Most and least favorite holiday

Out of curiosity, what is your most and least favorite holiday if you have any at all? For me, I don't have a favorite but if I had to choose one then I'd pick Thanksgiving since it doesn't over stay its welcome and I like the food. For my least favorite, it has become Christmas even though I loved it as a kid and this is due to how commercialized it is and I don't like the forced family gatherings and interactions. I can always tell when others are putting on an act when in reality they are miserable about the holidays, at least for the other holidays don't appear as commercialized other than maybe Halloween and there's not as much forced interactions with family members you may not want to interact with.

My least favorite is Thanksgiving. There just haven't been a lot of good ones after I turned 12 and then my dad died 2 days after Thanksgiving 2014. I had to work a monster 12 hour black Friday shift in 2016. In 2019 and 2021 I just stayed back at home and in the hotel. 2020 was fine but I felt guilty going to my sisters because they were saying not to travel but I had quarantined and so had my sister for 2 weeks so everyone was telling me what we were was doing was different. I still felt guilty.

Christmas is my favorite holiday. Its changed drastically since I was a kid and even in the last 10 years but I still love it.

When my mother was still alive, over 17 years ago, I guess my favorite was Thanksgiving because she always made it so nice and autumn is my favorite season. After she passed away, none of the holidays that I spent with MY family were pleasant, for several reasons I won't bother listing. As for least favorite, it's usually any holiday that involves gift giving. Call me a scrooge, but I dislike the pressure involved with it. I'd even give up receiving gifts not to have to buy ones for others. I see the idea of "gift" in a different way than spending money for material crap. I suppose Christmas is the worst since you need to give gifts to multiple people at one time. The holiday is a commercial and materialistic horror, nowadays. Most people don't even recognize it for what it's supposed to be.

The Skeezyks doesn't do holidays (birthdays included.) So I don't have a favorite holiday. But one I detest is the Fourth of July in the U.S. I absolutely HATE all the noise!

Holidays are usually a thing of the past. All parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles have died on both my and my husband's side. We both have older siblings who are elderly, live some distance away, and don't really travel (especially past mid-afternoon). Nieces and nephews are scattered to the wind, and our own grown kids either live far away or tend to travel outside the US during the holidays. So the once-festive holidays (that I so took for granted) are now lonely. Perhaps they are good days to turn inward and focus on developing my spiritual self. I try.

All this said - I am 100% in agreement with Skeezyks regarding the hell that is the 4th of July in the US. It used to be a nice family/children themed holiday. It has become a nightmare of noise, what are illegally-crafted bombs, and the fear that my poor elderly cat will have a heart attack due to his terror of the noise. I also fear fire from the illegal fireworks - indeed, 2 homes in town did catch fire this year.

My favorite holiday is Halloween 🎃 but I don’t do much any more.

My two least favorite holiday is split between July 4th and New Year’s Eve. They are both excuses to get stinking drunk, fight, shoot guns and fireworks and drive. I stay home both holidays and have done so for years.

Aww I'm sorry you went through that, I can see how that could put a damper on the holidays. For me, I just like Thanksgiving for the food and not the interactions. It sucks that you had to work on Thanksgiving, I believe most stores now close on Thanksgiving which is good. That's good that you still enjoy Christmas and it definitely changed for me too, I used to love Christmas and I do like seeing other people's decorations and a select few of the music but I don't like the other aspects of it.

I agree, I like Thanksgiving more than Christmas even though I don't like family interactions. I also agree with the gift giving, I hate the sense of obligation it brings, people get offended if they don't receive something and creates a rift. They also get offended if it's not something they wanted or something they have to take back, it's the petty crap that made me dislike Christmas since I absolutely loved it when I was a kid and honestly Christmas appears to be geared more towards children anyway. I would actually probably like Christmas more again if gift giving was eliminated and there wasn't as much of a pressure to interact with family members that you don't want to interact with, also celebrating doesn't seem as sincere since I can always tell who's putting on an act and every year it seems like more and more people are miserable during the holidays.

Yeah I'm not a big fan of the Fourth of July either. People get obnoxious with their fireworks and sometimes they do them before and after the Fourth of July which is annoying.

Yeah holidays aren't the same as they used to be and I think that's the case with everyone as they get older. Some people pass away while others find different traditions which is perfectly fine if that's what they want to do. I agree that the Fourth of July is one obnoxious holiday due to the fireworks people set off even before and after that holiday. People have gotten extremely inconsiderate about fireworks since they don't care and I have a fear of houses catching fire since I see that on the news every year and I have witnessed a firework malfunction up close once too.

I think my favorite holiday is split between Thanksgiving for the food even though I dislike family interactions and halloween since I do like candy even though I rarely eat candy myself and I never do anything during these holidays as well. I agree those two holidays involving fireworks are super annoying and people use it as an excuse to be inconsiderate. I think the Fourth of July may be worse since the fireworks tend to go on for at least a couple days longer than New Years. I dislike New Years not just because of the fireworks but also the ridiculous hype over a new year acting like that will change things when in reality nothing will change other than the number in the year itself.

I hate all holidays now, with the exception of Halloween and St. Patrick's Day, even if those aren't official holidays with stuff being closed or closing early! I like the spooky stuff associated with Halloween, including the music like "Monster Mash" and I like Irish music and the color green.

I no longer have any family and no friends, so nobody to "celebrate" with. As I've gotten older I've been fed up with the overly commercialized hype and forced family/friend gatherings. The endless holiday music playing, the TV commercials with smiling families, etc. And the gift giving got to be an obligation after awhile. I sure don't miss those office "parties", where you had to pretend you were having fun around people you can't stand all day and have to see/work with.

Anyway, it seem that at least in the US, they are days of forced cheerfulness, commercialization, and NOISE. It's like July 4th and New Year's Eve are excuses to make a lot of noise, get drunk, etc. I find the fireworks unbearable and it seems nobody thinks about people that might need to sleep since they don't have New Year's off? They fire guns into the air too, even with all the gun violence. Do they think the bullet just keeps going up and up, into oblivion? NO, it comes down at some point. And will hurt someone.

It's like an excuse for people to be idiots now. And the holidays are a 2 month stretch at the end of the year, when the days are short/dark and tax season is just around the corner.

Each year I see the same footage of people lining up at the airport to "see family and friends." Not everyone is doing that!

And that's another thing: Holidays are not automatic days off anymore. Many businesses force people to work 24/7, holidays too.

Plus there's COVID. We are still losing people, but the media doesn't mention it anymore. Because it's supposed to be "over" and "it's the holidays" it's time to be cheerful!! There's a lot of grieving people out there too yet we are expected to put on a smiley face...no matter what. The holidays are excruciating for people who are alone. Everyone expects you to have plans, to have family, etc.

American culture has got to be among the most insensitive and clueless culture on earth.

I absolutely agree with everything you said, I really dislike the forced family and even coworker interactions and the obligated gift exchanges. The holidays are full of obligations people really don’t want to do and it shows too, I’ve heard people outright admit they don’t want to see certain people or exchange gifts but they feel like they have to.

Also the cheerfulness is definitely forced as well, I can understand putting on a facade for the kids but it is energy draining and I’ve actually noticed that people seem happier and more relieved when the holidays are over. I also don’t like decorating since it’s such a waste of money and I've seen full blown arguments take place over decorations especially if things don’t work and it’s incredibly stupid, also I’ve seen people get offended if they don’t get what they want or don’t get anything at all and it causes unnecessary tension and drama.

Thanks, you made my day.

It's definitely energy draining, especially when forced. Decorations are pretty but I don't understand people getting into arguments over something, I think, is trivial. When I think about the country's and world problems, does it really matter if the tree is real or not???

You reminded me of how many years ago, when I was only in my 20's, I went to the bank and the teller asked me about the holidays. I said they were good (back then they were), and I asked how about her. She said yes BUT also "I'm glad it's over."

NOW I get it. Took me 40 years but I get it now. It's not happy for everyone and for many reasons. Yet it's forced on us, along with positive thinking. (I'm going to read a book: "Bright Sided- How positive thinking has underminded America", something like that) I once went to what was supposed to be a presentation on how to survive the holidays. The stupid psychologist said things like "Have a positive attitude" and "Surround yourself with loved ones." Well, DUH! IF you HAVE loved ones. WTF??????

I still enjoy my snowman lamp, as it represents not just the holidays but winter. He's very cute on cold nights. But each year I get out less and less, and about 20 years ago I gave away almost all of my decorations. There's people in my building that already have up Christmas decorations. They seem really into it, as they don't miss a beat each year. I hate seeing it but can't avoid it.

I’m glad I made your day, yeah I never understood the point of arguing over decorations. There are way more important things to worry about, decorations are so trivial and I actually consider it abnormal when people argue over petty stuff like that. I do like looking at other people’s lights though, some people put on a very pretty show with their decorations. Also it is very common for people to be relieved when the holidays end and as a kid I used to not understand why but now I do, I’ll admit I used to absolutely love Christmas as a kid and would actually be sad when it ended but now as an adult I’m actually super happy when it ends and people actually seem more genuine when the holidays end too.

my most favorite holiday is halloween

1. it's only one night of the year

2. it requires minimal organisation

3. you can celebrate it on your own, without feeling too bad you don't have any family and friends around to celebrate it with

4. the kids are cute when they come trick or treating, and their costumes are fun to look at

5. it's the perfect excuse to blast songs like thriller, monster mash or ghost busters

my least favorite holiday is christmas

1. I don't have family or friends, so when you're sat alone on christmas day feeling sad, it just feels like a regular day.

2. I think kids these days are really greedy. rather than having 1 or 2 presents, they have to buy the whole toy shop, just for it all to be thrown in the corner after a few days- it's a waste, and people could enjoy those toys- people who don't have anything.

3. it takes forever to organize. unlike halloween, it can take up to a week to put up the tree/ decorations, only to have them all down again 3 days later- and that's without finding money for the food and the gifts.

4. their is nothing at all christmassy about a king or a queen getting up to do a speech. you don't want to hear that when you're sat their eating your christmas dinner. you want christmas music or a movie.

5. it gets earlier, and earlier, each year- until the music starts playing in like june and july, so by the time december rolls around you're sick of it.

to clarify, I'm not a grinch or a screwdge. christmas has good bits, but when you're on your own with no one to share it with, it doesn't feel as festive as it should

and christmas should be about being with people who you care about

I agree. I'm sure a lot of kids love Christmas because of the presents, but now that I'm older I'm thinking of orphaned kids or those with abusive parents or absentee parents, whatnot. Or those in poverty---no money for trees or presents or candy! I'm way more painfully aware of the "haves and have nots" now, and I now get it why it's not all joy for everybody, experiencing it personally as well.

We went through the motions when I was a kid, and for many years I thought it was about food and gifts and games. It should be about being with people you care about, their company IS the gift. Time you spend with people can't be bought. Gifts can be returned or exchanged, but once that time passes you by, it's gone. You can't turn back the clock.

Thriller is my favorite music video period, Halloween or not. That is just SO COOL. All those zombies doing hip hop! And nobody can sound scarier than Vincent Price. No Halloween is complete without hearing The Monster Mash, Deadman's Party, or Purple People Eater.

True one can enjoy Halloween alone, like watching a scary movie and eating too much candy which is what I did.

There is a lot of prep work for the holidays after Thanksgiving, and the latter itself is plenty of work. SO much shopping, prepping and cooking to prepare a meal that gets wolfed down in minutes.... No wonder my parents seemed so crabby when the holidays were close. I used to nag them about when are they going to put the decorations up, not realizing the work and time involved...We kept the decorations up until New Year's.

I've gotten Christmas catalogs as early as JULY, but not in the last couple of years, probably due to COVID like many things.

I'm not a Scrooge either but the emphasis on making it about family and friends is gut wrenching. I think that's worse than the commercialization of it. I'm not into that whole spending thing but there's nobody to spend on anyway, if I wanted to.

You're right that Christmas should be about the people, not the gifts. This is why "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" is my favorite holiday special (followed by It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown). As hard as the Grinch tried to steal or stop Christmas by taking the gifts, decorations, food, etc. he couldn't. It's in the heart and his heart grew 3 sizes. That's the message in that story.

I agree with you, Halloween is a lot nicer since there's less decorating and it's really on your own terms without any social obligations. The most you may get is people asking if you will be participating in passing out candy and usually people don't care if you say no, also it's socially acceptable to keep some halloween decorations up longer since they usually double as fall decorations too so you can get a good 2-3 months keeping them up before it's time to take them down.

As for Christmas, I agree it can be more lonely for people who don't have family or friends or at least don't have a good relationship with them. Also Christmas tends to stress people out more and it really shows when people start becoming irritable during the holidays only to appear very relieved once January comes and everything returns to normal, also I agree that way too much money is spent on gifts and decorations since every year I'm always thinking about the more important things the money spent on gifts could've gone towards and this can go for other adults and not just children too.

Yep I agree, kids don't understand since all they hear is the idea of a fairytale man in a red suit coming down the chimney to give out presents. I actually think that should be stopped, if I ever have kids then I'm not telling them Santa is real. I want them to be more appreciative, they need to know what Christmas is really about. Usually when we get older then we come to understand what it really should be about, it should be about enjoying the company of others and honestly if there was a time where gift exchanges were either watered down or abolished completely then I would not lose sleep over it.

I agree with everything about Christmas and the effort it takes to host others and decorate, I was one of those kids that pressured my parents to get those decorations up as well and looking back I know for a fact that was super annoying. It takes great effort to put on a facade around kids and other adults, also there's too many forced obligations placed on people and you can always tell when others are secretly miserable and don't want to take part in something.

People shouldn't be pressured to take place in family and even work related traditions, people shouldn't be forced to interact with those who they may not care to be with especially if they barely interact with them during any other time of the year and it doesn't seem very genuine behind the forced smiles either. In fact when the holidays end right after New Years, I always notice a sudden change in people's behavior since they seem truly relieved and genuinely happy that it's all over and most people will admit they're so glad it's all over and that it's time to move on and get back to our regular lives.

Growing up, I was never corrected on my impression of the holidays being about decorations and food. I was never told otherwise, but then again my "family" lacked real connections or affections. No warmth, in other words. Civil but no REAL relationships, so were lacking in that anyway.

The workplace thing was a real obligation. If you didn't want to participate you'd be labeled a wet blanket or something. It was frowned upon, period. You were seen as a Scrooge or just someone who deserved to be ostracized, if that's the word. I remember when we had to write down names of everyone to put in a hat. Then you draw a name and you're supposed to get a gift for that person. I picked someone I barely knew of course and found her annoying. It was such an obligation. I was in my 20's then but now I'd be aghast at buying gifts for people who are actually strangers.

I've noticed the change in people around the second week of January too, when things have settled down. THEN it's tax time and people are $hitty then too. Also during the holidays people drive faster and more recklessly. They are trying to buy gifts or do other preps, trying to meet some deadline they have.

In January people might find themselves in debt too, after all that spending.

I have heard of some people not doing the gift thing, that they'd rather have the company of people they want. Forced interactions is something American culture seems to do. I often wonder if other countries do this too, fake holiday "parties" at the office where you smile at the person who makes you feel sick. I've been there. I'm too old to pretend.

Years ago, I've avoided stores during the holidays, except for the grocery store. Even then, the constant Christmas music is torture as I try to tune it out. Stores DO have good sales right after Christmas, but I no longer go on the 26th. It isn't worth it. There's still some stuff available on 12/27th. I love Bath and Body Works products, and one year after going on the 26th, I never did it again. The store was so packed I couldn't look at anything at my leisure and I felt claustrophobic. Says something about our culture too.

I've heard of someone at Walmart, an employee, getting trampled one year at a Black Friday sale I think. People were so eager to get in to save some bucks, they just stormed in. A bargain is nice but not at the risk of hurting someone who's "in the way".

Even my TV shows get preempted close to the holidays, with either reruns or holiday programming (that not everyone wants!). And TV is one of the few coping strategies I have. So I'll be relying on books mostly. Still, I have some recordings of old Westerns or NCIS reruns, nothing remotely holiday like!

I never believed in Santa Claus, LOL! Our chimney was sealed, so I didn't know how anyone could climb down it. Or how reindeer could fly! Even as a kid I used to "over think" as people say I do now.

But I believed in the Tooth Fairy. I actually pictured a fairy flying around at night, leaving a quarter for me under my pillow to replace a tooth. Years later I figured out it was my parents and there's no Tooth Fairy.

If I had kids, I wouldn't tell them about Santa Claus. And why do kids have to behave because Santa is coming but it's okay to be unruly the rest of the year??? No, be on good behavior ALL YEAR.

I guess it teaches kids, supposedly, that good behavior gets rewarded. But as adults you find out it's not true all the time. I'm not sure if it's something to teach kids too young though.....I have mixed feelings about that, teaching them too soon how life can be unfair and cruel. And doing the right thing doesn't always bring you recognition or a reward.

Yeah I would love to not join in the gift exchanges but I feel obligated to do so, it's one of those things where you know you'll be judged for if you don't participate. I don't join any celebrations at work, interactions are so forced and I remember a couple coworkers outright admit they hate socializing with other coworkers outside of work hours, why would I want to interact with those who really don't want to be bothered?

Also I do remember there being cases where store employees were trampled and even killed on Black Friday and it was a day after everyone is supposed to be thankful for what they have, it's pretty messed up if you really think about it. Also yes people do become happier in January until the weather gets extremely nasty by the end of January and February and tax season comes around, in terms of accidents I believe most accidents actually occur during the holidays due to people rushing which is so stupid.

I believed in santa claus but I always thought about how he could fly to every house in such a short period of time as well. I believed in him the longest since there was at least a reasonable explanation for how he got in the house. As for the tooth fairy and easter bunny I realized they weren't real much earlier on since there was no explanation for how they got in the house. If anything I thought the concept of a tooth fairy and easter bunny was kind of creepy since the thought of a bunny or fairy going through your house without your knowledge and even into your room while you sleep was extremely creepy and weird.

At least santa just stays in your living room rather than wandering about but even then I started questioning if he was real when I would be up all night on Christmas Eve and there was still presents in the morning even though people say he doesn't go to houses where someone is wide awake. I was eventually told he wasn't real but I had pretty much figured it out on my own and no one had to tell me the easter bunny and tooth fairy wasn't real. In fact there was one video my parents made when I was very young where they forgot to hide the eggs and they said the easter bunny forgot to come to the house even though he remembered to go to every other house imaginable so that pretty much gave it away lol. I agree that children should be grateful all year and not just when a mythical being is on his way to give presents and I most likely won't tell my kids if I ever had them.