who else hates the holidays?

Although the holidays can be very challenging, in a number of ways, I am not invested in hating them.

I am very interested in identifying the things I like about the holidays.

I agree with ~Christina and CrT0811! Looking for the positives will bring the positives to light!

if I am going to expend energy, both mental and physical, I am going to invest in trying to find some positives and expand upon them. For me, this is a much more rewarding way to invest time and energy.

This makes the holidays more enjoyable and more rewarding!
Just my own experience.


WC

I don't " hate", the holidays.

fair enough, I have plenty of reason too.. I'm alone with no family/ friends, it brings up bad memories from when I was in hospital over christmas, it's over before it's begun (making all the prepperation pointless), the only presents I get are ones I order myself, but their are deffenetly good bits

for one, I love the music- I also love the weather (cold darker nights work better for me than hot sunny days)

also some of the decorations you can get these days are pretty cool.

I remember one year (I had it for a few years), I got a little train called the santa express which ran around a track on the floor- it was pretty cute

I also had a singing santa- clap your hands and it sings jinglebells

oh, the food is good too, and it's the only time of the year I can watch mistletoe over manhattan without feeling bad or stupid

with all that said, I'm not going to make much of an effert

I like keeping it simple!

My extended family does not exchange presents. We choose a charity (usually one that needs more funding, like seniors' meals on wheels, for example) and we donate the money we might have spent on Christmas.

H and I like to shop after the holidays, when there are huge sales. We go for things we need mostly.

I am hosting Thanksgiving dinner. I kind of have to; my sister has banned some family members from her house and we are not about to exclude family members and/or feed into that behavior. This year, I have asked people to bring things to contribute toward the meal. I will cook the turkey and will provide the basics.

Trying to make it as simple as possible!


WC

Thanksgiving kind of stresses me out. In 2016 I worked a 12 hour Black Friday shift on the sales floor. So I didn’t enjoy Thanksgiving at all. This Thanksgiving I’m at a different job where I work strictly in the back. So I just work my usual hours so I’ll be done at noon. So Thanksgiving shouldn’t be too bad.

I think I have a bit too much Christmas spirit for my age. I love spending time with family, Christmas music, Christmas movies, Christmas TV specials, Christmas food and candy, and getting and giving presents. It’s amazing that I still have so much Christmas spirt.

Then every year like clockwork on December 28th reality sets in and the SAD and moods hit hard and I feel hopeless and miserable until spring. It’s been this way since 2005.

Now I really feel like a Grinch. I find it hard to even try.

I don't know. Too much is going on. I like my routine. Oh, and my daughter's choir has 3 Christmas performances this year. Can't just one do? The one indoors at the school? The other 2 are outdoors, you never know what the weather will be like - warm, comfortable, chilly, cold, raining, etc. It is just one thing after another; it stresses me out horribly, and my mood is usually tanked and very depressed by my birthday on January 20.

I hate them now after many years of having family dysfunction over them. When my mom was in control, and was the hostess, doing everything her way and the center of attention, they were fun. After I got married either she, my husband, or his parents ruined everything I tried to do.

I definitely know what you mean. The holidays trigger me. I've had a lot of losses and things weren't the way they used to be. I miss a different time in my life where I'd go to my grandparents house and things were better than they are now (although there's certainly been a lot of ups and downs). Family drama makes it even worse. Also, I hate standing on lines and crowds. However, I have a spending problem, so there's too much temptation when it comes to all the things that are out.

New Year's is especially bad for me. I am a little bit lonely, but at the same time, I want to be alone. I hope this year will be better than last year and the year before, because I was horribly depressed, and my problems with alcohol were making it worse as well. There's too much pressure to "celebrate" and appear happy, which makes it super hard when you're depressed. That's what I despise.

Oh dear Lord, the whole ‘who are you kissing at midnight’ thing on NYE.

Don't hate the holidays

For years I lived in Texas far away from my family and I would clean and decorate for me. It was peaceful. Most of the time I got sympathy invites to friends and acquaintances sometimes I went but I loved having thanksgiving and Christmas all to myself in my clean house and would give myself a "spa" and wear my best clothes as I watched my favorite movies. If I did go to friends I made an effort to be cheerful. Always brought food or drink usually both. They'd never had mulled wine or real eggnog so my contribution was welcomed.

Now I'm back home and it's ok, it's nice to be with family. We have a gathering after the meal and everybody brings a dollar gift. We play a dice game and when you get doubles you pick a gift from the center. Once you get a gift you stop rolling the dice until the bonus round. When everyone has a gift then we play a few fun rounds where you exchange you gift for someone else's cause it's pretty or unusual. Then we open the gifts, they are all a dollar so some are for fun, others useful. If fun and not expensive. The kids under 7 get gifts though. It's low keyed and nobody gets dressed up and we no longer go to church Christmas Eve cause they no longer have midnight mass with candles. It's sort of a pain having so many people crowded into one house but I can deal with it, I don't hate it.

I don’t think you are being a grinch. You know that the holidays are hard on you and knowledge is power. Can you do anything to help you through this tough time (extra meds, excellent self care, therapy) so that you are not depleted by your birthday?

I'm not sure. I think this is probably a topic I need to bring up in therapy on Tuesday and start coming up with some sort of plan to keep it all together.

Oh god, me too!!!!
I had and have a dysfunctional extended family.
This year I am ditching the thanksgiving festivities altogether.
I gave up all the Xmas hoopla long ago. We send money instead for kids and grandkids.
Holidays put the most pressure on women. I know ways to do all the shortcuts on doing a turkey dinner- gravy packets that come w the lil butterball small turkeys,yummy prepared mashed potatoes, etc. don’t be a slave to tradition. We women are supposed to enjoy these days, not be nervous wrecks like my mother always was. Potlucks are nice, but you still have to organize it all.
I have this horrible Walton’s complex that romanticIzes what families are supposed to be like. Perfect, of course. All those old tv shows presented perfect families and I think it really warped my thinking.
One year when I was going to be alone for the holidays, I invited people from a support group. That was a huge success.
Hang in there people. Be creative. Don’t be a slave to tradition. Hugs!

I have made the most amazing dinners single handily for 12. Fine china, etc... with no help. It was stupid of me. I should have hired a cleaning lady. I’m classy enough to put on an elegant dinner party but too afraid of having a paid assistant. Maybe because our cleaning lady was shot at in front of me by her boyfriend at our house when I was two, and also because my mother always did it that way because we had no money.

Hmm, an employee would have removed the struggle dynamic between my mother and husband. Hindsight is 20/20.

Now I remember, my husband didn’t want me to have help. He said they would break something. But he hated all the work the evening took and helped me stressed and joylessly.