The Grinch of allnurses.com

Christmas and the holidays are supposed to be a time of joy, family togetherness and happiness….well they are SUPPOSED to be…. Nurses General Nursing Article

The Grinch of allnurses.com

Okay, not to be a Grinch, but really Christmas has become just so ridiculous. We all want this season to be happy with family get togethers, joy, peace and harmony. However, there are certain expectations of us too that we might not always be able to meet. The holidays can be stressful for many reasons. Here are some of my stressors. Can you identify with any of them? Please share what stresses you out during this season.

Christmas starts tooooooo early. At Halloween, fully two months before the actual date, we are forced to view Christmas decorations, Christmas pre-pre-pre sales, and the start of "what should you buy your kids for Christmas commercials.

Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies - ugh is all I can say. I can't do the continuous story of girl moves to the city for a great job, gets her heart broken by some guy, girl moves back home, girl meets hometown boy, falls in love, and gets a dog. Grrrr - I just can't stand all the sugar. Why not just be real? The holidays are stressful for many reasons - how about showing some real people at the holidays?

Emails after emails wanting me to spend money on "the greatest sale since the creation of sales." Any place I've ever ordered from is now sending me oodles and oodles of emails begging me to spend money with them. And what's with Black Friday, Black Friday Weekend and then Cyber Monday? So...we have day after day after day of sale notifications. When should I purchase, what should I purchase? So many choices. The positive for this (and yes there are some holiday positives even for this Negative Nancy - :)) is that I do like online shopping - efficient, quick and convenient.

The "guilt me" commercials on TV - you know the ones; where if you don't buy the latest laser gun, bicycle or video game/console for your child, you are somehow going to be perceived as a bad parent. Oh and of course these commercials are geared towards the kids so you have your kids begging for the next big thing too. And did I say the next big thing is $200+?

Office politics are high on my list some years too. Do you buy something for close co-workers, do you have some type of grab bag or something else? Is there a dollar limit? Are presents not allowed? I've worked several different places with different rules. In some places this added to the stress of the season too.

Christmas decorations - the biggest discussion at our house is when to put the decorations up. I am now (the day after Thanksgiving) looking at our decorated tree, with the outside lights twinkling. So, when is the optimal time to put up decorations? Is our house decorated too early? Or, should we have waited until two weeks before Xmas, like I wanted? And the next discussion is when to take the decorations down? I vote the day after Christmas. However other members of my family feel that they should stay up for another week or even two....another discussion.

Weird gifts - just saw a commercial saying I should gift my family with new toothbrushes. My family would probably be offended if this appeared in their stockings. Subscriptions to different apps seem to be another (at least to me) a weird present.

So, as the self-proclaimed Grinch of AN, surely I'm not alone? Come on guys help a Grinch out? What's your least favorite part of the holidays? What aspect of the holidays drives you crazy?

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Yeah, I'll confess to a certain amount of Grinch-ness in me, and I'm right up there with most everything you mentioned. I sigh with exasperation and roll my eyes, though not always out loud. But because of the rampant, rabid, PUSH of 'the Season', and the fact that nobody ever does Christmas like my family used to...it's hard to summon spit about Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.

I always used to work the Holidays (all of 'em) and my co-workers and the scheduling folks just loved me for it. I kind of did it so I wouldn't have to share in somebody else's family celebrations because, "We don't want you to be alone on Christmas!" Spare me!

Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Thank you. And whats with all holiday music on my favorite radio station that starts the day after Thanksgiving!!!! Puh-lease!

Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.

We are of the same mind in my home. We put up a tree the week before Christmas the quest to find and cut one was part of the fun for the kids. We take it down the week after the holiday unless we are celebrating late. A few years with an empty nest we've not had a tree.

We don't watch television much, so THAT pressure is minimal. Just getting gifts to our lower 48 loved ones is a huge stress.

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Thank you. And whats with all holiday music on my favorite radio station that starts the day after Thanksgiving!!!! Puh-lease!

Oh, yeah. Instant wall-to-wall Christmas songs all day, every day starting at 8 PM on Thanksgiving night. I seldom listen to the radio and I definitely don't go near "the malls" eeeeenywhere until well after January. Well, for that matter, I seldom go to any malls if I can help it.

My family did the same as tmb's, with the exception of actually cutting a tree down ourselves. But it definitely didn't go up until a week before Christmas, and was gone before New Years Day.

Christmas shows, especially the old cartoon Christmas Classics are like nails on a chalkboard to me!

Oh! Watching the snowman ride the electric razor like it's a sled...remember that ad?

Nannie is pouting that her Christmas decorations aren't up yet. My husband and I, and even my step-daughter have all told Nannie, "NO ladders will be used to put up ANY decorations. NONE!"

Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum :wtf: :dead:

Specializes in Public Health, TB.

I have been trying to cut back on gifting, but for dh it is almost an obsession. We will decide before shopping on a few ideas, and then purchase 1 or 2 gifts for each of our 3 adult children, and the 2 grandchildren. And then he will go shopping and purchase more. MIL has put her foot down and will only accept a donation to a nonprofit that benefits animals and or children. And dh insists on filling stockings for each adult family member, except these "stockings" have turned into 5 gallon buckets or reusable shopping bags full of food, gadgets, and clothing items. So my anxiety is around how much is spent on gifts.

We also have started the yearly "where do you want to put the tree" discussion. I would just put it in the front window, but, noooooo, there has to a full list of pros and cons of each of the 3 spaces it will fit. I really don't care.

I do look for my favorite specials/movies: Scrooged, Elf, and Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer claymation. Dh likes Its a Wonderful Life (every time a bell rings...).

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Thank you. And whats with all holiday music on my favorite radio station that starts the day after Thanksgiving!!!! Puh-lease!

Your station at least waited until Thanksgiving! Mine went all Christmas on frickin November 9th!

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

I can watch It's a Wonderful Life every couple of years. I do like to watch Christmas in Connecticut, with Barbara Stanwyck, and another Christmas movie she is in with Fred MacMurray, but can't recall the name of that one; I'll watch either of those ANY time of year. But that's not the same as being relentlessly pounded by Christmas Joy!

My main stressor. The cost. One side of the family buys for everyone. So instead of just getting together and doing a sane secret Santa, I have to try and figure out what to get for 20 people. I'd rather just bring some food and cookies I've made and enjoy the company. Every January I look at the credit card bills and have buyer's remorse.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I might just have to deal with the guilt of taking and not giving because I cannot figure out what to buy this year. I just need the madness to stop.

Specializes in Gerontology.

I've had to switch stations because the one I love start 24 Hour Xmas music Nov15.

There is only so many time I can hear Santa Baby before I want to throw something at the radio

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Today's torture:

Nannie had my hubby taking all of her decorations out of 3 closets. She is jabbering a mile a minute about what she has and where she USED TO put it and where she is going to put it this year, who made it, etc, etc.

I am not participating. Hubby is being heroically calm, helping her. I am ready to screech.

And she hasn't even started with her "VILLAGE", which has about 35 houses/shops, plus the snow, ice pond, trees, animals, people, vehicles, and on and on.

I may be hiding in my room for a week!

Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatrics, Wound Care.

No kids. Me and my hubby aren't religious, so not too bothered by "the season". I get gifts or money for my nieces and nephews. Don't exchange with adults. The music is insane, though. I find myself less tolerant of holiday music as the minutes pass. Luckily, I usually bring earbuds and listen to my music on my phone.

It may be odd, but I really don't think about it much. People say "Merry Christmas" (or whatever) to me, and sometimes I just forget how to respond. Usually, "You too!".. But, sometimes I really get taken aback.

I don't mind the gift exchanges at work. And our friends often have a holiday party in January with a white elephant style gift exchange, sometimes with rules that it "must be a regifted gift" or something.

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