Hey Pandas, How Has Your View Of The Holiday Season Changed?

I always hated Xmas, the consumerism, the forced family gatherings where everyone pretends they care about each other. It's actually nice to not have to spend a dime on ingrates or spend time with people I cannot stand.

My wife and I do not give presents to each other. No pressure no more. We enjoy dinner together. Watching a Xmas movie. Having some wine. Our Bulldog next to us on the couch. Peaceful. Heaven on earth for me.

I enjoy Xmas season though. I enjoy the lights. I put up lots of decoration for my students in the classroom. But for myself I like it calm and quiet. A long healthy life with my loved ones. That's what I wish for.

Every single solitary minute is so precious to me. Even the cold/snowy weather. The unsuitable gifts. The crowds. The traffic. Because…. after years of serious health challenges I see the big picture a little bit better. Everyone wants to feel love. Hope. Peace. Acceptance. The true meaning of “holiday”.

I can't stand all the consumerism.

I used to love the holidays, and still do. But how hectic everything was stressed me out. The stress has only gotten worse as I’ve aged. It makes the holidays and seeing family less enjoyable. I’m an adult in the spectrum with divorced parents who don’t have any consideration for the time of others , including my sisters and I. Every year it’s spent trying to coordinate things with my siblings and I stuck in the middle. Even as our lives get more complex and busy (work, relationships, etc), we still get pulled in every direction by family.

It's gotten more low key the older I get. When my grandparents were alive and my mom wasn't in the nursing home all holidays were big. Even after Mom went into the nursing home we still had them. Grandpa passed in 2017 and Grandma's dementia is bad. Mom can't physically get into my apartment anymore so while I decorate I don't do much for Christmas outside of work and most of my friends and I celebrate post holidays because of after holiday sales.

It's too stressful now. I love giving people gifts and I love receiving gifts and to me it's truly the thought that counts. I'd be happier to get a toy that I treasured in childhood that someone found on eBay or a thrift store, a homemade food, or something thoughtful I can use than the latest gadget that I won't use and will bankrupt whoever bought it for me. There is a segment of the family who takes holiday spending very seriously- goes out after that Thanksgiving meal, gets in line for Black Friday, and makes Google docs with links of everything they want for Christmas for our buying convenience. It seems super greedy seeing as we are all adults who can buy whatever we want anyway. A meaningful gift is preferable. But I feel pressured to participate in this and it's made me feel super grinchy at the holidays. I'd like to tap out completely and share things that forge some connection to my loved ones rather than this mad grab for stuff. I just don't enjoy the holidays anymore because instead of the magic of traditions, forging memories with people I love, and feeling peace and goodwill, I just feel like it's a gift grab.

I loved Christmas as a kid, I still do. But can we not play Mariah Carey back to back from start of November to the end of January?! Thanks to that song being played NONSTOP I now turn off the radio whenever it comes on…

I used to be obsessed with Christmas, still love it but I've had less people to spend it with.

Now in my mid-thirties, it feels like a chore and another day. That warm fuzzy feeling is gone.

Never a Christmas person ( pagan, sooo.... not my thing really!!) But always had boxing day with my parents, so they're free to do christmas day with my brother, (who I hate).... But Christmas 1999..... My mum had 3 months to live with cancer, so we planned a full family Christmas lunch....... Just sat down... And my dad had a massive heart attack, spent rest of Christmas at the ER..... So now both my parents are gone..... Yeah, fk christmas!!! Pagan summer solstice, all the way!!! (In Australia, at least!!!)

Without my parents, it seems so much more sad and not like Christmas. I have three younger sisters but we all live in different states. Because of Covid, and some surgeries I had to have, I feel so isolated. I miss the sisterly laughter and fighting and doing things together. So, Christmas hasn’t had the feeling of Joy, it used to. For a long time.

It hasn't. I'm still a Grinch. Have been since I was little.

Chrismas is more like "hey another year down the drain and we made it", less family and gifts.

It was the first year I fully didn't believe in Santa. It made it less magical

We started scaling back a few years ago - only getting gifts for kids in family or kids of close friends. As we stopped spending time with family - and especially holidays - we stopped buying those gifts as well. That sounds more grinch-like than it is - they were getting dozens and dozens of gifts, and we weren't getting a single acknowledgement of the gifts. So now, we do what makes us happy - a couple of small gatherings with specific family, we buy for a few kids that will appreciate, we donate to favorite local charities, and we decorate just enough to make the two of us happy (we don't have kids). Holidays are significantly less stressful, and I look forward to them versus stressing out about them for two months. And we aren't in debt in January!

I always loved Christmas as a kid. But over the last few years my father gave me nothing but JOKE gifts. He never gave me a single thing that I actually wanted. He died this year. I asked everyone for one thing. I told them all that it was the only thing I wanted and that if I only got that ONE THING I would be happy. Guess dad is still playing tricks beyond the grave. All I got was a bunch of gift cards. All I asked for l was a ceramic mug from this store that I liked. It made me realize no one really listens to me...ever. So screw the holidays. I'm gonna improve my life and never rely on anyone else ever again. Who needs 'em.

Let's talk about holiday music. Every year, my family would take a 2-week long road trip during winter break which included Xmas and New Year's. During the trip, we would listen to the radio. Nearly every single radio station, regardless of which state we were in, was playing Xmas music. And this starts the day after Thanksgiving and gets progressively worse until I want to smash the radio with a hammer. And it's not just in cars - it's in so many stores as well! As a kid, it was fun singing along to the songs. But as I've gotten older, I've connected more with my Jewish roots, and I'm not a fan of finding myself whistling or singing Xmas songs (the concept of which is literally against my religion) in my free time because that is all I've heard for weeks. Can't there be some radio stations dedicated to Xmas music and other stations just playing normal, non-holiday-themed music? Not everyone celebrates Xmas. There are other religions, other holidays, and other tastes in music during the month of December besides "Jingle Bells." I wish the holiday season was not so focused on Xmas and its associated songs.

The santa myth brainwashes kids into believing what they receive christmas morning is a comment on their, and their friends, moral worth, rather than their parents net worth.

Reindeer are apparently jerks unless they can use you for something.

The grinch was right all along.
The annual Christmas recrimination and guilt trip tour is not worth the drive to get there.

As a youngster with undiagnosed depression etc, Xmas always made me sad and mad. Why was everyone all happy happy joy joy just because the calendar says December? As I’ve gotten older though, and treated my mental illness, I get it. We can choose to be happy or not! So now I love Xmas and all the fanfare. Lights music, prezzies, food, bring it on! Absolutely nothing wrong with feeling happy in December. Learning about ancient humans and their winter time festivals helped too. Humans have always gathered in winter time, thousands of years before Christ. Be human, celebrate Solstice!