblings (and friends) than cousins, not being as close to him for more than 4 years really gets to me... so I was really looking forward to seeing him. But he changed his mind at the last minute, so he's not coming. :p He'll be coming for the summer and staying both months, so at least it gives me something else to look forward to, and I can't really be mad at him for cancelling because he has his reasons, but I was still hoping to see him soon.

Julie

No. That's...no. What?! I can't believe Christmas is a week away. I'm so excited, though; I took a week off work starting Tuesday to visit my family.

*insert laugh*
No really. You have much to fear. I spent 11 hours at the mall today because the store I work at just got...emptied. When we closed the store tonight to re-stock...there was nothing to stock. We had to go to our other storage unit inside the mall to start pulling boxes upon boxes out.

JD

Speaking as an employer here, what gripes me the most is the fact that all my employees get so excited about the Christmas season before it starts and are begging for as many hours as possible. But then, once it gets going, they all have family Christmas events or become ill all at once.

I'm up at 4:30 in the morning because my feet are screaming at me! I had a 14 hour day Thurs., a 13 hour day on Fri., only a 6 hour day on Saturday and a 10 hour day Sunday. It wouldn't be so horrible except I was on my feet the entire time. Ow! Ow, ow, ow!! And, oh yeah, I was only scheduled to work on Friday!

Yesterday, we were so busy - and short staffed. Thankfully, I worked with my two most experienced employees, and as the boss who's supposed to know everything, I could certainly hold up my end of the work load as well.

It was so busy and stressful, however, that by the end of the day, we were all left with pounding headaches and we all, at various times, felt light-headed and dizzy.

Thankfully, yesterday's customers were all pleasant and understood that there would be a wait as opposed to Saturday's customers who were downright nasty to three of my teenage employees. (14, 14 and 15) Not a great way to treat three young girls working (hard) at their first jobs!

There is nothing pleasant about this season for people who work retail! It seems most places are chronically short-staffed at Christmas and customers become uncharacteristically short-tempered. Add in the fact that it's fast-paced and so stressful that it's just plain nuts, and you have a prescription for the biggest 'Bah, humbug!' around!!

Okay, I think I'm done venting now.

Irene
waiting for the Tylenol to kick in....

Oh my god. Tell me about it. And what ends up happening is regular people like me get asked to work 11 and 12 hour shifts to cover all those employees' shifts. At least they seem to tell you they're ill, etc. Some people have not even been showing up lately, so their work gets foisted onto unsuspecting victims like me. And speaking for myself, I'm not exactly going to say no just because I actually care about the store I work at. We have like no stock left at the end of every night lately, and I know if I don't stay an extra 5 hours, everyone else is going to be there all night restocking. Especially since half the employees are always new hires who don't know everything yet.

BUT I will say I had a conversation with my assistant store manager tonight. It's great that they think I can do my job well, but I can't keep working open to close. So I'm quite impressed that you've held up on those double digit shifts! Two days of it has just knocked me out!

JD

I work those double digit shifts because as an owner, I have no choice. But it has definitely taken its toll and I can't keep it up forever.

Thankfully, I didn't have to work yesterday - which translates to me being in the store for only 3 hours. (g) And thankfully, I had a massage therapy appointment yesterday and due to the fact that I had much less pain, I was able to get a solid 7 hours of sleep. I don't feel great but I feel much better.

Today, it's just a short shift - 5 hours - but I also have to do a couple of deliveries in the morning and hopefully, do a couple of personal errands.

Let's see how long I can maintain feeling semi-human!

And yet, today, after a good night's sleep, I can say that there are some bright spots. I do have a great staff who work hard and on the whole, our customers tend to be more pleasant than the average mall customers.

Hope things improve for you, JD.

Irene
New personal mantra for the day: Only 5 more days of shopping, only 5 more days of shopping, only 5 more days of shopping....

...and one more last minute rant.....

my family has a hang up with presents. we're all in our 30s-early 40s. you'd think we'd have figured this out.

gift giving at christmas is supposed to be fun and spontaneous. it shouldn't be a massive list of brothers, sisters, parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces, god-children, dogs, cats, and fish. if your brother is married with three kids ages 7, 9, and 10, and having christmas at their house with just them, and enjoying it very much, and they are now their own little family unit, you shouldn't feel obliged to get them presents. and if you do, you do it just because "oh, I found the most adorable little christmas dress for little jenny!" or something. Instead, we write out these massive lists---and when one marries, one now has TWO massive lists of people to search out presents for, your own family and your new in-laws---and trudge all over town grumbling and annoying the nice shop people just because somewhere in the back of our bloody supid brains is carved the maxim THOU SHALT GET PRESENTS FOR EVERYONE . this is stupid. get presents for whoever you think to get presents for, whoever you find the perfect gift for, or for whomever you are most closely in tune with the needs of. (? did i say that right? try again....) if there's someone you seem to know 3,000 little presents to get them, then by all means get them! so maybe one year your older sister might not get one, and the next year they might get three. and then for the next four years they might not get anything, and then the next year they get two. whatever. presents are not a MUST, they should not be a grumbling tedium that you force on yourself, because YOU are the only one doing the forcing. they should be spontaneous, joyful, and stress free. we all say (and when I say "we", I mean my family) that the whole point of the season is not presents, its a birthday party for a baby boy, but we really don't seem to put our money where our mouths are on that.

so they're pressing "picking names", putting everyone's names in a hat, drawing names, and get presents for just that person. I see this as artificial and constricting, turning what is supposed to be a small, incidental, spontaneous, and fun thing (the giving of gifts) into an artificial thing. "here's my shopping list, now go get this stuff for me". what if I get so-and-so's name, but when I'm out shopping, I see the perfect gift for such-and-such? they complain that they have too many people to buy for. "well, I still have to get presents for you guys, but now that I'm married, I have to buy presents for his family, too." so what's wrong with that? "well, they buy for all of the aunts and uncles and nephews and nieces as well, and that's too much money!

1. tell the aunts and uncles that they are adults, and they have families of their own, including some grandkids, and presents at christmas are no longer a priority in their lives.

2. Tell the nieces and nephews that the presents are going to be few and far between, if at all, because they have their siblings and their parents, they are a family unit, and they can take care of themselves.

2. too much money? you make close to $150,000 as a couple, with no major debts, and you are living in an area that has a low cost of living! and if you can't afford it, then adjust your budget accordingly. put a $15 or $20 limit on the presents, if you insist on buying for so many!

grrrrr..... I'm sure there's more, but I'm ranted out for the moment. i sez screw the rest of 'em, i'm buyin' my OWN presents for ME.

I'm not into the Christmas thing. I don't even like the way people make kids believe in Santa Clause. Saint Clause use to exisit. He was a simple man on a donkey wanting to make a diffrence in the world.

Some people celebrate Christmas by going to church with the birth of Christ. Christ was born in the middle of summer not winter! Only going to church only on Christmas day is like Lois Lane only wanting to see Clark Kent once a year! or you seeing your husband, one time a year.

Lois lane, 'He knows I never listen.'

Live life like everday is Christmas. Goodwill and love to all.

You make it sound like kids believing in Santa Clause is a bad thing, like it's forced upon them. I think it would be a shame if they weren't allowed to have that little bit of magic in their lives.

Santa Claus is a great way to teach kids about the things you mention, things like goodwill. He's not just about toys and presents.

Does the season really matter? People celebrate the birth of Christ, December 25, not Summer or Winter. And hey, it's the middle of Summer in the Southern Hemisphere at the moment, so half the world got it right...

As for only going to Church on Christmas Day, if that's the only day in the year that people go to church, the only time in the year that they experience enough faith to venture out, then I think that's fine. At least they're experiencing it. They're obviously feeling the spirit of the season, which is a good thing.

I'm not a regular church-goer, but I always make a point of going to church on Christmas Eve or at midnight. It's not that I feel forced to go just because it's Christmas. It's that Christmas brings out a stronger emotion in people, and one of the ways people express this is by going to church.

shhhhh.......





nobody? nope.....


*whispers* ok, here goes. closet roman catholic, carefully peeking out and watching for axes.

I looked up info on this on a catholic dictionary on line, but the history provided is so blitheringly complex, it would be useless to post here. one way I've heard it explained is that it is around the time of the year when the days start to lengthen, and conversely, the feast of john the baptist (in the RC Church, again) is at mid-june, when the days are at their longest and now begin to shrink. this lines up rather sweetly with what john said at one point, "I must decrease and he must increase". but it's not the only reason, to be certain. the day was more or less picked arbitrarily, because a number of pagan festivals of mid-winter were placed there as well. fixing an exact date got too confusing, and people started arguing "shepards wouldn't be keeping their flocks in the fields in the middle of the rainy season!" and "they couldn't do the census in the winter because you couldn't move the population at that time of year!" etc etc. so they just had to pick, and pick they did. and of course the protestant churches still keep this date as well, for the most part. (right?)




ps---aurora, you have the most charming sig i've seen in a long time!

You're right, Sileas, they don't know the exact day - December 25 was just picked as the most accurate guess.

Some interesting info you have there!

Re my sig, I liked the simplicity of it (and I have a thing for shoes... it's an expensive and uncontrollable addiction).

(shhh....i have an expensive....well, maybe not TOO expensive, but an addiction for silk scarves. )

yeah, it's not too precise info, but....really, that site was blitheringly detailed and complex. didn't help that they put the references in the text, instead of as footnotes. :rolleyes: i'm not sure I could "translate it to english" if I tried! but i got the general gist of it. i think....

Did the other 2 posts get deleted or is there something up with my laptop?

The other two posts got deleted There were some offensive comments posted, and a reply about them. We decided we didn't want to let those comments stay, so the post (and the reply) was deleted, and the poster contacted by e-mail.

PJ

Thanks for that. Glad to hear there was nothing wrong on my side (I seem to go through computers like crazy - I must get all the duds).

Glad, too, that the comments were deleted. I read them earlier, and then a few minutes later when I checked back they were gone. Quick work going on here...

Christmas is still a humbug.