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OLTL Discussion Group
I often hear people groan "I haaaaaaate the holidays". But I don't. I have a lot more reponsibilities during the holidays; I have to do all the things my mother would do, but can't do herself now. So I send out all her Christmas cards, decorate her house, do all the cooking, basically keep the holiday family traditions going. I also bake cookies.
One thing in our family that we do (or do not do) that has cut down on stress: No gift-giving. With the exception of the kids, we don't exchange gifts. Buying for kids is easy. You would think it's a terrible thing not to exchange gifts, but it's GREAT! For us, the holidays is all about sharing our time with each other, laughing, eating, just having fun.
I also like all the pretty Christmas lights and decorations.
Thanksgiving is my fave holiday. FOOD! yum! lol
So I don't hate the holidays....but do you?
On a family/friends note I love getting together, eating foods we usually avoid...that includes cookie baking :), the decorating, the music, sharing our time.........just having fun.
On a commercial note...I hate that Christmas (for way too many) has lost it's meaning and has become a greed fest for retailers.
Oh, and I like that just before Thankssgiving the house gets a heavy duty cleaning...for the Christmas decorations to be put up after Turkey Day.
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I do love Christmas time. As you know we don't do Thanksgiving so it's more about Christmas and new year here.
Only down side is it gets very hot, so it's good to have light salads, loads of seafood and cold meats. Then spend the afternoon lolling in the pool.
This year I think Sophie will have to work, so that will be a bit sad for me. First Christmas ever without my girl, first time we won't be all together. Knew it would happen sooner or later though. She is going to try and come up a few weeks before so we can have an early Christmas, so that'll be good.
Oh and I only buy for my parents my in laws and Sophie, Joel and Peter. Far too big of a family to buy for everyone.
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Ho Ho Ho! I don't hate the holidays, especially with the grandkids around. We will be spending our Thanksgiving alone this year. Everyone has plans with their other sides of their families, so Karen and I will have a date with Cracker Barrel.
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I love the holidays! However, I DON'T love some of the stress that goes along with all of the activities this time of the year. We have a family wedding this weekend to add to the extra stuff.
Christmas Eve and Christmas morning are my two favorite days of the year, with Thanksgiving running a close second. However, every year my energy level goes down some more so all of the things to DO become harder. In addition to family meals and get togethers, there are also a LOT of extra activities at church. Calgon, take me away. I am in the process of painting a banner for a float in the Christmas parade right now on top of a really hectic week.
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I've been where you are. For a number of years starting in Fall of 94' through Summer of 2001 I helped care for elderly parents, f-i-l an aunt and an uncle. Seemed almost all but my mom were hospitalized almost each year, since there were quite a few, during the holidays. Gotta tell ya I'd give my eye teeth to still be doing it and to have them all back.
I have a very large family. On my husband's side, since the death of my f-i-l, there's only a few. We stopped gift giving with them about 5 years ago and instead we meet on Christmas morning for breakfast and then plan our family holiday dinner out for late January. Works for us and that's another date to look forward to after the hustle and bustle of the holidays.
Now we're doing it with my family as well. We only buy for the little ones and do a grab bag with my sibs and our spouses. Can't tell you how exciting this is and everyone loves the idea. No stress just the warmness of family at Christmas. One of my brothers is more excited this year than he was when he believed in Santa (lol).
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One thing I think I will never eat again is turkey. About 2 weeks ago we bought a 23+lb Butterball turkey. Not having room in either freezer it took a week until it was thawed in the refrigerator. Cooked and eaten last Thursday. We didn't over-eat, but our stomachs felt like a lump of lead.
Next day we throw well over 1/2 the turkey out. Instead of turkey on Thanksgiving. It's going to be a spaghetti meal.
I don't want to eat turkey again.
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