By Bon

December 17, 2007 9:32 AM | Link to this

My man dislikes the holidays very much and it makes me crazy. His past marriage caused him to hate Christmas but I love it and I have tried desperately to explain that I am not her and that I want to make the holiday joyous and loving. He won’t let me buy a thing for him and he would prefer stay home than spend time with family!

By Bon

December 17, 2007 9:33 AM | Link to this

My man dislikes the holidays very much and it makes me crazy. His past marriage caused him to hate Christmas but I love it and I have tried desperately to explain that I am not her and that I want to make the holiday joyous and loving. He won’t let me buy a thing for him and he would prefer stay home than spend time with family!

By ron

December 17, 2007 10:09 AM | Link to this

I am the man of the household.Scrooge could take lessons from me.No tree,no decorations,no lights.We draw names for the family member we buy a gift for.This year I bought a nice sweater for a woman I would gleefully choke on the remaining 364 days.Makes a lot of sense doesn't it?My wife and I will give and receive gifts that no one wants or needs or can really afford.We will visit on Christmas Day and oh and ah at all the loot and wonder,after we leave,how long they're going to be paying for all they gave.Temporary insanity,pure and simple.

By shane

December 17, 2007 10:51 AM | Link to this

Xmas sucks. plain and simple. It’s yet another excuse for christians to shove their horrifying beliefs and TRADITIONS down everyone elses throats.

By Tray

December 17, 2007 10:54 AM | Link to this

I hate putting up lights, just hate it. The putting up isn’t hard, it’s finding the outlets, going through entire strands to find that 1 bulb that’s out, falling off the ladder-that’s all the fun stuff! Oh, and the arguing about buying for her parents and mine. Every year it’s the same thing: My parents aren’t divorced, hers are. So, my parents get 1 combined gift, and we buy separate for her mom and dad. And her mom has to stay the night with us EVERY Christmas eve (welcome to my hell). And people wonder why i can get in a bad mood. My parents live an hour and a half away, but if i want to see them Christmas day (and not the weekend before or after), you’d think we were driving a zillion miles because she doesn’t want to go. Also, her father recently left his wife, so this year, i get an added bonus-Him living in the spare room!!

So here’s what my christmas eve will be- Me and my wife, my mother in law and father in law (who are divorced and won’t get along), my mother in law’s husband, and my brother in law (who lives with us). On top of all of that, I probably won’t see my parents on Christmas Day…need any other reasons for my becoming Scrooge?

By Jack

December 17, 2007 11:04 AM | Link to this

Sounds like you need to trade in for someone who is not from a disfunctnal family. Your situation could drive anyone nuts!

By Eyez

December 17, 2007 11:11 AM | Link to this

Simply put….men get screw-ooged and women get everything they want in their stocking. I see it time and again, guys end up footing the bill while their girl makes out like a bandit in a community for the blind. Personally, I refuse to be that guy so I don’t ask for anything and I make sure that everyone knows I am not buying anything for them. All I ask for on xmas is hanging out with my family and seeing the people that matter in my life. I want nothing to do with Hallmark BS holiday’s.

By Pedro

December 17, 2007 11:15 AM | Link to this

Sorry to be a wet blanket on all you Scrooges, but I love Christmas and look forward to it every year. I not only decorate my own home exterior (sparsely), I also decorate my subdivision entrance with a few other like-minded neighbors. I spend time with my family and my in-laws whom I like. We laugh, drink, and exchange gifts that we make or buy after some thought.

I was raised in a church-going household but haven’t been in a church for decades. I don’t feel any religious pressure to observe someone else’s traditions. Christmas is my own tradition; one that my family enjoys for it’s spirit of peace, joy and giving.

Sure there is expense and some pressure, but it’s for the benefit of folks I care about more than myself. So, my Scrooginess is reserved for pathetic creatures who are so bitter and dried up inside that they find Christmas annoying. No love here for you, no sympathy, just disgust because you stew in the juice of hatred and bitterness. Too bad for you.

By Tray

December 17, 2007 11:17 AM | Link to this

LOL, I know, Jack, right?? I want to move somewhere secluded in just a 2 bedroom house, far away from the in-laws…Spain maybe??

By LydiasDad

December 17, 2007 11:50 AM | Link to this

What a bunch of losers. Shane says “their horrifying beliefs and TRADITIONS down everyone elses throats” regarding Christians. Every Christian I know would never say that about anyone else. Who really has the “horrifying belief” here? If not for Christianity, there’d be no schools, charities, hospitals, and so on. You have a miserable life Shane. Keep it to yourself.

By Atlanta Pearl Girl

December 17, 2007 12:30 PM | Link to this

I was dating ‘SCROOGE’…. found out it was due to being Bi-Polar…..

By shane

December 17, 2007 12:47 PM | Link to this

so they didn’t like my first comment. All I was trying to say was that Xmas is just another excuse for christian traditions to get shoved down everyone’s throats - what’s so offensive about that?

Xmas is a horrible holiday and I refuse to have anything to do with it.

By Dee

December 17, 2007 1:19 PM | Link to this

I love Christmas! The best part of all is the extra caring, extra sharing, and extra giving of oneself to benefit others - Christmas should be “everyday” and, it is Christmas everday when we have it in our hearts….

If you are involved with a scrooge or a Grinch, just ignore them and keep on enjoying and doing all of the things that you normally do in order to make it a Merry Christmas for self and others, and it soon becomes an infectious thing…. my experience has been “the scrooges and the grinches will come around” when Christmas touches their hearts - just like in the stories, just like in the movies… when one can witness TRUE loving, giving, caring and sharing for others….that’s when one finds Christmas in their hearts. Merry christmas and a Happy New Year to all in 2008!

By shane

December 17, 2007 1:30 PM | Link to this

To LydiasDad

you must know some nice christians. I know some nice christians too - unfortunately they don’t represent the majority of christians.

and I’ll stop sharing my beliefs when you stop shoving yours down my throat, dick.

By Jonny

December 17, 2007 1:32 PM | Link to this

I do not like Christmas. It’s a guilt holiday to me. I tell people not to get me anything but they do anyways, obliging me to give them something and have to send a thank you card. The voice of my mother telling me I should celebrate Christmas because “you have to” rattles in my mind like a spent .38 caliber slug. Ugh, I’m normally a pretty happy guy … until Christmas.

By Santa Clause

December 17, 2007 1:52 PM | Link to this

I love Christmas, just HATE all the BS that is expected of everyone.

F that.

The Old Lady spends way too much and I am the Scrooge.

F that.

By dino

December 17, 2007 2:58 PM | Link to this

if you can’t be nice to me the other 11 months out of the year, what makes you think i’m going to give you a gift in dec. because you decided you new how to smile for that one day.

By Trady

December 17, 2007 3:45 PM | Link to this

I have no sympathy for men whining at Chrsitmas time. Get over it! It’s not just about you. Christmas is for the whole family, children mainly. So suck it up and put on your happy face, Like all us girls do. Or we could trade. I will spend one day putting up lights and call it done. And starting 3 months prior to the actual holiday, you can call, arrange, and plan all the family get-togethers, find out what everyone wants, track it down to the store by best price, stand in line, buy all the gifts for everyone we ever knew, wrap them each carefully, sign, address and mail 200 christmas cards, bake 50 cupcakes for both kids school christmas parties, drag the decorations down from the attic, decorate the house, grocery shop, cook the perfect christmas dinner, and clean up after it. Then pack it all up for safe keeping and do it again next year, while I stand by and whine about how hard it is to be a man.

By Mary

December 18, 2007 10:07 AM | Link to this

THE INFAMOUS PINE BOUGH HANGING INCIDENT Mary Phillips December 7, 2007

My husband Robert was strongly warned not to ruin my Christmas spirit this year. I’ve been telling him all year long. He was going to help me decorate, pretend to like it, and shut up if he didn’t. So, we had a “date” tonight to put up the tree. My idea was dinner, romantic Christmas movies, and decorating the tree. Our first tree since we got together three years ago. I even promised him we would “celebrate” on soft cushy blankets, by the fire, in front of the tree. Sounds like good incentive for a husband, right?

So I come home tonight. No dinner cooking and a big pile of what appeared to be a wreath on the floor. “Oh honey, you got a wreath!” I exclaimed with foolish excitement. “It’s not a wreath; it’s a 75 foot pine bough. We’re going to hang it from the ceiling.” he proclaimed smugly. “Um, honey, why are we going to hang it from the ceiling?” And he answers me, like I’m the idiot who doesn’t know what to do with a Christmas pine bough, “We have a cathedral ceiling, hanging pine bough is a moral imperative.” That is a quote, and my first clue I was in real trouble.

Not wanting to dampen his enthusiasm or question him when he has actually exerted an effort, however odd, toward decorating, I didn’t argue. I thought about it, tried to imagine what it would look like, and how, practically, such a thing would be accomplished. Then after dinner I start pulling my pathetic, tiny, “Charlie Brown goes to Target” Christmas tree out of the box. He puts it in the stand and plugs it in. His contribution complete, he begins what will heretofore be known as ‘THE INFAMOUS PINE BOUGH HANGING INCIDENT’.

There is a drill, some string, and a twelve foot ladder. He’s punching holes in the drywall and ceiling, drilling screws in the moulding and the ceiling fan fascia, complaining about being on a ladder all the while (afraid of heights you know). He’s tying string to the screws. There are pine needles everywhere. I mean everywhere. In my purse, all over the couch, on the kitchen counters, the dinner table, the dog, everywhere. He gets it attached to the ceiling fan and the corner to the left of the fire place. Between the two attached points, it’s hanging down to about 5 feet above the ground. “Where should I tack it up?” he asks excitedly.

So far, this has taken three hours, because between every little bit of effort, he stops to watch about 10 minutes of the movie. He is absolutely incapable of multi-tasking. There is no fire, no lights sparkling on the mantle, and no ornaments on the tree. The tree is no longer visible through the hanging bough.

Our house looks like a manger. All we need is some frankincense, myrrh and a couple of wise men. Actually, one would be sufficient. Luna (the dog) is curled up on the romantic pile of blankets in front of the fireplace…they look remarkably like swaddling clothes. Any minute she’s going to jump up and pee on the dangling pine bough. Robert is watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas from the ladder. I go into the bathroom for a stealth boo-hoo fest.

When I emerge, tear-stained, but determined to keep my mouth shut, he asks me, Do you like it? (oh yes, smells beautiful) Does it look good? (yes, so unusual honey) Has he tacked up the (tacky) pine bough in the center of the ceiling? (yes, it looks centered to me) And then, a pause, a heavy sigh, and the realization has dawned on him…the wife is not happy. Finally, with much chagrin (him), and relief (me), the golden words I’ve been waiting to hear for hours, “Do you want me to take it down, babe?”

And so THE INFAMOUS PINE BOUGH HANGING INCIDENT’ came to its inevitable conclusion. He vacuumed up the needles. He removed the screws and took down the string. He apologized. Luna peed on the pine bough. I cleaned it up. My little naked tree is still naked. I am not naked.

Anybody need 75 feet of pine bough?

By Fulton

December 18, 2007 11:20 AM | Link to this

The idea of labeling someone a ‘Scrooge’ or ‘Grinch’ simply because they don’t adhere to the abnormal trappings associated with this time of year is not only rediculous but also serves to demonstrate how the masses have been programmed with this inane auto-response. Don’t people have the basic right to decide their own beliefs and participations?

By Belinda

December 18, 2007 1:49 PM | Link to this

duh, Fulton. They have the right, and others have the same right to call them SCROOGE!