What are your strategies for coping with Christmas stress?

Right now anyone that stresses me is going to get their ass kicked.

Beer. And lots of it.

GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the Surgeon general, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems.

Sisters under the skin are we, @marinelife ! I sloughed off obligations a few years ago, which has indeed pissed off a few family members, but they would have been pissed anyway so now I don’t have to deal with it. I do a lot of charity giving, I make really yummy boozy fruitcakes to give to people, and I wear my Santa hat around cuz it’s warm and fuzzy and alternately delights and annoys people. There’s always some stress, but so much less than there used to be. A phone call or two to good friends usually takes care of that.

Those were my strategies too but this year, I am pretty much ignoring anything about the holidays I don’t want to do and will make up new rituals with my sons as I celebrate first with one and then with the other.

Copious amounts of alcohol, handfuls of anti-depressants, and the stray joint or three.

If you are not anti-gun, a few trips to the firing range can be therapeutic especially if you partake in the three suggestions above first.

I don’t cope because I have eliminated all the stress by divorcing my ex 8 years ago and his giant family that always had an agenda. lol
Now it’s simple, easy, fun, and most importantly, I do things my way, on my schedule and it all works out just fine.

I don’t have/need one, I love christmas & enjoy it to the max.

Christmas used to stress me out because I am very bad about the gift buying and receiving thing. I didn’t grow up with much gift giving, so it was kind of foreign for me. Once I decided I don’t care too much if the people love the gift or not it made it much easier. They can regift or return it, I don’t mind one bit. I do put an honest effort into trying to pick something I think they would like, but then let go of the anxiety I used have surrounding the whole thing. I also have learned to smile amd say thank you when receiving a gift that I could care less about, and have also learned to be more excited in general about receiving gifts.

I rarely have to do anything but just show up for Christmas events. We almost never do Christmas at my house, except if my husband and I are home for Christmas I make a couple of his favorite Christmas foods, but I would cook dinner anyway, it isn’t a big deal. So, generally I don’t have to do extra cooking or cleaning or entertaining (with the exception of once in a blue moon bringing a dish or dessert to a pot luck type party, or on the rare occassion, maybe three times in my life, when the fam was at my house for Christmas). I do attend several Christmas parties, which I thoroughly enjoy. I also make latkes for Chanukah, again, I would cook anyway.

Between my husband and me we don’t stress at all about any obligation to buy a gift or not for each other. If we want something around that time of year we chalk it up to buying it for the holidays, if we aren’t really needing anything we don’t bother buying anything.

I guess to sum it up; for me having very limited expectations helps avoid any dissappointments. I partake in the festivities that are presented to me, and don’t create extra stress by hoping things will be a certain way.

Christmas does stress me out but I try to make sure I have plenty of me time during the time off work. If I spend the whole of the break running around from one person’s house to another I feel miserable. If I schedule in some time where I don’t have to leave my flat if I don’t want to, I am much happier.

Don’t celebrate it. Once our kids were grown and we became less affluent (not cause and effect), we stopped doing the gift thing. I guess if you have grandkids, it would be fun, but we don’t. In that case, the answer would be to simplify. Have secret Santa drawings for gifts or promises to do something special instead of buying things. Tradition is all very well, but if it becomes burdensome, it’s lost its joy. It takes a cooperative family to change things. If yours isn’t cooperative, opt out. Tell them you’re going out of town, but stay home. Or really go out of town.

We’ve simplified, a lot. Fewer gifts, fewer occasions, fewer headaches! I also do the majority of my shopping online these days, and that takes the biggest stresser (for me) out of the equation.

Being Jewish..

@gailcalled Hahaha. Yeah, that helps. The problem is I have all these Christians around me.

I find that incurring a much more stressful situation makes the holiday stress minimal.

The only thing that stresses me out is my mom. And since everybody hates a fight and she probably will hold grudges even when she’s six feet under, I stick with chopping wood, exercise, or really any activity that I end up burning over 1,000 calories.

I don’t save everything to the last minute. I work on greeting cards all year long, and most of the people I give gifts to need money, and that is easy to wrap.

@JLeslie: Put on your kippa, prayer shawl and do a lot of davening.

It’s mainly the shopping amidst selfish wankers that stresses me out this time of year.

I take a few Xanax, trip a few elderly, beat a few dogs, and add a few jackwads to my “People I’d Like to Bitchslap” list.

@WillWorkForChocolate : I’ll send you a boozy fruitcake, that’ll calm you right down! :-)

Sounds great!

My children andI are broke this year so it’s going to be downsized extremely and so stress is gone. I’ve made the meal so many times I could do it asleep.