Saint Nicko’s Christmas/Humbug 2022 thread

[SuperBacon]

4 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

To try and calm down the situation,, I’ve decided to wear my 1950s replica Argentina shirt after hearing the dad tell his granddaughter that as much as we should hate the French, we will be cheering them on in the final because we are still at war with the argies. 

Lovely stuff.

[stumobir]

We’re having my partners side of the family over this year; her parents, sister, uncle and paternal grandparents. I was really looking forward to it as despite not being overly fussed about Christmas I do love hosting and cooking for big groups of people but her grandad is already doing his best to spoil it. He’s your typical working class, Daily Mail reading,  Brexiteer/Tory, knows very little but has an opinion on everything and just generally a very difficult person, who tries to have a lot of control over his family. 

First sign that he was going cause issues is when we initially invited them a month or so back as he had decided that he wanted to host this year, the guy is approaching 80 and is struggling to look after his wife who has advanced dementia (he’s refusing to accept family or outside help), there is no way he could have managed it all.

Then, after graciously offering us a hostess trolley to use for the day (I don’t need it but agreed to take it to keep him happy) he’s been badgering us for the last two weeks about when he can bring it over as he won’t have time in the days before Christmas. His life consists of watching TV and playing bowls once a week. It’s a similar situation if you ever dare to borrow something. He came round one day when I was in the middle of some DIY and I mentioned I was going to have to buy a grinder, he offered me his which I took but my girlfriend was then hounded for the next week about when he’d get it back, knowing full well it would be going back to sit untouched in his garage. 

Anyway, the final straw was tonight as he’s now decided he’ll also be doing a full Christmas dinner on Wednesday that we’ve all been summoned to.  My partner doesn’t want to go, neither does her sister who’s staying with us for a couple of weeks as she’s back from Germany and nor her parents yet not one of them will tell him that it’s unnecessary, we’re all busy and that his passive micro-aggressions can do one. 
 

Sorry, for the rant but it’s put a dampener on a week that I’ve been looking forward to.

Edited December 18, 2022 by stumobir

[Keith Houchen]

29 minutes ago, stumobir said:

Sorry, for the rant but it’s put a dampener on a week that I’ve been looking forward to.

The only thing I can suggest to help, as some of those issues sound familiar, is to ensure what my girlfriend does and write “Happy Holidays” in his card. That seems to do the trick. 

[Jonny Vegas]

I absolutely loved Christmas as a kid and really have nothing but good memories of it. I didn't have what I would describe as a happy childhood and had a father who was extremely abusive towards me via multiple non sexual forms.

Christmas Eve/Christmas Day/Boxing Day just always used to seem like a small spell where everyone including me pretended that everything else was brilliant the rest of the year and I always found it a magical time, maybe looking back part of it was the feeling of relief and safety of not having to feel on edge and in constant fear for a few days of what might be coming from my old man.

As I went into my teens and adulthood, moved out and away from home I continued to love Christmas and I still feel Christmas Eve night is the most magical night of the year. There's just something about the peacefulness, quiet and calmness that seems to cover the majority of the place that gives me so much comfort. 

Nowadays whilst I love the excitement my kids have for it, ultimately I find it a hugely stressful and pressured time. 

This year we're going to my wife's auntie's for dinner and whilst she's a horrible person who I'd much rather not spend the day with, its a neccessary evil to spend it with my wife's grandad who raised her. He's 84, fit as a fiddle and an absolute gentleman.

He comes up pretty much every day to visit the kids and wrestles about with my 5 year old son like a man half his age but this will be the first Christmas Day he has with us and the kids. He is absolutely buzzing for it and I'll enjoy every second of him lapping it up. 

I've struggled with anxiety and depression my entire life and only accepted or faced up to it about 2 years ago when I reached a point I was no longer functioning.

That added a new level of stress and pressure to the season as I felt a lot of responsibility to pull myself through it in time to not waste what traditionally was my favourite time of the year and to be present mentally for my wife and kids.

Despite having a loving wife, great kids, good health and pretty much every person I've ever told telling me they'd have never expected it, I think about and talk myself out of killing myself nearly every day since I was probably 11 or 12 years old.

I'd never seen a Doctor or spoke to anyone professionally about it until 2 years ago where I'd stopped sleeping, eating and functioning on top of everything else then had been doing well until October this year but unfortunately I've taken a significant dip again and it's added another level of pressure for me to get through it all with a smile on my face and try not to ruin it for the wife and kids. Thankfully the kids are way too young to catch on at the moment.

I hope each and every one of you has the best day you can manage given each of your circumstances.

Keith, your girlfriend's family sound fucking insufferable. 

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Jonny Vegas

[stewdogg]

On 12/17/2022 at 8:20 PM, Devon Malcolm said:

I honestly didn't think it would be possible to better "The Invisible Man would have been good without the invisible man" but fair play to you, this was a marvellous try.

Imagine still being annoyed by something from about 2 years ago.

I wish I could remember anything of yours, good or bad.

[Jonny Vegas]

1 hour ago, RalphyV2 said:

I think i met you once around 20 years ago on a UKFF Bus trip, you seemed like such a sound bloke back then! I am sad to read your struggles, as i too can relate, however i am pleased in a way that you finally recognised it and got help for it, its a long road, and at times u will feel like a guinea pig, especially with medication and its complex, unpredictable nature.

I remember it well mate, down to London from Birmingham for an FWA show. I remember us all getting a McDonalds and Justin Credible walking in as well. I also ended up stranded outside New Street station and having to sleep in a photo booth outside it until the first train home in the morning.

I turned down the medication, I'm not one of these that doesn't believe in it, I was just more concerned about side effects it might have. I go through lots of spells where I feel like I'm coping really well and I talk myself out of suicide by telling myself its too selfish to do that to my wife and kids. Biggest concern is medication either changing my ability to do that or just spaces me out.

1 hour ago, RalphyV2 said:

I think if i had kids, a wife, a girlfriend, or had much family left, i would enjoy it more though, but to me, its just another day with added Turkey and Home Alone 2, i will be spending it over the fields, walking, for the most part i think 

 

 

In times I was single I felt that way mate, maybe if I had this or had that. I've largely felt it just changed the details of how I felt and added new pressures. It's absolutely not for me to say how you might be though mate.

I hope you do find a way to enjoy it as best as possible. Its always difficult as an adult to enjoy it the same was as with that magical childhood innocence.

I try to think of myself as lucky to have been able to have experienced that as there's so many who didn't and don't even get that sadly.

[Tommy!]

1 hour ago, stewdogg said:

Imagine still being annoyed by something from about 2 years ago.

To be fair that'll now be second in your repartee for me after "I'm not racist I like bagpipes" 

[BomberPat]

On 12/17/2022 at 8:07 PM, Gus Mears said:

The best two and a half minutes of the  whole season. We're Marley and Marley - WUUUUUURGGGGH!

This, "no cheeses for us meeces", and "there's magic in the air" (in a Kermit voice) are the bits that I will almost involuntarily sing out loud every single time.

We watched it the other day - it's an annual tradition for me to watch it at least once, but my girlfriend had never seen it before we got together, and I found out this weekend that a friend of ours only watched it for the first time this year, and I find it genuinely hard to get my head around how people my age/slightly older have made it this far without it.

We watched the version on Disney+ with the deleted scene/song added back in, and to be honest it doesn't really add anything; the song is incredibly dull, and it slows the pace of the film right down. Michael Caine is brilliant in it, though, as in the final verse he starts sadly half-singing along, and it's one of the best clear depictions of Scrooge's guilt and regret in this, or any, version. At the same time, though, by removing this song it means the first time that Scrooge sings in the entire film is when he sings "Thankful Heart" at the end, and that's a much better creative decision.

[mim731]

11 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

We watched the version on Disney+ with the deleted scene/song added back in, and to be honest it doesn't really add anything; the song is incredibly dull, and it slows the pace of the film right down. Michael Caine is brilliant in it, though, as in the final verse he starts sadly half-singing along, and it's one of the best clear depictions of Scrooge's guilt and regret in this, or any, version. At the same time, though, by removing this song it means the first time that Scrooge sings in the entire film is when he sings "Thankful Heart" at the end, and that's a much better creative decision.

In always thought the only real reason to have "The Love is Gone" included is to give the context for him singing "The Love We Found" to the same-ish melody at the end of the film. It works without it anyway, but it does add another layer to his transformation to have that context I feel. Caine is easily the best depiction of Scrooge committed to cinema, not saying there aren't many worthy alternatives, but he does so much to bring extra layers to the character despite playing largely opposite Muppets. 

[BomberPat]

That's true, you get that refrain at the end, but I still think the film is largely stronger without it. It's an interesting curio to see another scene after all these years, though.

What I love about Caine's performance is how for the second half of the film he looks almost constantly, believably, on the verge of tears. He adds a lot of believability to what is, let's face it, quite clunky Dickensian dialogue when spoken aloud. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

57 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I find it genuinely hard to get my head around how people my age/slightly older have made it this far without it.

 

I only remember seeing it as advertising on TV when the VHS was released. I never saw it until I was an adult and I must have been about 9 when it came out. 

That said, I remember the first time watching it. Wasn't a fan. Sure, Michael Caine is a great actor, but they must have had a tiny budget, because everyone else in the film were these weird puppet things and I couldn't understand why they made a film with a load of, what mostly appeared to be, hand puppets. Don't get me wrong, I am not racist, I used to love Rosie and Jim, but these were annoying.

Edited December 19, 2022 by Hannibal Scorch

[Nick James]

5 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Don't get me wrong, I am not racist, I used to love Rosie and Jim, but these were annoying.

But do you love bag-pipes? 

[Tommy!]

3 minutes ago, Nick James said:

But do you love bag-pipes? 

Bagpuss, surely. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

6 minutes ago, Nick James said:

But do you love bag-pipes? 

Well of course I do, big fan of the French.

[Keith Houchen]

2 hours ago, stewdogg said:

Imagine still being annoyed by something from about 2 years ago.

It’s not a case of being annoyed, it’s very easy to remember something monumentally stupid.