I'm kinda meh about this year. I look forward to spending Christmas day with my mum, but I'm finding it quite difficult to get into the holiday spirit. My mum has recently been diagnosed with a chronic illness and whilst I do think I'm coping reasonably well, I can't help the waves of sadness that come over me every now and then. I think I've been trying pretty hard to be positive to help her and that's resulted in some repressed emotion that now I'm struggling to just get out of the way and let go of, so I'm kinda skulking around, being a bit miserable and moaning about my university deadlines. pout

I think it is a perfectly normal reaction. Although the waves of sadness stink. Wish I had something to say but I'm afraid I do not. As for the Christmas feeling. With me the decorating helps. I dislike doing it, but all the lights and stuff does get you in the spirit some way. At least it does with me.

And to be honest, so what you're not into the holiday cheer this year? If you just want to curl up, cover yourself in a blanket and cry for a bit or whatever you would like to do at such a time, go for it!

I agree with the poster above, it is a normal response. You should let yourself feel it, it'll help you feel better.

What helps me during Christmas when I'm not feeling the spirit is to not force myself to. Just let myself chill, maybe watch the occasional Christmas movie that I've watched every Christmas, but if I don't feel like watching it I don't have to. I think beating yourself up about it is worse than not feeling it haha and trust me, I know from experience.

I have to work late shift over Christmas so the celebration will be nothing but stress and nagging old people, lol

Luckily I'm not a Christmas fan anyways so it doesn't hurt much.

Me too. Christmas used to be my favourite time of the year, but this year I forgot it's even December... and I've got 12 days to buy every single gift for everyone in my life. D: I blame seasonal depression honestly. And the fact that I am now an adult, and Christmas lost its magic.

Sounds like a normal, human reaction to me. I used to get SO excited about Christmas, but now I'm older and...well, it's not that I don't care, per say, but it's just not all sparkly and exciting anymore I guess. I wish I could do more for the people I love, but I'm just making it as is, even though I work full time. It's difficult for me to be happy sometimes because I have depression, and it gets worse this time of year with seasonal affective.

Reading your post makes me want to cry, 2016 has been shitty, i cant decide if 2016 was worse or 2015, my step dad (who was basically my father) passed away suddenly in 2015, and in 2016 my mom was diganosed with breast cancer, and that has just been very rough, our relationship has been very rough and we havent talked for weeks at a time, and last week we had to put our 14 year old jack russell down

Needless to say, i really dont care about Christmas, though im usually a grinch anyways, but even more so this year. And it doesnt help i work that entire weekend on night shift, so it will literally be another day. Me and my friends and family are doing Christmas this weekend.

this is my 12th christmas with a chronic illness and I will be having to spend christmas eve with an iv in my arm but let me just say that I won't let it dampen my spirit. I know it's hard because you feel like you have to be positive for her but as someone who has been coping for years, you also need to sit down and let her know this is hard on you to. My mom is very honest about the fact that this has been as much about her coping as it has been for me and we are very open when we're down and that helps so much. also know that if you need anyone to talk to my smail is always open and I know many wonderful people on subeta who support each other, especially those with or supporting those with chronic illnesses <3

Thanks for the support everyone, I'm feeling a lot better today than I did yesterday. :)

I'm so sorry to hear that 2016 has been so rough to you. My little staffie is getting pretty old now. I've only had one other long-term dog and I cried non-stop for two weeks when we had to get her put down, so I totally understand how hard that can be. I'm glad you're gonna spend some good time with your friends and family though and I hope it turns out to be a good weekend. I'm crossing my fingers that 2017 will be a better year for both of us. :)

My mum was doing a lot better yesterday in terms of her state of mind, so I did sit down and tell her how I felt and honestly it really did a lot of good. She's been very miserable lately, which is completely understandable, but she says that she's changing her outlook on things and is realising that she needs to be more positive and really take advantage of the good days when she has them - which really makes me feel a lot better. She struggles with depression anyway, so it's a pretty big relief to me to hear that she's coming to terms with things and coping a little better in her head. Thanks for your support, I really appreciate it!

if this takes me 2 weeks to feel better I think I might have a mental breakdown before hand, it's been 4 days and I'm just exhausted, I want to sleep but I can't sleep, ugh it's a mess!!

I def hope 2017 is better!!

I give my best thoughts to you and your mom! If you ever need to talk I'm here

That's great! A big step in handling and living with chronic illness is making the best of what you have a keeping your head up. Also I'm glad you got to sit down and talk to her, bottling all of it up isn't good for you <3

My dad told us that we're "too old" for gifts, so needless to say, we're not doing Christmas. My mom still decorated, but there's going to be squat under the tree.

Awh, I can understand a bit where you're coming from! When my mom was diagnosed with cancer christmas just didn't feel the same for us. :( Hopefully you can put on your best face and celebrate it for her sake.

I was feeling very dispirited about the whole Holiday, but decided to try to get into it for my mom. We lost my dad about three years to cancer and she tries so hard to keep his spirit alive during this time. It was working until the whole stress got to me, but we both still have one week to start getting more excited! (real or not)

I was expecting to be a month and a half into my mother's right knee replacement, which fell through, and I still feel like I'm in limbo concerning that. The tree isn't up yet, I want to get it up by Tuesday but things have gone no. Mom and I came down with a weird stomach bug that we're just getting over (she had it worse than I did.)

Not to mention I'm getting to where I hate being given gifts because I want to give more back than I get because I'm 27, still at home, unemployed and basically just have to go, "Daaaaaaaaaaaad? Can I talk to you?" I'm not want for anything, why do people insist on gifts. x.x;;;

Pretty sure this is what happens when you grow up and it sucks so much. I was stoked to be home for christmas this year, but now what with being broke, Im just not nearly as excited as I should be.

just think about the gifts