Bah humbug - the anti-christmas thread

probably the highlight will be eating a satsuma while watching E.T =/

^ made me snort tea out of me nose

I mentioned to my mum a few years ago that, as a vegetarian, I didn't want to have a "normal" xmas dinner. She asked if I liked tagines, as she'd found a nice recipe for a veggie tagine that she wanted to try out. I said yeah, sure, love a tagine. I've had tagine for the last 4 years now. Be careful what you wish for!

a tagine is for just for Christmas, not for life?

Major religious groups

Pick one you like, and say it's against your beliefs while you look them dead in the eye. Always works for me.

^This.

I've been Jewish and suitably absent at staff christmas dinners for the last several years.

Kunt and the Gang - Jesus (Baby With A Beard) - YouTube

Although I do like this

Day after Halloween the fucking christmas displays were out. Giving a whopping 8 weeks of bollocks christmas music and propaganda to endure for a one day gluttonous commercial binge.

Even now, nearly 3 weeks before, people are practically panic buying shite they don't need to get even fatter and more useless in the new year.

Not a fan.

There's a 24hr christmas channel on Virgin Tivo. Obviously, it's all I've been watching for the last month.

^^^Class, that's getting posed all over the interwebz.

I have to say that I've always found it pretty easy to avoid the annoying aspects of Christmas and just run with the good bits. Office shenanigans never bothered me much, though, so perhaps I just have a thick skin.

Maybe you all work with pricks. Our office seems to get on okay.
Oh, that means I'm the prick. No surprise there, really.

I've looked into doing volunteer work, but face-to-face contact with strangers fills me with dread.

Is there any volunteer work that I can do from behind a keyboard - that preferably requires being sarcastic and elf-satisfied?

Crisis have a control centre as there are c.10 shelters and a depot or two, and a whole bunch of co-ordination to be done. They also have IT specialists on some sites (my site has an IT section for guests to look for jobs i.e. stream movies from Poland).

Cheers - Imma give them a call.

we did crisis last year. First day was grand, we spent the whole day organising opticians examinations. Second day (christams day) there were more helpers than punters.

Kunt and the Gang - Jesus (Baby With A Beard) - YouTube

Although I do like this

A fellow Basildonian. makes me proud it does.

I literally lol ed at the Kunt and the gang. This has made my Christmas

we did crisis last year. First day was grand, we spent the whole day organising opticians examinations. Second day (christams day) there were more helpers than punters.

Crisis don't half fuck up the applications - they closed in about Oct, and my centre was short-staffed the whole period. Much of the challenge is dealing with the well-meaning incompetents who work full-time in the charity sector.

A fellow Basildonian. makes me proud it does.

Pride of the borough

is this like the seasonally adjusted anti-Olympics thread, where the scrooges sneer until they're corralled into carolling and carousing?

Much of the challenge is dealing with the well-meaning incompetents who work full-time in the charity sector.

to be fair it's Mrs Hell who has the admin /organisational skillz - i was just there to shepherd some of the less with-it folks in the direction of the surgery.

Haven't really thought about it yet - will think about it during the hours of 9.00 a.m until 11.00 a.m next Tuesday when I will do all necessary shopping. Then I will start psyching up for traditional Xmas day dip in the local frigid sea.
I will end on an upbeat note however, I've just found my wetsuit.

I discovered last year that a morning XC ride on Christmas Day = completely empty trails. So I'll be doing that again this year.

Crisis don't half fuck up the applications - they closed in about Oct, and my centre was short-staffed the whole period. Much of the challenge is dealing with the well-meaning incompetents who work full-time in the charity sector.

OMG this. First year I did it I just turned up with another volunteer who was actually registered and had done all the training etc, and the internal fight as to whether I should be turned away due to not following the rules or invited in as they actually needed more volunteers was terrific to watch.

I hate Xmas so much I'm going away for the whole of it. Leave 23rd back 11th Jan.

yeah

got 3 races coming up, 26th, 29th, 01st jan.
should see me through in good shape the festering season
what cracks me up the most is the pressure everyone feels for 'the day'
then boxing day theyre all out in the shops buying more shite
x-mas- what was the basic premise again?