What's the worst part of the holidays?

1. 63

   SEXYLADYDEEposted 11 years ago

   What's the worst part of the holidays?
   
   Holidays of remembering tradition and religious beginnings has been prostelatized into events of "who can buy who the most" junk!  My families goal from now on is going to be gratitude and giving back.

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2. 60

   Rosyel Sawaliposted 11 years ago

   I'd say the stress! In my family, we also choose to celebrate simply. We've done away with the trimmings as no one wants to put things away after the holidays. LOL! Another bad thing is the relative increase in the heavy flow of traffic. So I try to limit going around the metro until after the holidays. ^_^

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3. 71

   multiculturalsoulposted 11 years ago

   The rush. Rush to shop, to get the tree, to put up the lights, to set up the tree, to wrap the gifts, to clean up the house, to fix the big meal, to open the gifts ... The only time I can relax is after the holidays are over.

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4. 62

   Lisa HWposted 11 years ago

   For me it's the physical labor involved in things like getting the tree, setting it up, doing other decorations, getting the Christmas dishes out, wrapping stuff, etc.  To me, all the rest of it is very nice, and I enjoy it all.  It's just that thing of not always feeling like getting involved with a lot of physical labor but knowing that if I don't do it - that's it.  No Christmas atmosphere.  I live under some kind of bizarre stress anyway, and then (and I don't want to come across like I'm trying to be a martyr here) I've been getting over a very serious leg injury for quite awhile now.  So the physical stuff that one wouldn't even think of until the need for it makes itself known can pretty much make me feel like I'm (forgive the hyperbole and inappropriate reference here) in the Bataan Death March.  I can't help it....  Every year since my father died in 1973, all the physical stuff involved with family Christmases has been my department.  First, it was the tree for my widowed mother.  Later, it was Christmas for my kids (and I really liked doing it at the time, although I didn't prefer the physical stuff on top of everything else there was to do then either).  Now, the kids are out of the house, and I'm happy to still make Christmas for the whole family, but I do have to say that I'm not particularly thrilled with the physical stuff involved.  (Besides everything else, the fake tree cuts up my hands, and I have to live with that for - like - the rest of the Winter, it seems.)   Oh..  Correction:  One year a family member put up a real tree, so I only decorated it (but it didn't smell, and we don't like the idea of real trees growing and then being cut down anyway).  Another year, one of my sons happened to be here (none of the kids live very close or have a lot of time), and he set up the tree that I'd already dragged up from the basement.
   
   Other than those two exceptions, it's been all the physical stuff and the dragging up, setting up and decorating of the tree for a solid - what - 39 years now.  Well, on top of all that, it was Christmas decorations and related stuff that are the reason for the leg injury that's taken just about three years to even get close to back-to-normal; so you can see why a) I need to vent about how little I like all the physical stuff, and b) why I'm kind of sick of that end of Christmas at this point.
   
   Still, when it's done and the day is here, it's mostly worth it (well, except, maybe, for the 3-year leg thing).   

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5. 85

   DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years ago

   At this point--all of it!  I am so sick to death of seeing the holidays--ALL OF THEM--rushed so far ahead of their proper seasons:  Halloween candy out in early August; Xmas stuff starting to appear before Halloween; Thanksgiving just glossed over with a bare notice in favor of Xmas...By the time the holidays actually arrive, I want nothing to do with them at all.
   We used to put up the best Yule/Solstice display on the block--this year, we just don't have either the energy or the physical ability to deal with it, so we are dark this year. 
   I'm getting to where I'd like to hibernate from October until January 2nd.  Just somebody set the alarm, and wake me when they're over, please.

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6. 72

   lburmasterposted 11 years ago

   Seeing extended family. You waste plenty of money on gas to just get to the gathering location. Then you have to talk to each family member, no matter if you are fighting with them or not. You have to listen to their father's surgeries, what medications they are trying out... Ugh! It's enough to make someone go insane!

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7. 74

   moonfairyposted 11 years ago

   When people "expect" a gift and don't have the courtesy to at least say thank you. I don't like the feeling of having to buy a gift because it's the right thing to do. I'd rather donate to charity......

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8. 93

   jansharesposted 11 years ago

   Feeling overwhelmed by so much to do. Everything's on high gear between home, work, church, shopping, etc. What is the worst is cleaning up after words and putting everthing back in the attic.

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