Do you hate the holidays?

Just do the holidays the way you would like to do them! The marketing and sales are always going to be there - just avoid it! Shop at Craft Fairs for gifts. Not only will you be surrounded by Holiday spirit, but you'll be able to buy lower priced gifts that bring back the warmth into the Season. Handcrafted things always mean so much more - plus they're unique. Plus you can turn your shopping experience into a festive outing or tradition.

I agree with you that it's the entertaining and spending time with family and friends that means the most. I'm focusing on baking, entertaining and traditions. I want my son to grow up being excited about the traditions and events, not the latest gadget or expensive toy. When I look back at my Childhood, it was the traditions and the fun with entertaining and going to local events and hanging out that I cherish and remember.

Happy Holidays!

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Make the holidays your own. Turn off the TV. Create rituals that are special to you and your family. Sponsor a child through World Vision or one of the other groups that do that. Buy mosquito nets for kids in Africa. Go to church. Visit your family. Cook a turkey (and stuffing is meant to go on the inside of the turkey, that's why it's called stuffing! :). Eat leftovers. Sing carols. Build a snowman. Go for a walk and look at all the lights in your neighbourhood. Read a book. Donate to the local food bank or homeless shelter in your baby's name. Appreciate the multitude of gifts from grandparents and take the opportunity to buy something small and meaningful for your baby...he'll get more toys and clothes than he needs from everyone else, make your gift special.

Only you can make the holidays what you want, don't complain about it and do nothing. If you want to make it different, then do it yourself! :)

Good luck, if you sit down with your husband and make a list of how you want this time of year to be special for your kids as they grow...well, it's easier to do than you might think.

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What I hate about the holidays is that we even have to have this conversation five days after Halloween. I think people should leave up Halloween decorations until New Years as a defense against early Christmas decorations (that and I just think Halloween is better).

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Tell the grandparents you want consumables. This doesn't have to just be foods. Think magazine subscriptions, museum/zoo memberships, concert or theater tickets, weekends of babysitting. I think my inlaws are going to give us tickets to their symphony, out of state. We get a night out with them, they get a weekend with grandkids in town as well as a night out. They win, we don't get crap for gifts so we win. SIL is even willing to toss in the babysitting.

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For me and my family Christmas is more about traditional things. I personally can't stand Thanksgiving and if it were only up to me, I would never celebrate it but....We start out on the Fri after Turkey Day and cut our tree, get that up and then do our yard with our BIG decorations. We've done this since our boys were small and they still love all the lights and things we do. I think it's like "coming home" to them to still see the same things they saw when they were small. We spend time with family and have a good meal, play games and just enjoy being together. I do over do the gifts and I'll admit that but I really enjoy it. I hate that it comes so early but to be honest, I do almost all my shopping online so I don't see the stores doing the things they do. For us, it's about "tradition," things that we've always done. It's up to you as to how you want to make these memories for you children and I'm really glad we did all these things for them "way back when" because I think it gives them stability to always be able to at least count on that.

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I LOVE the holidays!!! I do have to admit that the stores get a jump on it a bit too early but all in all, I love to see the holiday items anytime they put them out.
For me growing up, it wasn't all about the toys but more about the things we did as a family. I have such a close knit family anyway but getting together for the holidays, it was just extra special. When I walked into a store a few days after Halloween and saw all of the Christmas decorations, my face literally lit up!!
For me, the marketing isn't about me buying more things than I can afford for my daughter and the rest of my family. The decorations bring back that 6 year old spirit inside of me and take me back to that magical time of the holidays when you are little. I hope that my daughter will grow up loving the holidays and will never tire of them- just like I never will!!

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I just don't like trying to buy something small for a large family. We have over 20 children in our family and it's just impossible to please everyone. This year I'm making cookie mix jars per family and passing them out instead of individual gifts. Saves me money and they get to enjoy a delicious recipe I got from work.I'll focus more on my own family this year than all my aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents.

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I wish they didn't rush the season but other than that, I still enjoy Christmas.

We keep it very low key. We're invited out for Thanksgiving this year (for the first time in at least 20 years that I didn't cook a huge spread). Christmas we'll have the family (I should have a new grandson by then to entertain us along with his almost 2 year old brother).

We don't have to give in to the pressure and then hate ourselves.

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Hate isn't too strong a word: I definitely hate the holidays. And we've opted out. We don't celebrate Christmas or Hannukah or anything else. It's delightfully liberating. Most people probably wouldn't be able to get away with this to the extent that we have, given extended familial obligations. But we're lucky.

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Happy Holidays To You!!!! :-)

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High Five Joy - I think Thanksgiving is misplaced! "If I were President...." I would have put it in October, say on the 31st and Xed off Halloween - left November open to prepare for Christmas! It just makes everything jumbled up and rushed! Even as a kid, it seemed strange to me to have these two huge celebrations so close.
I am convinced I'm married to Scrooge or the Grinch - Or worse yet, turning into one myself! Our grown kids want to celebrate the holidays with their new family or friends - I'm ready to order Pizza for Dinner and I hate waiting to give gifts - I think I'll put my Tree up and Call it the celebration tree, and put gifts under there when ever and for whom ever and when the grandkids come over they can go see if something is left there for them.... I'll have to figure out how to decorate the tree for the seasons...lol.. I think it will be a thing of interest to do.... Wonder what Scrooge will think??? LOL....
I keep Christmas in my heart all year long - and Celebrate it that way........
Happiest of Wishes to the readers this Holiday season

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I have hated the holidays ever since my mom died 2 1/2 years ago. She was so amazing, and we were incredibly close. She was extremely artistic, and almost everything I used to decorate for Christmas is handmade by my mom. She started making ornaments for my tree before I was even born, and made several every year of my life until she died. Needless to say, I haven't even been able to decorate since she passed away. I've tried, but I just can't get beyond the grief. I know it would be easier to at least go through the motions if my husband and I had children, but we weren't able to. Fortunately, I have an incredibly supportive husband who doesn't really care either way if we go all out like we used to. I'm hoping someday, bringing out those amazingly beautiful ornaments will bring joyful memories of my mom instead of the agony of how much I miss her.

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Holidays are stressful. My wife gets over-excited about them as if she's still a kid and it is extremely difficult visiting both her side of the family and mine all in one day. Yes, we could alternate the holidays but we're married and that would be far too easy a solution.

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