There are people in this world who are as nice and friendly as can be most of the year, but who get so tired of the hype around Christmas that they become Scrooges, and dismiss Christmas with a "Bah! Humbug!" There are also people who love Christmas, but know the only parts worth telling someone about are the disasters. Thank to the fading art of sending letters, we have a glimpse into Christmases past from some well-known people who didn't always have a merry Christmas. Virginia Woolf wrote in a 1964 letter:
Do not expect wit or sense in this letter, only the affection of a drugged and torpid mind. Oh an English Christmas! We are not Christians; we are not social; we have no part in the fabric of the world, but all the same, Christmas flattens us out like a steam roller; turkey, pudding, tips, waits, holly, good ·wishes, presents, sweets; so here we sit, on Boxing day, at Rodmell, over a wood fire, and I can only rouse myself by thinking of you.
Letters of Note has a collection of excerpts from 13 such letters, many of them filled with vinegar. But the very last one from 1940 is a reminder that no matter how bad your Christmas turns out to be, it could be much worse. -via Nag on the Lake