[jennie]

I like to read what you think about the holidays. Good & Bad stuff. Please share.

My hubby and I only celebrate New Year's. But we have a baby on the way and things might change.

Christmas without a full family isn't Christmas any more to me. I'm trying much harder this year to get in the spirit. I'm making all of omy gifts, because I think that helps me connect better with the person that I give a gift to. I'm going to make some jewelry right now and I framed a rose that I cut off of a poster earlier.

New Years couldn't matter less to me. When I worked in ER, the Behmer and I got all geared up for all of the wrecks, fights, etc. and we didn't have any of that!! But the next day they poured in...go figure. I have never gotten excited over New Year's Eve. Perhaps if I was going to spend it with a special person, I'd be a little more upbeat about it. xoxox pat

[SilkySpeed7]

I hate the holidays. THey always are horrible fo rme. The only one I get excited for is Hanakua....only because i am not jewish nor is anyone else in my family so it's like my own............I am weird that way.

I seem to always be broke on the holidays so......

I use to like the holidays but they've gotten a little wierd for me because of family issues.
I like seeing the decorations and the spirit of it from people who do still enjoy this time of year. Sometimes it's contagious and I get excited about it, in spite of myself.
New Years eve is a time of broken dreams for me. Every year, no matter what I do or where or who I may be celebrating it with-I swear, this year is going to be different-
Ahhh, baloney!
It is what it is. Until I've learned to make changes within myself, New Years is nothing more then an excuse to get drunk and act like an idiot and I'm over that.

[Lexicon78]

I used to live for the holidays before my mom, aunt, and grandfather died in the last year and a half. Now it's just another depressing set of days for me. The love, passion, and spirit that I once felt during the holidays has seemed to disappear with them.

[SleepsWithButterFlies]

I kinda hate xmas ...I use to like it but family deaths and a move and well it stinks has for years.,......BUT I do like New Years eve some years..I have been taken to big fancy parties where you stay at the hotel and go to a number of ballrooms....can go to your room or for an indoor pool.....I do not drink only cause of the meds but its nice to get foxed up and not be alone and swim in the morning......I have been out to dinner and a show too and that was nice..otherwise....its just another day...XMAS is far too painful for me anymore

[tracylee]

I dont enjoy the 'silly' season because its lost its true meaning, I get stressed out because i cant afford pressies aaaaaand my youngest son is still back home, havent seen him for two years. I also have to think of my brother in laws son from a previous marriage because he is part of the family on christmas day. Baaaaahbloodyhumbug. dont like new year's either...... baaahbloodybloodyhumbug

[eskielover]

I am having a very rough time this year.....looking back at what happened last year between now & when my Mother died in January & being in the medical hospital myself until mid February due to the trauma I had gone through because of my Mother, I am having horrible flashbacks, nightmares, & when I am not forcing myself to be with my horses, depression has set in pretty hard right now.

I had been told that the first year is the hardest.....it wasn't that way when my father died, but I hadn't gone through a trauma when he died like happened with my Mother. I am forcing myself to be with my horses & be very busy with them.....the only relief I get.

My own home life is non-existant since I am in the process of getting the divorce going. So as long as I don't allow my mind to take over....I am surviving.....but even the nausea & weight loss is happening again this year.

Debbie

[jbug]

I like Christmas. Not the getting together with the relatives or getting stuff but I like the Christmas specials on T.V. In fact its about time to dust off the video of A Christmas Story, and the hustle and bustle. I like being able to give people things. I like getting all dressed up and going to church for candlelight service and stuff like that. I don't like New Years because I'm always alone. Rex has to work this year so no going out with him. So I will probably do what I always do...go to bed early.

Jbug

[JustBen]

Despite the commercialism, the running around, and the family hassles, I still love Christmas.

[Azalysa]

When I was married, my husband really liked doing the whole "Christmas thing" - putting up a tree, outside lights, decorations, etc. And during those years we bought a fair amount of presents for our family (which is thankfully very small - we chose not to have children, so we basically bought for my mother, stepfather, grandmother & father and his parents). Compared to many families that isn't much, but it always stressed me out.

During and after my divorce I was working full-time and going to grad school so I didn't have the time to get "into" all that stuff and my immediate family is now just my mother and stepfather as my grandmother is deceased and I have little contact with my father other than sending a card.

Now, my opinion is that Christmas is WAAAYYYYYY too commercialized with too much emphasis on greed and people going into debt for basically ONE DAY! I feel very free now not to be part of the mad rush and I observe the day according to my faith.

P.S. I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood so I enjoy Hannukah as well - even have a menorah

[allthegirls6]

I spend xmas with all my family and every year I feel alone for some reason. I hate it and love it. I dread it and at the same time look forward to it. Im always glad when its done.

Atg

[Perzephone]

I'm Pagan, wheee! Dies natalis Solis invictus! Evohe! Evohe! (Loosely translated, "Hail! The birth of the unconquered Sun!) Yule is when the Sun is reborn to grow back from winter's old age & death to Summer's full, virile strenght. Light gaining over darkness, the renewed promise of Spring, Persephone returns from the Underworld trailing flowers behind Her... all that good stuff.

For me, coming from a rather messed up & continuously broke family, 'Christmas' wasn't about presents. It was about the stories - Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, the Island of Lost Toys, Dunderklumpfen, Charlie Brown & that pathetic little tree. It was about making weird little holiday crafts & practicing for the yearly Christmas pageant in school, before it became politically incorrect.

So now, as a grown up, I've carried my expectations over from childhood - I don't expect gift-giving or holiday get-togethers, and I'm happier w/out them. Not having kids is even better because I don't have to battle other people's conceptions about what the holiday is & what it isn't. I send everyone I know a card or an e-mail to let them know I'm thinking about them, and I get to make a buttload o' overtime because everyone wants time off & I am more than willing to work on Christmas & New Years, and have every year for the past 12.

And at home it's all about bringing in the fresh pine boughs & pinecones & strings of cranberries & popcorn to put out for the birds, cleansing the house & setting a candle in an eastern window so the Sun can find His way home on Yule morning.

The only problem I have is that technically Hallowe'en is really my religious New Year, but the calendar Dec 31/Jan 1 has special meaning to me as a 'new year' because New Year's Eve is my birfday.

[Azalysa]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
Dec 31/Jan 1 has special meaning to me as a 'new year' because New Year's Eve is my birfday.

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Hiya Perzephone!!

I can relate because Dec. 24 is my birthday. Isn't it fun to have a birthday on a holiday?

[eskielover]

Thinking about the December holidays again as I read other posts, I remembered something from when my daughter was growing up.

My whole life, Christmas revolved around church, the Christmas plays, the singing in a huge group for Handel's Messiah, playing my flute for the local tree lighting ceremony & many different churches that wanted flute at that time of year, but mostly going to church & celebrating the non commercial side of Christmas.

I never was told the "Santa is real" story, only that there was a real man who long ago was known for giving children toys. The christian meaning of Christmas was the only celebration that we had. We gave presants & it was always the giving that I enjoyed the most. I remember as a child, the neighborhood kids were discussing Santa & the Easter Bunny, most of us knew the stories, & knew that they really didn't exist.....one Mother got so mad at us for saying anything around her child....that we took away her childhood fun & threw away what she was believing as a child. I couldn't understand that because I knew that I enjoyed Christmas just as much without believing in Santa.

When I had my daughter, I taught her what Christmas was all about & that the commercialism wasn't the true meaning of Christmas. Giving presants was good.....a way to thank people for all they had done for you during the year, & that Santa had been a good man long ago that had a love for children & wanted to give them gifts. My Mother in law always wanted to take my daughter to see Santa & have her picture taken with him. My daughter actually didn't like doing that, but Grandma wanted the pictures. My mother in law celebrated the commercial side of Christmas & that was pretty much all it was to their family. My husband went along with my having our daughter know the christian meaning of Christmas & didn't mind much that our celebration was based on the Church celebrations. We did go to a Christmas eve party my Mother in law threw. They had arranged to have a Santa come to the door & bring some presants. There was a knock at the door, my daughter (about 3 years old) went to open the door. She looked out, then slammed the door shut, saying: "It's Santa??????". It wasn't until then that my Mother in law realized that our daughter didn't believe in Santa. They did go & open the door to let him in & everyone enjoyed having him there......but my Mother in law was rather pissed at me for "not allowing my daughter to believe in Santa".

I still feel that what ever my belief is, then that is the holiday I celebrate. I can not celebrate the commercial side of Christmas anymore than I can celebrate Hannukha or Quansa. My celebrations are based on my beliefs. I celebrate Easter, & Passover since Passover is the basis for the Easter I celebrate also. It is kind of difficult to explain my thinking because is seems to be different than even most of those whose religious beliefs are similar to mine. I have always had different thinking that wasn't understood even as a child.

Debbie

[JustBen]

New Year's Eve has always been something of a disappointment to me. I'm usually at a get-together of some kind, and there's all this build up and anticipation about 12:00. And then what? It comes and people set off noisemakers and kiss and then it's gone and nothing has really happened. I mean, we could easily set off fireworks and kiss each other at 12:43PM on July 23rd or 9:15AM on March 2nd, you know?