holiday season

[loco pony]

Any of ya kind of feel the holidays are just more things to do in an alteady too busy life?
Man I do.

 

[Growley]

I don't love the hype of the holidays. I avoid malls, shopping and Walmart as much as possible. I don't buy in to buying tons of gifts or spending lots of money.

But I do love the time off and time with family. I love the feeling of fall and winter (what little we have here), and I even like Christmas songs, and especially the big family dinners. I just tend to think that marketing has made the holidays something much different and worse than what they're supposed to be.

 

[Dave_In_Philly]

Posted my thoughts here last year.

 

[monbla256]

Any of ya kind of feel the holidays are just more things to do in an alteady too busy life?
Man I do.

Check at "the APP Store" I'm sure they have a "Holidays" app you could buy and all your problems with "...to busy" are taken care of :twisted:  :twisted: 

 

[Centurian 803]

I'm sure the holidays will be much better for me this year since I have more time to devote to them. You're right about the commercialization being bogus. The holidays are to me about spending time with family and eating myself stupid. Gifts are ok but I enjoy giving them more than getting them.

 

[Fr_Tom]

I don't get too worked up by the commercial end of it. I do play a collection of odd Christmas music in the car as an annual thing to drive my children crazy - Santa's Lost His Mojo, X-Mas at K-Mart, Christmas in Cleveland, etc. Liturgical colors change, and there are some changes in liturgy.

 

[rothnh]

I haven't been a fan of Christmas since I was a teenager. I got more excited about the Holidays when we had kids, but as they grew up and my parents passed away, my interest in the Holidays waned once again. An upswing again for me when we started getting grandchildren and now I still look forward to spending time over the holidays with them and family. I suppose my Holiday Spirit really grows from seeing and taking part in how special Christmas is for the kids. We "grown-ups" try to get into the spirit of it all, but we tend (at least I do) to have some hidden dread about it all and are relieved when it's over and the new year begins.

 

[Archetype]

I suppose my Holiday Spirit really grows from seeing and taking part in how special Christmas is for the kids.

I am the same as roth actually. I enjoy Xmas and the holidays mainly because of my kids and watching them enjoy it.

Though I will admit, even if I didn't have kids, I can safely say that I still enjoy the holidays- just not quite as much.

 

[cajun]

I will do something different this year. My wife is a hairdresser at a nursing home. There is an old black lady, Miss Mary, no family, very good to my wife, goes to kitchen and gets little snacks for her, is worried she is not eating enough. Wife came home and said Miss Mary said she would come home with me and help me cook the thanksgiving dinner. Very sad she has no one, so I told my wife you are gonna go get her and it will be her special day, everyone should have a special day.

 

[Fr_Tom]

Wife came home and said Miss Mary said she would come home with me and help me cook the thanksgiving dinner. Very sad she has no one, so I told my wife you are gonna go get her and it will be her special day, everyone should have a special day.

We have an open invitation at church for folks without family or those who are just not up to it to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. We are getting eight guests this year. It depends on the year, but we will usually get a couple of widows or a single mom with a child. This year, we have an interesting mix including a college student whose family is too far away. They bring a side or a dessert, and we provide the rest. This is a great way to spend Thanksgiving. I suspect you will be happy you invited Miss Mary.

 

[idbowman]

What a bunch of humbugs!!!

I love the Christmas season. Always have. I usually avoid the malls and the crowds, but I can't get enough of the decorations, the music, the movies (classics and new), the getting together with family, the smell of the tree in the house, the tasty cookies and other baked goods, the cold weather...all of it. Does it make it more hectic? Maybe a little. But for me, that's more than worth the kick I get out of the whole thing. :santa: :rendeer: 

 

[mejoshee]

Don't want to go into too much dark stuff, but I guess this is the thread if any to do it. I find the holidays are rather depressing: I'm not very good at viewing the good in people in general, so I have trouble seeing anything but the bad in this supposedly heart-warming time of year. I see how greedy, selfish, inconsiderate, hateful, shallow, and angry people are.

It just makes me want to crawl up into a hole and let it all blow over until the new year. I wish I had the wide-eyed enthusiasm of a child, but I don't think I ever did even when I was a child (Santa is hard to believe in when you grow up in Hawaii).

Without getting preachy, hopefully, I think we can still make a difference. I encourage all you brothers & sisters to be good to one another, be patient for those who are cutting you off in line, give what you can even if it's only your time.

 

[pylorns]

For a time - prior to having a kid, I was less on the holiday thing. But now having a kid, its so much more enjoyable. Hell, I look forward to watching all the christmas movies that take up a nice chunk of space in my library.

Plus, all the great foods, wines, spirits and tobaccos that are shared during the holidays can't be beat.

 

[mark]

I just glide through this time of year, take it as it happens and don't get overly wound up over the festivities. A few choice Bourbons and  long bowls of prime flake allow me to go with the flow while enjoying everyone elses cheer.

 

[somedumbjerk]

I'm torn this time of the year. I work in the bicycle industry , so this marks the slow time if the year. I live Xmas, hate New Years, like thanksgiving food, hate having to deal with the over commercialization and blatant consumerism that is forced down everyone's throats, but I love giving gifts, and in general Xmas brings up really happy memories of my family. So I'm all over the board. This will be the first holiday season as a married man, so I guess I get to start a tradition. So I have that to look forward to. The thing that sucks is her family is 10 minutes away, mine is 3000 miles away, so I get a little jealous. Meh. Part of growing up. Time to spoil my dog with presents.

 

[RDPipes]

I long for the past, watching the family open gifts on a early Christmas morn,
the smell of mom's cooking and baking lofting from the kitchen filling the air,
the family setting down at the table to give thanks and enjoy it all till we were all too full to budge.

 

[PlateauGuy]

Cajun, you have the spirit of the holidays!

We do large contributions to the foodbank in November, December, January, and February.

My grandkids live far enough away that we don't get to see them very much. For Thanksgiving they come down on Friday to celebrate. For Christmas we travel up to their house so our house feels alittle "flat" even though it's decorated.

I dislike the commercialization of the holidays. Christmas things were on the shelf before Halloween this year. Just turns me off.

 

[Docsknotinn]

I just feel bad for Santa. The poor old bugger only gets to come once a year....and then it's down the Chimney!

 

[PozzSka]

I will do something different this year. My wife is a hairdresser at a nursing home. There is an old black lady, Miss Mary, no family, very good to my wife, goes to kitchen and gets little snacks for her, is worried she is not eating enough. Wife came home and said Miss Mary said she would come home with me and help me cook the thanksgiving dinner. Very sad she has no one, so I told my wife you are gonna go get her and it will be her special day, everyone should have a special day.

As an administrator in the long term care arena, I appreciate this. This is the stuff that makes my job great. I have some staff that do this as well, and it is always appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Brewdude]

Too many unpleasant memories for me around the holidays. I'd prefer not to regurgitate them here.

Mom used to say that if you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all.

So be it.

:silent: 



Cheers,

RR