Does anybody have as much problems with the holiday season as I do?

I love celebrating Christmas. My husband and I have 7 kids so Christmas is all about them. We don't worry about getting gifts for our parents or grandparents or any other friends. That would be too much of a headache and we can't afford to anyway. We don't even exchange gifts at our work sites with co-workers. Our only focus is on the children and that is it. We have a blast every Christmas. My husband's family live not far from us so we may visit them on that day because we rarely see them throughout the year because everyone is working too hard. So I make a huge dinner for my family and we all just pig out and go do something exciting. We don't try to let anyone get to us on that day because believe me there is always someone trying to steal your joy, but on this day we have vowed not to let anyone take us down a road of unhappiness. Even if we're broke, we're still gonna be happy. So try not to let the dysfunctional side of your family steal your joy because Christmas is about love and happiness.

I lvoe christmas and i love buying presents for people and sending cards and all that stuff. I have a few friends that dont really like christmas but i don't get why.

Christmas doesn't mean anything tome these days. I am the only Jew in the family . Before when my mom was alive ,I enjoyed Christmas. It was always fun trying to surprise her with a gift or two or three!Back then I had more money to spend and it was fun. Now I don't have that much money and I feel like I am just going through the motions.The good news,my birthday is in January and it is always fun.

I'm sure that many do. I know that your reference to the Waltons rang a bell. My mother was very big on us appearing to be like them...the "perfect" little family. Well, we were not. I truthfully don't think most families are. I love my family to pieces but we are far from Walton perfection. As for Christmas...I spoke out many years ago. I did not...could not go overboard for my own kids altho I did want to. I told other family members to NOT buy me gifts as I just could not afford to do the same and them buying me gifts only made me feel bad and obligated. We stopped exchanging gifts among the adults and have a yankee swap instead...it's fun and isn't going to break us. We gather on Xmas eve and everyone brings a dish and drinks. We have a great time. We all bring a small gift for the kids to open and that is when we do our yankee swap. Christmas we spend at home. I love the holiday and it is pretty stress free...not entirely but for the most part.

I love Christmas ever since no matter what, or how stressful it might be with all the parties and preparations and reunions and gift-giving and gift receiving. This Christmas my biggest problem would be not being able to give gifts to every one in the family and friends and godchildren and even to myself. LOL, I'm out of work, out of funds. But I'm always thinking of the positive side of it. It's not the material things that counts but the love you give in big or small ways and the blessings in whatever form you share matters most to me.

I am living in China,and I seldom celebrate the Christmas.Sometimes we will buy some ornamental,Chritmas tree,to decorate our house just for happy.In college,we student will buy some apples to send to our friend with the wish he or she will be well in the next year.So we needn't to buy so many gifts as you did.But more and more people in China start to celebrate the Chrisms nowdays.I also want to celebrate Christmas with the people like you who also celebrate as a most important festival.haha Happy everyone!

I don't really hate Christmas but I could just as well skip it. When I as a kid and we opened all our presents I would think is that all there is? Not for more presents it was always a let down because you spend so much time getting ready for it then suddenly in just a few hours it's over. These days I don't get that much out of it. I do go along with it for my grandkids though. I do enjoy all the decorations around town. We go looking at them on Christmas eve. Maybe it's because most of my family is scattered all over the country.

My brother has told me the last two years that he doesnt like Christmas. I usually enjoy Christmas, but thats mainly because of my daughter and some family members. We have had elements of the dysfunctial family christmas. My ex hubbies family were big. They nealy all bought pressies for each other, adults as well as kids. It became a real issue. Some famiy members tin law stopped talking to another SIL due to the present issue. ThatSIL would always complain if thet werent invited out to two xmas functions on Xmas day, but never invited anyone to their place. Anyway, Im not going to have any of those issues this year, as we have separated and his family wont talk to me. This year Im going to enjoy the morning with my 16 year old daughter, then go to my brothers place with my parents.. I think you need to put your foot down about buying gifts for every tom, .... & harry and just spend the money on your own kids.

Our Christmases were usually more like the Jerry Springer Christmas. Just imagine this, We couldn't ever afford to give our kids anything much and the Salvation army would provide the presents and other people donated them and brought us our Christmas dinner too. Sometimes it was something like bar be que or spaghetti. Sometimes it was leftovers from THEIR dinner. We appreciated it and were thankful and all that but it wasn't what we wanted for our kids. So I still experience that sadness and wish I could have done better by them. Now we do things for each other and just are happy for the time we spend all year long, and not just at Christmas. If you have problems with being depressed or want to just avoid the Holiday alltogether, I suggest that you volunteer your time in a local food bank or serve the food at the soup kitchen and see how many blessings you really do have. It will change your perspective forever!

My family lives very far away and I don't travel during the holidays so we skip christmas. I send gifts for my 2 nieces and that is it. I do not buy gifts for adults cause i fell like christmas is for kids. I am not christian so I have no need for the holiday and my boyfriend and I both agreee so there is really no christmas shopping for me and I am so glad for that. I hate the mall and I hate guessing what people might want for christmas. I also tell people that I dont celebrate christmas and most people do think I'm lucky. It is just too much stress. Getting the whole family together for dinner is always hectic in my family too but in the end we always have a good time.

I can somewhat relate to how you feel. Although I know that Christmas should be a great time to share and be happy, I haven't felt this way in a long time. Spending time with my mom's side of the family on the 24th and then with my parents and sister on 25th hasn't been a really happy time of the year for me. I kind of feel alienated from them, which makes it a little more difficult for me to enjoy. However, now that I'm newly married, maybe I'll be able to enjoy it a little more this year. That's my hope. We're more worried about our finances, because it's Christmas. But somehow I know we're going to make it through.

Christmas is a very stressful time of year. And you try to buy presents for up to forty people? That's crazy. I have trouble trying to figure out what my immediate family would want. Now, most of us our having some money issues. We are all still employed, thankfully, but money is tight. That started last year, so instead of everyone buying presents for everyone, we did a white elephant and that took alot of the pressure off and we all had fun with it.