Is it just my circle, or has it been a challenge getting into the Christmas/holiday spirit the last couple of years?

My impression is just that nobody has the money for it anymore.
- really? For me it's more of a not having time. Doesn't cost much to go caroling, watch Charlie Brown, cut paper snowflakes, make handmade gifts, etc
  
  Money is time. When you spend all of your time and energy focusing on working, eating, and sleeping because you're too broke to do anything else, it doesn't leave you with much time or energy to care about christmas.
- Money is the issue with all holidays in recent times. Take the fuckin' money out of it, it should never have been involved in the first place.

Christmas is a whole month dedicated to consumerism and kitsch. It's no surprise you're bored of it now.
- There are ideas and arguments that can counter consumerism.
  For instance - putting away same old decorations and reusing them should lower consumerism somewhat.
  
  For instance - putting away same old decorations and reusing them should lower consumerism somewhat.
  Wait, do people NOT do this? I use the same shit every year unless it's broken and I can't fix it. Usually my cats are in some way to blame for that.
  
  Xmas 2020 with all the "shortages", at the Target and WalMarts near me the holiday aisles was very scant, and practically completely picked over by the week before. I had genuinely hoped that could have been an eye opener for America.
  Spoiler alert: it didn't
  
  I reuse the same decorations over and over again and don't really think I am doing anything special.
- yup! It can be hard to sustain holiday cheer for 5+ weeks
- You're right that it's about consumerism for many people, but it doesn't have to be.

The holidays always sucked, you just didn't notice. It's just this mad dash to spend as much as possible on crap. That's all it ever was.

There is a TV special from 1965 that describes your plight:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Charlie_Brown_Christmas
I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus.
Christmas is coming, but I'm not happy.
I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel.
I just don't understand Christmas I guess.
I like getting presents and sending Christmas cards...
...and decorating trees and all that, but I'm still not happy.
I always end up feeling depressed.
- It was a favorite of mine as a kid. For me, all the nativity reminds me of the war in Gaza and the Christian Nationalist movement infecting the US government and stripping away civil rights.
  Generally the high extinction risk from compound crises (climate, plastic, etc.) has dispelled any notion that what I do here or happens to me matters at a greater scale.
  If I ceased to exist this moment, it might cause a small amount of local harm, but little wake. These days, I'm a practicing absurdist, mostly that means I'm aware of my grief and dispair in fine detail, a geographic manifold I've well explored.
  Ignorance and Want are no longer child wretches hiding in the fold of the robes of a Christmas spirit, rather now have become massive kaiju thundering across the countryside ravaging the population with withering gaze and breath of biting hyperborean frost, leaving a path of toxic wasteland in their wake.
  (Plug that into generative AI systems.)
  So yeah, in a holding pattern until January 2nd.
- I mean, the point of the special is to find meaning in the holidays regardless of the rampant consumerism, but the impact of the message is dampened a bit by Hallmark putting out new charlie brown Christmas tree ornaments every year.
  That said, it's also okay not to have holiday spirit if you don't find anything about this time of year meaningful. For many who aren't practicing Christians, it's a time to be with family because most companies tend to give days off anyway, but for those of us who have cut ties and don't see the significance of decorating and whatnot, it's perfectly fine to enjoy the time off without feeling festive.
- Just kick Lucy in the face with cleats on and you will never feel depressed again Charlie.

Jólabókaflóð – forget gifts, exchange books and sit around a fire drinking hot chocolate
- That is an amazing tradition!

Maybe you're just getting older.
If it wasn't for my kids, I wouldn't even bother with the tree.

It’s obnoxious from start (last week Oct) to finish (1st week Jan). Shit music, saturation marketing, shit social obligations, travel and/or houseguests, waste of money, house is cluttered, etc. it’s draining.

I lost my dad to cancer about two week before last Christmas. And my birthday is a few days after Christmas as well. I'll be damned if I ever feel like celebrating Christmas or my birthday ever again
- I'm really sorry about your loss. Christmas is whatever, but I hope you can get to a place to truly appreciate your birthday.
- I lost my sister suddenly 2 days before Christmas in 2008. The joy came back — after a fair amount of therapy and contemplation — and over time, life grew around the gaping hole.
  A couple of quotes that I keep near me:
  Yet, in a bizarre, backwards way, death is the light by which the shadow of all of life’s meaning is measured. Without death, everything would feel inconsequential, all experience arbitrary, all metrics and values suddenly zero.
  Mark Manson
  When you dull pain and hide it from yourself, you dull your joys as well.
  Robin Hobb, Fool's Fate (Tawny Man #3)
  All the best for this holiday season, and all the ones that follow.
  
  Overused but a favorite of mine:
  Gotta have opposites, light and dark and dark and light, in painting. It’s like in life. Gotta have a little sadness once in awhile so you know when the good times come. I'm waiting on the good times now.
  Bob Ross
- My mother passed at the same time last year. It's been a tough year and Christmas things are just making me sad this year.
  You're not alone in this and I've been told it gets better.

I wonder if this is true for others but I'm just not close to my family. I think most people have smaller social circles today than they did 10 years ago.
Without close family, there's a lot less to Christmas.

So it's felt like this to me basically since I became an adult. For one, I work in an industry where the holidays mean nothing. And two, now I have adult shit to do, so there isn't a ton of time to just sit around baking and watching Christmas specials and what not. Also can't really stand the consumerist side of things and while I do like giving gifts as a thing, I don't like the idea of "just buy some shit" or "whoever gets the most presents wins."
Now all that said, when I think back to what used to make the holidays special for me, I realized that was adults deliberately making the holidays special. And the shitty thing about being an adult (unless your SO is like, from the Clause family) is that you kind of have to do that for yourself, and you're probably going to have to do boring adult shit to make that happen. Like, you might literally be putting something like "Bake cookies/Watch 'The Grinch'" into your calendar. There is a lot of little things you can do as well - play some music, get some scented candles, stick a bowl of decorative pinecones out, etc.
I think this also helps a lot with other people, or in my case, my kids. I don't have a ton of friends (I'm very much a person with a small circle, but all people i know I can call if i need help moving if that makes sense) but we do some small get togethers. With my kids, I try to do more of the things that make things feel special for them. Lights on the house I could take or leave (back to being lazy) but I do my best and I put them up, even though it was just a few days ago because that was the first day that wasn't pouring where I was at home when it was light out. I make it a point to watch some Christmas movies (and let the kids come to a consensus on which) and bake some cookies or whatever. We usually go every year to that neighborhood where every house has cool lights, even if that is an hour drive away. Lots of little things like that.
Anyway, I feel like the holidays are very much a "fake it til you make it" scenario. I tend to think about it like "what do I remember that I liked about holidays" when I was a kid, and then force myself to do those things. What I've generally found is that there are definitely times I've regretted not doing anything like that, but I never regret when I forced myself to do something like this, and I rarely remember the "forced" part.
- I realized that was adults deliberately making the holidays special. And the shitty thing about being an adult (unless your SO is like, from the Clause family) is that you kind of have to do that for yourself, and you're probably going to have to do boring adult shit to make that happen. Like, you might literally be putting something like "Bake cookies/Watch 'The Grinch'" into your calendar. There is a lot of little things you can do as well - play some music, get some scented candles, stick a bowl of decorative pinecones out, etc.
  This is the most real advice I've seen on Lemmy. It really fucking sucked realizing that no one was going to make things special for me (mostly because I hated the realization that I was expecting someone/something else to make my life more fun). Celebrating holidays and doing seasonal things that are special for the time of year REALLY help break up the monotony of the grind of everyday life (work, kids, bills, house work, ad nauseum). It would be nice to have someone else create that magic for me, but... that doesn't really happen as an adult. You have to make things fun for yourself, and for others if you can.
  
  Stop waiting for a single (or a couple) days of the year to put effort in for enjoyment, do it every damn day.

Looks like it will be a BROWN Christmas here this year. Which is a grim fucking reminder that we've fucked the planet and it is only going to get worse.
So. There's that.
- It's not just brown here, which is super rare, it's so warm that I can't even take my daughter skating at the outdoor rink.
  I live in SASKATCHEWAN
- It will be a standing water Christmas for me
- For me it's definitely the weather. When i see Christmas lights and shit, but i walk around in shorts i just feel dreadful.

Could it be an age thing?
I'm 32.
I've had issues with it past maybe 3-6 years.
Listen at a Christmas radio
Watch a Christmas movie/animations/cartoons
Read Christmas books/comics
Write your own Christmas stories
Talk about Christmas
Do your favorite Christmas'y thing
Create a new Christmas'y habit
Make a Christmas music playlist
Create a Chistmas get-together
Sing Christmas carols (alone or with someone(karaoke))
Craft something Christmas'y
Listening at music, watching a movie and the radio has helped me reach some level of Christmas!

I'm guessing it has become more of a financial burden to be honest.
Choosing the right gifts, decorations, food. Etc.

Was just talking about this with a coworker yesterday. They'd noticed that in their neighborhood, the amount of decorations out were even less than the year before. No one left the area, just not putting stuff up anymore.
- This is something I've felt more and more every year for all the holidays in the areas of the US I frequent. Halloween, Xmas, Easter, etc.
  The stores are all decorated earlier than ever, but neighborhoods are barren.
  I understand money is tight for many, but Christmas lights are pretty cheap and most people have old sets, it's not like they're consumable and need to be replaced every year. I wonder if people are just over it, don't have the time, lack the spirit, or what.
  I say all this as someone who hasn't decorated for any holidays lately myself.
  
  Because what is the point? I only bother with decorations because I have kids. After they grow up I won't bother. Also yeah I don't particularly want to get into it because it feels like I am taking the Christian's side. They are sitting there putting women in jail for having miscarriages maybe I don't want to associate with them even slightly.

I guess "getting into Christmas" probably means something different to everyone. For me it's about reliving good memories of friends and family. Some of my favorite memories are decorating cookies with my kids, mixing batches fudge, sipping eggnog and coffee over pie and ice cream, or dancing with my kids to Christmas music.
So for Christmas I play Christmas music, setup a tree, make cookies and fudge, and send the treats and little mementos to friends and family around the country. This year I sent Christmas muffins, fudge, drawings my daughter made, little $1 bottles of peppermint schnapps with Cocoa packets, and other things like Santa socks that I divied up from a cheap multipack. That was the presents I sent out to all our friends and family.
But if I didn't have those memories or enjoy baking, I doubt I would do much for it. So I suppose, ask yourself what getting into Christmas means to you, or take the time to define what you want it to mean to you, and then do the thing. If it's taking a little bit of extra time to show family you are thinking of them, then a little home assembled Cocoa kit and a card might do it. You don't need to go crazy with decorations or buying presents to get into Christmas, unless that is what you want it to mean to you.

im not that into it. Im sorta a nod and smile and enjoy how other folks are into it. I do like leaving little gifts for my condo neighbors but its gotten skimpier and skimpier as prices have been higher to where now they just get a tin of butter cookies. I would love to get back to where I was changing things up with chocolate or inexpensive wine. sigh.

there are a lot of factors for me but i feel it, and i think a big part is climate change. i live in new england and it was 60 degreees and raining the other day, pretty hard to get into the holiday spirit when it’s spring outside.
Also, before the goblinos start, yes there are many places where christmas happens in summer, summer type weather, etc, but that is not how it was for me growing up and most of my adult life.

After I parted ways with faith as a kid, the holidays have always seemed very... 'adults who still believe in the tooth fairy' sort of thing. I haven't actually celebrated since I was very young, and tbh it's either a faith-based thing (which I don't believe in, obviously) or it's a cash-grab for corporations to unload back stock while acting like they are actually 'so excited for the holidays'.
While I didn't see a decline or hesitation around my neighborhood generally the last few years, my folks have been less and less giddy as time goes on. A couple years ago they bought their tree on the 24th. It's like the excitement has weaned and they are just doing it because 'we have always done it', which again imo is stupid because you are stressing yourself out (and physically hurting yourself) by decorating the house, buying a tree, etc for something that they are only doing because they feel obligated. I'd happily take an extra $100 as a gift and free up an afternoon by not having to buy, haul home, decorate, and 10 days later dispose of, a tree. Same with house decorations, the neighbors aren't going to care if we don't spend 2 days cursing under our breath, stapling our fingers and almost falling off the room.
I dunno, it's just so foreign to me. Any other time if a fat man burglarized your house, ate your snacks and left mediocre gifts as compensation that you'd return the very next morning anyway, you'd be pissed. But apparently it's totally normal because it's cold outside now.
shrug

It could be just down to getting older.
- It used to feel like MONTHS of winter before Christmas was here, now, it feels like Halloween was two weeks ago.

Seeing kids being butchered in Gaza or grieving their dead parents is definitely a bummer for me.

definitely. i'm usually dreading the part right after opening gifts. -- the whole day feels stagnant and dead, everything is shut, there's nothing to do but wait for how shitty jan and feb will be. brutal dead awful months
- Seriously fuck winter

Covid might be "over", but the scars will still remain for some time. A global pandemic doesn't pass without having long term effects.

Maybe you're focusing on the wrong things? Christmas, for me, is a time to show my family that I care for them. Yes, through gifts, but also through time spent with them. It's a chance to speak others' love language. For me, doing things for others is how I really feel better about myself.
- Love language like when I mutter happy holidays to someone they aggressively scream back Merry Christmas

I was forced to realise before covid, that my family is dysfunctional and delusional. This obviously extends to family events such as Xmas.
I lost interest many years ago in the whole theatrics of it, it's a capitalist holiday and nothing more. My family touts that "it's about the thought and the people" when in actuality it's always been about the gifts (and by extension, money spent).
With that said, covid caused a pause in a lot of said family relations, and that was the straw that broke the (camel's) back. Most of my family is now rarely in contact, and Xmas as a family event finally bit the dust.
I'm on top of the world, and there's still money in my wallet, as well as less familial bullshit.
So yeah, I'll take it as a win.
- I have had great thanksgivings since 2011, with the obvious lonely exception of 2020. Here is my trick
  I make a whole bunch of yummy food and invite people to my house that I like spending time with who also live pretty close by.

I hated Christmas when I worked in retail, and for several years after. I've only gotten back into it the past few years, and now my husband has gotten sentimental and wants to put up meaningful ornaments instead of just nice looking ones.
My family didn't have a tradition of gifting ornaments every year so I've been building up a collection of personal ornaments the past few years to catch up with him, which is a cute and fun thing to do as a couple.
I'm sorry I don't know how to help. Personally nothing beats the cosy feeling of hot chocolate in front of a fire, cuddling watching TV, basking in the glow of a lit tree. It feels like Christmas to me and I love it.

Yeah, today when playing my favourite (pirate themed) Christmas album for the first time this year, I noticed that it's already the 20th...
- Gona need you drop a link to this pirate christmas music
  
  Aye! Ye Banished Privateers - A Pirate stole my Christmas

bunch of sad people in here it seems like, to me it's as simple as needing to actually make things feel christmas-y, you can't just sit around doing the same exact stuff you always do and expect an atmosphere to magically materialize from nothing.
decorate things to high hell, play christmas music, eat christmas-y food, go to christmas markets, spend time just chilling with people.
i don't agree that christmas is consumerist, you can just.. not make it consumerist? like it's not rocket science.

My kids are getting to the point where they’re either past believing in Santa or on the cusp of realizing what’s going on (if they haven’t already), otherwise I don’t really do much Christmas stuff with adults outside of work. I haven’t felt anything for Christmas for years apart from getting gifts for kids. The only big benefit is time off from work.
This was actually a fairly stress-free year present-wise. I got all my shopping early and stuff wrapped except for one last-minute thing I need for my son due to delayed shipping.

I think many people just realized that much of what we can Christmas Spirit is just not that rewarding.

Same but my kids still love it so whatever. Ever since merry Christmas became something that has been made sound like a threat I stopped enjoying it.

Covid took so much from so many people.
I'm so incredibly lucky, covid showed me that I don't have to work in a cube farm, I can do my job from anywhere. It crammed my whole family into each other's business, now I know my kids better than I did before. I grew meals in a crappy suburban garden.
I lost a lot too, connections to extended family and friends. A lot of relationships died because I was afraid. People like me were dying and I didn't trust that extended family to give enough of a shit about me to wear a shitty little mask from Amazon in public. (Which turned out to be right, they lied and ended up with covid) I lost some people who were very important to me, not even to COVID, just regular old cancer.
For me, the last few years have thrown what's important into sharp relief.
I can't control anything that's going on outside my house, or even most things inside my house. But I can have Christmas trees up year round if I want to.
The trees and lights make the people I love happy too, which makes me happy.
My big dumb dogs make me happy.
That crunchy snow noise makes me happy.
The tip of my nose freezing in the wind while the rest of me is warm makes me happy.
There's so much awful out in the world and I can't really do anything about it. So I cling to all the things I've found that make me happy and I try to suck all the juice out of each and every one.
When you find the things that give you some warmth, grab them and hold on. Put your energy into the things that give you energy.

Maybe you just got older.

I’ve never been much of a Christmas person. But 2020-2022 were the most Christmasy I’ve ever felt (probably because we were at home and decided to embrace with a tree and roast dinner etc it rather than our usual travelling holiday).
Now that we’re fully back to our old lifestyle, I don’t even notice that it’s Christmas/end of year until someone brings it up.

This year has been bad in my area. The cost of living crisis, lots of illness sweeping through, general stress, it’s all meant that no one has really had the Christmas spirit this year. And I’m not talking gifts or anything like that. I’m talking about having hot chocolate, wearing pjs, admiring other people’s decorations.
We’ve all commented that we haven’t been feeling it, and no one can pinpoint why exactly, but I think there’s just too many bad/stressful things going on for people to have the emotional resources left to be positive

Well for me yeah for years and I felt guilty not being happy and enjoying the holidays with my family. Covid unrelated. Antidepressants helped me enjoy it atleast a bit.

Definitely just you and your circle

I would say the first year or two of covid, where we didnt have gatherings, were the best christmases I ever had.
Cause its my family and the stress, irritation, and anger that comes along with dealing with them are what always ruin christmas for me.

Bah humbug!