Lonely Christmas Nights

[LKeithR]

It's 9:45 here (just outside Vancouver, B.C.) and I wanted to take a quick browse through RFF before going to wrap the last of the presents--hey, I know it's late; but after all, I am a guy. Sadly, no fine whiskey to hand here. When I was younger I was never able to handle liquor--I either puked or passed out--so I just gave up. Now, many years later, I'm slightly hypoglycemic and any alcohol I imbibe just does weird thing to me. This is all rather depressing since I live right next door to a very nice little winery. I "can" enjoy a nice glass of homemade eggnog spiked with a touch of good rum and in warmer weather I can certainly appreciate a bottle of Inniss & Gunn.

My wife and I have six kids so Christmas has always been a fun time for us. Sometimes a bit stressful as well since money hasn't always been plentiful. I don't mind that we can't always afford to buy the fanciest, most expensive presents; what does get me is the expectation; created, I think, by all the advertising, that we "should" be spending a lot of money.

I'm looking forward to the next year of RFF. I visit a number of photo forums but nowhere do I feel as comfortable as I do here. There is an atmosphere of civility and friendliness here that's hard to find on the internet these days. So while I may be a relative newcomer I do feel I am among friends--the kind of people I would love to have a drink with if I could.
We still have kids at home:bang: so I shall have to wrap this up and go play Santa Claus for a bit--it's hard to give up old traditions--so may you all be of good cheer and the best of the holidays to you...

 

[nwcanonman]

Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you choose to react to it.

I choose a Merry Christmas to all of you ~ ; - )

 

[Roger Hicks]

What do you mean by that, Roger? "PROSPEROUS New Year..."? What about us that can't afford the Noctilux and the M9? What about us that can only look forward to Voigtlanders under the tree?



Just kidding! 🙂 Happy holidays to you and Frances! And by the way, thanks to you two for all your excellent reporting on Photokina in Shutterbug. Fun reading.

Dear Jamie,

It's a very old formula in the UK -- the standard one in my youth -- though I have to confess that there's more than a touch or irony in it nowadays. It's sad, though, that it had largely dropped out of use. Even if we can't realistically expect it, we can still wish it.

Though a couple of days ago, Frances spent over two hours on the 'phone to a couple we've known for years, who are multimillionaires. In the last few years he's had 8 operations for cancer; she's had one; and she's been diagnosed with myaethenia gravis (this what Stephen Hawking has). All right, Frances and I complain about getting old and creaky, but it ain't like that...

Thanks for the kind words about SB. Our aim was to write it up as if we were describing the show to a friend, rather than doing a 'laundry list' of products.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Frontman]

It's nearly 12 hours later, and I am on the train back from the office. I won't be spending Christmas alone, but I will be spending it rather tired out. Tomorrow will be spent working at an outlying office, which will add a couple hours to my train commute. I will arrive home tomorrow night with just enough time to pack for my flight on Monday morning. At least I can catch up on my sleep while on the plane, which should be 9 hours if it arrives on time.

 

[Olsen]

First of all: Marry Christmas to you all!

Here in Oslo, Norway it is noon Christmas Day, already. Christmas for me is family & friends dinners almost all the evenings from the 22 until the 27.th. We had 14 family members for dinner the 24th and are having a new round with 12 friends the 26th. Today we are going to a party at our neighbors. On Sunday the 26th we are going to my sister's. And so on.

So, here Christmas is all about presents, food recipies, who's gonna sit next to who', - and 'cheers everybody, it's Christmas'!

But...

I walked the dog of my brother-in-law on late Christmas Eve while the children opened their presents. - I have got so restless after quit smoking. I walked by the house of a brother of my old school mate. To my shock and horror I discovered that he sat home all alone. I promptly rang his doorbell and invited him home with me and asked him to put on clothes and come along with me. - It was 10 C minus. 'Never mind the shave'! Which he did. He got to taste the pork rib, the traditional Christmas food here in Oslo, and the booze. We even improvised a few Christmas presents. My brother-in-law drove him home, late at night, all propped up with wiskey and glüwein.

It turned out to be a very nice Christmas Eve.

 

[Shelley-Ann]

at least we have each other here and share the same passion for photography. we are not alone in that.

Well said, Leicashot.

You are in my thoughts today, Axiom. As an aside, I hope you will make it out to the Toronto RFF meetup on Tuesday.. I'll be coming all the way from Peel Region (by bus, no less) so it is quite a distance for me as well.

It looks like Santa flaked out on me again, as my asked-for poolboy is nowhere to be found. But I'll be eating Kangaroo Sliders, Filet Mignon and other goodies with my Dad today, so I'm as cool as a girl who is about to gain 10 more pounds could ever be 😉

Merry Christmas, Everyone.

 

[migtex]

Have the best times in rough times! Like Leicashot said, one is not alone unless one want's it too.
Family got me a good Xmas gift... she must be very stubborn to keep loving me this after 33 years...
Merry Xmas to all of you out there.

 

[gavinlg]

Re-reading this thread reminds me why I love this forum and the people that make it. I don't think theres anywhere else online that has the same warmth/community and wisdom as RFF.

Hope everyone had a fantastic one - mine was a long but satisfying day.

 

[Roger Hicks]

it's so nice to hear different people's Christmas, so there are parents who play Santa Claus, there are romantic couples who treasure their time together, there are photographers working on their photographs or planning their shopping list, and there are RFF fans who deserve some serious time on RFF.
Nice to hear from you, and Merry Christmas to you all.
But I am sure there are some sorrow ones out there. Voice out! You are not alone!

Nor are you. How many people have responded to your post?

Depression can strike any time. In a way it's worse when times are 'good' and you think you 'ought' to be happy.

But Christmas is just a manufactured commercial festival, as Paulfish says, tacked onto the turning of the year. When it's cold and bleak, the passing of the solstice isn't about things being good now, or about loneliness. It's about knowing that summer will come back, Sol Invictus. It's about the future, about hope.

Which may be why Christianity hijacked it.

Love,

R.

 

[hans voralberg]

Alone right about now, spend the previous part of the day dashing dashing through Ginza, managed to pick up a few stuff at Lemon Camera!

 

[Patman]

Lonely

Lonely

I find this a very hard time of year, especially now as I am older and our childred all over the country. Call Christmas what ever you want but what it is is Tradition. A traditioned adopted by us from our parents and passed on from generation to generation. My mother loved Christmas and so did we, but it's because of what she made it, love & warmth and family and friends all coming together to celebrate life . When she passed it changed everything for us and untill this day, 40 years later, it's never been the same. This year my wife and I are alone and although we have each other the warmth that was christmas is gone, and I am quite depressed. But to everyone out their all I can say is Merry Christmas and enjoy fyour families and your get togethers for we never know when they will end.

 

[back alley]

Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you choose to react to it.

I choose a Merry Christmas to all of you ~ ; - )

good lord..is that harold??? 🙂

 

[Riverman]

Merry Christmas all

I am feeling a little lonely today. I'd planned to be home with family in the UK but I got stuck in DC due to last week's weather chaos at Heathrow. It's strange to be apart from family for the second year in a row. (Last Christmas, my first in DC, was a bit of a non-event, so I was really looking forward to being at home this year).

Still, I'm making the best of it. On Christmas Eve I delivered some prints of large format portraits I had made of some elderly residents of a housing block in NE DC. Felt good to put a smile on someone's face at Christmas. Then I walked back into downtown, enjoying the winter sun and peeling off my last few shots of Kodachrome.

Today, I have a fridge full of delicious food to prepare and some decent Georgian wine to remind me of my two visits to Tbilisi this year - the city and Georgia in general made a deep and positive impression on me. I also have several boxes of archived negatives to digitize, which will keep me busy for a few hours. The wine will definitely help the scanning process ;-)

So while it's a drag to be alone at Christmas, I have to put my situation in perspective. Many are apart from their families right now. And they don't all have warmth, food, shelter or their liberty. Some are drudging through the fields of Helmand for the Queen's meagre shilling. Others are trying to ward off all manner of hardship in Haiti. Others, victims of injustice and prisoners of conscience are languishing in prison cells in every corner of the globe.

So while I'm a long way from home today, I'm counting my blessings.

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[Sustich]

And so after my Aberfeldy single malt Scotch and finishing the Cabernet last night, I am up this morning working on a large, beautifully crusty chicken pot pie that will take many hours to bake (and fill the house with wondrous smells). Oh, and it will make a very tasty late night snack after all have gone contentedly to bed.

But it snowed just enough overnight to put a fresh coat of pure white on the slightly graying snow from earlier in the week. I've noticed a few ice fishing sheds out on the lake outside my window and will probably head out there for a stroll this afternoon to wish my neighbors all the best.

Should I take the rest of the Aberfeldy single malt Scotch or switch over to the rarer Knappogue single malt Irish to warm their cockles?

 

[leicashot]

Well said, Leicashot.

You are in my thoughts today, Axiom. As an aside, I hope you will make it out to the Toronto RFF meetup on Tuesday.. I'll be coming all the way from Peel Region (by bus, no less) so it is quite a distance for me as well.

It looks like Santa flaked out on me again, as my asked-for poolboy is nowhere to be found. But I'll be eating Kangaroo Sliders, Filet Mignon and other goodies with my Dad today, so I'm as cool as a girl who is about to gain 10 more pounds could ever be 😉

Merry Christmas, Everyone.

Hey Shelley-Ann, I wish I could be there on tuesday but don't think I'll make it 🙁 but I hope your christmas is brilliant, with or without a poolboy that (obviously) doesn't appreciate you 😉

Even though Santa seems to flake after the age of 6, we do have each other. Merry Christmas!!!

 

[tanel]

For all you loners out there!

For all you loners out there!

 

[Steve M.]

I spent many, many years alone on the holidays until I met my wife. Then we adopted 2 cats. It's never lonely around here anymore, except for last night (Christmas Eve) when I had to sleep in the spare bedroom because the wife and cats took over the whole bed before I got in there! How can 2 little kitty cats and 1 woman take up a whole, king size bed?

The spare room idea didn't work out either because the cats kept coming in to ck on me I guess, and between all the inquisitive hopping up on the bed, and the kneading that went on after they finally settled in, I'll bet I didn't get 2 hours of sleep. But it wasn't lonely.

 

[robklurfield]

My daughter came home for Christmas. When we awoke this morning, after opening gifts, we reached my son in China via Skype. The world can be quite small sometimes. Having all of us in the same room was quite a treat even though our son is half a world away.

 

[dee]

I am surrounded by wife , daughter , two little girls , presents excitedly torn open , but Autism sets a tentative sense of ' me ' apart - like an observer somehow ... or not belonging . This is not new , but chasing around with the trusty Panasonic L1 with it's bounce flash helps ground ' me ' to some extent .[ No M8 as pink Christmas trees don't go down well ] LOL
Wandering the photo forums brings a familiarity - and the Kontaxes in the car are near at hand !
Quietude to all

 

[axiom]

I am so glad that I have started this thread; I get to hear so many encouragements and so many great stories, even mirror images (heard via PM).
There are times that no one can really help you, but knowing that there are people around who are on the same boat or simply hearing a "hang in there!" really makes some difference.
Thanks!
I wish all a Merry Christmas (if not too late) and a Prosperous New Year (the UK way?). RFF is definitely more than just a classroom for researching gears.