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

I used to celebrate christmas but I don't any longer due to my beliefs/religion. I thought it would really bother me to give up such a big holiday, but in fact it didn't bother me at all. Working in retail helped cure me of any desire to celebrate it before I even decided not to celebrate it. I always thought that christmas was supposed to be about love, kindness & giving.....Yeah right!!. All I saw was greed, anger, & one exhausted person after another. I was a cashier for many years & when people heard I didn't celebrate the holidays I thought that they would get angry. Instead I heard things like "You don't know just how lucky you are". I have no problems with not celebrating a holiday that most people wont admit to hating but celebrate it anyways. I say if you really love someone then buy them a gift whenever you feel like it. Why do you have to wait for one special day to express how much you love them. Shouldn't you feel that way all year round? Just a thought.

I can't say I hate Christmas, but there's a little bit of animosity between me and the side of the family I celebrate it with. I personally love it when it starts to snow, love Christmas decorations, Christmas music, shopping for other people..But when it comes to the family part..Not so much! All of our personalities clash. Old fights come up from the surface. My alcoholic mother sneaks in a flask and causes drunken chaos. And so on and so forth. It's not always that pretty of a sight. So I usually look forward to Christmas in hopes that it will be amazing, fun, and wonderful (like it's portrayed in the media), but it almost always ends up disappointing me.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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 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.