[SummerDay]

I don't actually celebrate the holiday in the religious sense although I grew up going to church. I do love the lights and decorations, and even some of the music lol but I've not been feeling super festive this year. At least yet. The big day is only a couple weeks away and I think I'm struggling more with how fast the year's gone by. Like we're already almost to the new year and it feels like it only just started. How is it almost Christmas again?

What do you have planned over the holidays? Or do you have particular traditions or things you do (whether you celebrate or not)?

[Weighty]

Oh man....I am really not a typical holiday sort of person. In fact, I really can't stand the obligatory nature of most holidays, especially Christmas. The gift giving, the time spent, the role play of it all just annoys and burdens me.

As the years pass, I have become increasingly detached from this "Hallmark" holiday to the point where I no longer celebrate it. I have also asked those in my life not to give me gifts, as I won't be reciprocating.

Instead, I'm the sort that does random acts of goodness throughout the year -- in fact, this year, as I had a milestone birthday, I set up individual trips with each of my best friends and family throughout the year.

It wasn't just one single day, or event -- rather it was a celebration of life spent intimately, and meaningfully without the obligation of a specific holiday.

I know that I am in the minority here.

I get that people "love" the holidays for lots of reasons (in fact, I feel for some it's a forcing function that without it, they would never take a second to relax, spend time with loved ones, or do important things with their family). Still, for me, it just feels like a major drag, and as if someone is making me be who I am not.

Rather, I'm the type of person who would surprise someone with a gift in the mail in the middle of June, or with a kind message or thought during a busy week without prompting by a holiday.

It just feels a lot more intimate and natural for me this way.

[Ali]

Yulexmas as we call it (I'm pagan and celebrate Yule, which is basically all the Christmas stuff without the christ part...) is a big deal for me and my family. Like we go ALL in and it's mostly about the decorations (including picking a tree), the food, and just being together. Presents are fine and we exchange some gifts but not a ton (my kids are grown), but it's way more about the activities and time together than the stuff, if that makes sense.

So baking cookies, cooking dinner together and eating, trying different holiday wines out of curiousity, watching movies (even horror movies, not like xmas movies), game nights... this year we're gonna do a D&D campaign lol.

Those are all the things I always loved most about the holidays. And my kids do too. It's super important to them. We're really tight-knit anyway, but we get even tighter this time of year.

[SummerDay]

That sounds really nice, almost like something out of a movie without all the drama. I do sometimes get in the mood for those corny holiday movies on the Hallmark Channel, though, even though they're beyond formulaic. There's something weirdly comfortable about them, like I can live vicariously through the characters for a little while, I guess. Their families, their traditions and decorations and all that stuff.

Funny thing: I actually know someone who lives up in Vancouver, and her husband works on Hallmark movie sets. I guess they film a lot of them there??

What is D&D? My brain is saying Dunkin Donuts but I'm probably just hungry lol.

[Ali]

Hah! D&D is Dungeons and Dragons, a role-playing game; apparently we're going to be doing a short one-night campaign that has something to do with killing Santa Claus? (I'm not the dungeon master/person running the game, but that's what I've been told...)

I have a ridiculously soft spot for Hallmark movies... I KNOW they are corny and I KNOW that the girl going back to her hometown always ends up with the local guy whose Christmas tree farm is about to be bulldozed to build some new luxury hotel, and it ALWAYS ends with a happy ending but...

They're like holiday comfort food. You don't have to stress about some sad, awful ending and you know everything's gonna work in the end.

[Weighty]

OOOO! I love D&D! I grew up playing it as a kid, and to this day, I still enjoy playing role-playing games with my brother on the consoles.

Now that's a holiday tradition I could get into!

My mom loves those Hallmark movies too -- she says she knows from the moment they show the main characters, what's going to happen and who's going to end up with who -- but she doesn't care and likes watching them anyway.

I guess they've got their thing, and know how to appeal to the people who love those types of things!

[Ali]

I haven't played in over 25 years at this point, although I do love RPGs on the PlayStation. (Funny thing, I hate playing online games as a group... like, I don't play streaming with other people, ever.)

I have it on good authority that I'll get to play the character, Krampus, in our D&D campaign. LOL!!!!! We'll be playing with pre-made characters because most of everyone who will be playing is entirely new to it. And it'll be a shortie. But I'm really looking forward to it. Watching my mom and mother-in-law ought to be a hoot and a half.

This might just become a new holiday tradition... LOL

I haven't yet watched any of my corny Hallmark holiday movies, but likely will with the break coming up. Although I kinda started watching the Eras series, and re-watching Stranger Things from the beginning. Like, I'm delegating my TV time since it's limited at the moment.

[SummerDay]

So did you end up killing Santa? lol

I've been rewatching Stranger Things too. I've been drawing it out so I don't have to wait for the last of it to air, I'm in season 2 right now and the finale will be ready before I am.

[Weighty]

So, not for nothing, and I know this is a forum about loneliness, but why the hell is Netflix dragging out the series finale for Stranger Things like this? They usually drop an entire series at once...what is going on this time?

I've been just waiting till they finish releasing all the episodes so that I can binge it at once cause I don't like waiting week to week like the old school method -- even on networks that still do this, I purposefully wait till all episodes are released before starting the series.

[Ali]

Yep, that's why we did the way we did it!! I think they space things out to build anticipation, which I get, but... we didn't want to wait to see the ending. And our timing was good; we finished it last night.

No spoilers, but I love how they closed the series!

And we did not end up killing Santa during the D&D campaign... we started it, and it was GREAT, and we're gonna move to doing Zoom campaigns remotely since we had so much fun. But we had a couple sick-ish folks for a few days and then time ran out before we knew it. :/

[Weighty]

Ok, good...I have 2 seasons left, so I'll look to plow through those now that they are fully released. Way to drag it out Netflix!

And for D/D tournaments, they always take longer than you think/plan, and also time just FLIES by! It was so much fun when I was a kid running tournaments before soccer practice or after school, on weekends, and never wanting a Sunday night to end because we were having so much **** fun!

[Ali]

Oh for sure. We used to play back when I was in school and we'd start at like 11:30pm and often run until 6 or 7 in the morning on the weekends or during the summer. That was some of the most fun and a thing I REALLY looked forward to.

[SummerDay]

That's a bummer you didn't kill Santa lol. But there's always next year!

I'm still making my way through Stranger Things but I am at least in the last season now. Not ready for it to end.

[Weighty]

We would do the same for MTG -- start playing late at night, and then go into the wee hours of the morning and just crash out with dreams of decks and mana in our heads!

I played the online version again several years ago, and got totally addicted and hooked -- they also play sealed deck tournaments as well as constructed deck ones, and I found myself neglecting people and real life in order to play this stupid game that was addicting fur sure, and fun, but ultimately a bit empty staring at a screen with unnammed stranger's usernames that youd come to recobnize....

So, I turned it off, left it behind, and haven't looked back since.

I guess if those in my family or friends group ever did want to play those types of games again, as long as it was in the group and part of the "Spending time" together thing, then I'd happily play again; otherwise, I'd really like to keep the human element in my life.

[Ali]

That makes sense. Especially given the number of hours some of those games can eat up. One of the RPGs I'm playing now (alone, on PS5) can run upward of 140+ hours on single play-through. Although if it was an in-person D&D campaign, that'd probably equate to months and months, if not years LOL.