Holidays can cause depression, quest to be HUMBLE Crushers

Posts: 387 · Posted: 03.01.2010, 08:53

i will admit christmas for the most part has been lonely and depressing...as all my friends would be away with their families...for years i would spend my christmas in a pool hall or alone at home. there have been times i would join my own family but honestly i felt awkward and as bad as this may sound - i couldn't wait to leave and spend the time alone...even up to now. i guess i've grown accustom to being alone or doing things on my own...i actually like the quietness and prefer it that way.

Posts: 1704 · Posted: 03.01.2010, 09:18

i can see your point kid.... at times families are more hassle than they are worth...think once my 2 boys are grown up i personally wont give a damn about xmas or familiy lol...i know that sounds kinda sad but only so much you can take of it

Posts: 155 · Posted: 03.01.2010, 15:11

cocakolakid wrote: › i will admit christmas for the most part has been lonely and depressing...as all my friends would be away with their families...for years i would spend my christmas in a pool hall or alone at home. there have been times i would join my own family but honestly i felt awkward and as bad as this may sound - i couldn't wait to leave and spend the time alone...even up to now. i guess i've grown accustom to being alone or doing things on my own...i actually like the quietness and prefer it that way.

Wow, Cocacolakid, is that you, my dad in disguise? lol This is exactly the personality of my dad. Hanging out in the pool halls, more of a loner himself, feels akward being around any family? Thats s crazy for real, sounds just like my dad.

Broxi, you are so right, if it wasn't for the wife and kids, the presents and family get togethers i probably wouldn't do either. No one really remembers "The Reason For The Season" anymore, and the way everything has gotten really overboard with materialistic things, its frightening. I mean, when Christmas sales promotions are starting to happen before halloween nowadays,(seem some this year) it just makes me sick. As my kids are getting older, the bigger and more costly the "Big" xmas present gets.

I bet i spent $1,000 just ont hem this year, and that might not be much to some of ya, but the wife and I make about $35,000 total together a year.

Its just ridiculous how Christmas is perceived in todays world, its all about the money, rarely about Jesus.

Posts: 822 · Posted: 03.01.2010, 15:34

One year when I was in my teens, my parents decided to just give us a (relatively small) check so my older sister and I could go shopping. My younger sister is quite a bit younger, so we all bought her (inexpensive) presents and half of the fun was watching her unwrap so many.

Anyways, we didn't have a lot, but we knew it, and we infinitely prefered a little shopping money to my parents attempt to buy teen fashions - lol.

And, I should mention that I did not have the happiest childhood and many of those Christmases ended in disaster...but, looking back, there was a pattern set up there that has endured for both myself and my younger sister (the older one died from leukemia later, but that is a much longer post about those Christmases both during and after)

Anyhoo....the idea that Christmas is for spending time with someone you love doing something you love is quite stuck in my head. Alan and I don't buy each other presents...usually the present is that he takes me to a casino and we play all day together, or we go shopping on line for the day after sales. When my parents come, the same, but we might buy each other something small that we think is funny....like last year I bought my dad a plaid flannel shirt because my mom was bragging about finally getting all the plaid out of the house!

I know this is rambling but the point is that if its worth it to you, finding a common ground and enjoying each other over the holidays beats the heck out of the buying fest and 3 days of cooking that we all seem to be pressured into. I can tell you that those times my sister and I went to the mall and avoided each other because we weren't cool enough for each other but ended up eating lunch together anyways and showing off our new stuff are now cherished, cherished memories. I am thankful and eternally grateful for the happy times we had.

I personally believe that the holidays are times for doing whatever you want with whomever you want to or no one at all. And I agree wholeheartedly that the best thing you can do on the holidays - even every day - is to spread a little love and kindness with a "how are you?", a hug, or a smile...I know there are times in my life when these little acts lifted me out of some pretty dark places.

Anyways, that's how I see it.

Posts: 155 · Posted: 03.01.2010, 16:08

Great post dear, you are so right, it doesn't have to be the way i described, and it is nice to spend quality time with the kids and wife alone. Also, i do believe in trying to do kind things for other people not only during the holiday season, but when i can, throughout the year. You are right, you never know what a simple hello or how are ya to someone might change someones thought process for the day.

Again great post, and truely enjoyed reading it.

Posts: 387 · Posted: 03.01.2010, 19:15

Cocakolakid's Christmas Eve 2009 - True Story

Last night I played Keno at a land-based casino for the first time. Something I would have never had done had it not been for online casinos introducing me to slot and keno play. Prior I was stuck to the table games. Anyway I actually did pretty well...and realized u really need to have patience playing Keno...i ended up playing for 12 hours...but the good thing is you really don't need to do much other than push that spin button and some times changing the bet here and there. it allowed me to look around and observe people while not ever having to lose a beat playing. There was this guy about 3 machines to my left..everytime i would hear his machine make a winning sound..he would cashout get the print voucher...walk over to the voucher redemption machine...and come back to the same video machine...he did this for at least 4 hours...and when i looked at him, he would look back at me with this "mind your own business kinda look"...so i would just turn away...my curiousity got to me though...and wanted to see the amounts he was cashing out at so i would get up and stretch everytime he got up and went to the voucher redemption maching..32 credits (25 cent machine)...then 28 credits...then 38 credits...and so out of the corner of my eye I was trying to see what he was depositing...$5 everytime...and so my mind began to work and calculated...$5 = 20 credits/quarters. I understood his strategy where he would pocket anything he made over $5...and then playout the $5 again. But unfortunately I didn't agree with it as it would only work if you won all the time..which you know we don't. At the time I had 2800 credits, and so when he went off to the redeem another print voucher...I put a $20 bill across the buttons...when he came back he took the $20 and put it his pocket and deposited his $5 and started playing....

lol..no...he looked around and i told him that it was from me...he came over and told me he really appreciated...and i told him that i hope he wasn't offended by me when i keep looking over and i explained that i was just curious and puzzled. he explained his strategy as i had thought...and so i asked him to sit down...and so he came and sat through the cocakolakid's CLASS305 - The Art of Keno.

He ended up winning that night and when he was through he gave a me squeeze on the shoulder and told me to remain cool...was that cool or what?

Posts: 155 · Posted: 03.01.2010, 20:09

LOL, very funny story, i would have liked to been a fly on the wall for all of this going down. That was a nice gesture made fromy ou as well, i thought that was the coolest part of the story.