How do you feel about the holidays?

One major positive since my divorce is that Thanksgiving and Christmas are joyful gatherings, with hardly any stress or anxiety.

Now both occasions are a time of family and sharing, and creating new traditions.

No stress for me. Tonight will be serene.I love that.
Tomorrow, busier and I’m alright with that too.
What about you?

I absolutely love it & embrace every bit of the xmas period, because, before you know it, poof…It’s gone!

Painful and stressful,

I love it. Everything about it. Even the traffic and crowded stores.

I love it too. It’s always been fun for me. I’m very much still a kid when it comes to Christmas :) (Even though I do my share of the decorating and gift-buying now, I still rely on my parents to do much of the work around the holidays. But even when I have a family of my own I can’t imagine not liking this time of year). So I’ll be sad to say goodbye to the holiday season.

@lucillelucillelucille: Usually it’s stressful for me because I’m scrambling to try to shop and do things in addition to working full time with a two hour a day commute. This year I’m less stressed because I didn’t buy a lot of gifts. I didn’t go to a lot of stores for big shopping sprees. In my house, I’m trying to get rid of stuff so I wasn’t buying a lot of clothes for myself, which is what I do most other years.

My mom died three years ago and so family gatherings are not the same without her presence. She was the glue that kept the family together, with meals and parties and stuff. We still get together and we still enjoy each others company, but it’s not quite the same.

I love seeing Christmas decorations and I really enjoy looking at Christmas posts on Instagram and Facebook. It’s a cozy time of year as far as décor and food goes.

Tonight I am going to church with my family and then out to dinner. Tomorrow, Christmas day, I am going to visit friends locally. I could join my family for a day in the city (NYC) but we were just in the city Sunday so we’re kind of “citied out.”

I would love Christmas if we eliminated gift-giving and had way less people over for dinner (or if someone would invite us over for once). Sadly, neither of those has ever happened, so I’m at about a 6 out of 10.

Yeah as an adult, I don’t need anything and most people I know don’t, either. Some people insist on the whole gift giving thing. To me, it’s a burden in both directions (to buy for them and to take home stuff I don’t need).

I can understand kids wanting stuff. To me, the gift giving is really for kids.

@jca2- I get that.
My mom too held it all together,
I hope you have a nice night and relaxed Christmas as well. :)

A time to reflect on gratitude of what we have while there are many who have so little, so its not a problem for me as I have been living on my own for a number of years now and I do not expect relatives to travel on dangerous highways during the winter months to visit…just yesterday there was an accident on the nearby highway out of our local Town as too many are rushing and stressed out, causing serious accidents and slipping on the icy roads.

I crafted a wreath with small houses made of paper and added lights and store bought greenery on it.I have it on my apartment door as its customary in our building to do .

Each year I downgrade the decorating and this year again just a table decoration of two scenes of Christmas winter scenes in glass vases.

I have a much smaller lighted wreath that hangs on my living room window and flashes in the dark as numerous neighbors have decorated there houses across the street and there Christmas lights go on as darkness descends..Its a peaceful view with the snow on the mountain tops and the Spruce tress laden with the heavy snow that had gathered on the branches.
I will cook a large chicken meal and have that for the next few days to munch on while I sit under a cozy blanket and watch “Scrooge, a Christmas Carol on TV and talk with relatives in between.

I no longer run around in stress trying to placate with gifts to relatives and opt to save to travel in the summertime instead to visit if need be as that is preferred above all as its much safer for everyone then to travel.

I’m ok with the Holidays, tho every now and then ill get a case of the Holiday Blues… Someone who I was close with passed away 2 days before Xmas by suicide, I try to keep memories at bay but they always sneak up on me at times.

I have already said on another thread that the holiday is non-existent in my country. But at least the idea of it gave my friends and I a reason to hang out together :)

Here is a Christmas card I made alongside my gift during the last 15 minutes at work., all with printer paper, decorative tape and crayons.

This year is going to be easy. Twins are in Hawaii, sisters husband is off working somewhere. I didn’t even bother buying anyone gifts (wait, bought a Roku Ultra for my sister but gave that to her a month ago) and I hope they returned the favor. I don’t really need people to buy me stuff.

My sister is going all out for C-Mas dinner. Making chicken strips from scratch, with Panko!. And mashed potatoes. It has just been me and her wandering around a stupidly large house for months. Three dogs, five cats, two goldfish, and a rabbit.

Normally she does a huge spread and has tons of people over.. This year, now that her kids are finished with high school and doing their own thing she is just not giving a shit. And it will be the best Christmas in decades.

After 62 years it is wearing me out.

I had so much fun, I have received gifts from my loved ones. My grandparents love the shirts that I got them this year. My cousins were happy with the animated socks. My mom loves the airfare ticket that I have booked for her for next year. We are currently watching Home Alone before heading to bed.

I am now contemplating as to which litter box enclosure should I purchase for my niece as she wants a new one for her ragdoll.

@jbuenavides :: I just got a cat and bought a litterbox.

I went with this. It was $20 at the time. It is comically large. I have around 5 inches of litter in it so urine doesn’t even reach the bottom.

It is amazingly stupidly large

Is that the cat’s beer just outside the litter-box-spaceship?

It’s expensive with all my grand kids. And one week after Christmas, they“ve lost interest in everything anyway. Blah…

A year later, I am still in favor of the holidays, but this year will bring a new meaning to “low key”.

I might visit my girlfriend and her daughter on Christmas, but that is looking iffy given that California is entering another lockdown phase.