Poll: How do you feel about this holiday time of year?

[MRG]

But when would you sacrifice a goat?

Anytime is goat time!

Seriously ever eat a goat?

I wonder why they were not all eaten two centuries ago. Delicious, and kinda easy to catch. They'll do most anything for a cigarette.

 

[Gumby]

But when would you sacrifice a goat?

April 25th, of course.

 

[Chuckanut]

I love the Christmas season, especially the 12 days of Christmas - Dec 25 to Jan 6.

I don't let the merchandisers ruin it for me.

 

[ABQ2015]

I like the holidays but don’t love them and I’m noticing that I’m liking them even more now that I’m newly retired and have time to enjoy. What I like the most is that I travel to spend the holidays with out of town relatives who I don’t see the rest of the year. I don’t care for the travel part but do appreciate that everyone has made time in their schedules to be together and I enjoy that – and we and their small children are together for several days at my DB and SIL’s large home, not just a few hours. They also have a Christmas party where we sing songs around the piano and go caroling in the neighborhood.

Other things that I enjoy about the holidays are the decorations and lights, putting up a tree, sending and receiving cards, going to special holiday events, holiday foods, dinners, and parties, etc. I used to shop for gifts but now just write a check and send it to younger relatives or their parents and no longer buy presents for siblings. Most of my younger relatives are going through some tough times financially so money is appreciated. And I don’t miss the shopping. I also enjoy the spirit of charitable giving at Christmas.

 

[TromboneAl]

I relax my low-carb regimen for a month and exult in eggnog (I use bourbon, not rum) and banana bread and chocolate and gingerbread and The Feast of 7 Fishes. Caloric penance can wait till January.

Try 6 oz heavy whipping cream, 1 tsp DaVinci sugar-free Egg Nog Syrup and nutmeg & bourbon to taste.

---------------

Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
* 1 bag of fresh cranberries (12 oz)
* 12 drops liquid splenda
* 1/2 cup erythritol
* 1 cup water
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation:


1. Put cranberries in a pot on the stove, and pick through to remove soft and/or brown ones.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, and bring to a boil on medium-high heat.

3. Stir frequently. The cranberries will pop, and then release their "gel" -- and the sauce will come together like magic. Cook until the sauce is the consistency you want, about 5 to 10 minutes. It may take longer.

 

[Nemo2]

We spend Christmas Day with the granddaughters........there's running, shrieking, yelling, giggling, laughing...................oh yeah, and the kids enjoy it too.

 

[aja8888]

I wish the calendar would just jump from October 15 to January 15. I could easily do without everything in between.

That's about where I am.

Kids are grown, family is a blended one, everyone seems to be sliding into their own deal and family gatherings are hard to get organized, especially now that DW isn't able to do all the organizing and cleanup work.

 

[easysurfer]

This year, I put neutral about the holidays.

Usually, more in the spirit but this year for one, been warmer than most so no snow on the ground.

Plus, for about the past month, was just getting over a mean chest cold then laryngitis. Pretty much all recovered now , but feeling behind with the holiday season.

 

[Moemg]

I kind of like the holidays since we have relaxed everything . My SO's DIL took over the big Christmas Eve party which relieved most of my stress . We now have a few friends for dinner on Christmas and relax . I do love the music and the Christmas movies and leftovers .

 

[Rambler]

I voted neutral, for a few reasons, although deep in my heart, I’m closer to wishing they’d disappear. I am Christian and love my God, and for his sacrifice I am grateful. Remembering Him, and what he has done for me, are the positives of the season.

The negatives? I can’t please everyone, no matter how hard I try. As an example, last year, we went to visit my son and his wife for Christmas. Their jobs did not allow them to travel during the holidays and DIL even had to work late on Christmas Eve. But we got to be with them. My parents, who I offered to take with us, pay their hotel and meals etc, refuse to travel. Then they complained, to the world, on Facebook, that all their kids had abandoned them for Christmas. Mind you, were the only ones that live close (35 minute drive). My siblings all live at least a 12 hour drive away, as did my son and DIL. My daughter and SIL had their turn at his parents’ place, so they weren’t with us. So we’re publicly humiliated for trying to enjoy time with our kids, after offering them the opportunity to go as well.

Second, everything has become so commercialized. There have to be 10 gifts for everyone under the tree, and they have to be carefully balanced because someone has their calculator out auditing the value of the gifts.

Third, this year, DD and SIL want to come to our place...not the place we want to be at, but our second home. We may have to drive 4 hours thru a snowstorm to get there...and when they find out they’ve got to drive thru the snowstorm, they’re likely to cancel, as they have before, and that after we’ve made the preparations. At our main home, this would not be a worry. On top of that, my parents will be left alone again this year, because they won’t come, and even if they said they’d come, we don’t have enough facilities for everyone if they did. I don’t want to open Facebook on Christmas Day.

DW and I have already decided we don’t want any surprises under the tree...prefer to buy what we want, when we want it, and not have to deal with wrong size returns, etc. Next year, we may very well just fly off some where and hide for a month and not deal with the all the drama.

That, my friends, is why I voted neutral. I will not, I cannot turn my back on my God, but I can’t take the drama anymore either.

Edit to correct: my parents’ issue last year was not Christmas...it was Thanksgiving, but we were with our kids, 12 hours away, and they had refused to join.

 

[Helen]

I am glad to be loving the holidays again. Had a hard time for 5 years after my wife died between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Time does heal -

I'm so sorry for your loss. My Dad died on Thanksgiving morning and my Mom died in mid December six years later.

After my spouse's parents died we spent a quiet and depressing Christmas at home. After that we started hosting Christmas dinner for friends who don't have family in the area. It has been a lot of fun. This year we will have about 15 people over on Christmas day.

 

[Alan]

I love the holidays over Christmas and New Year, because we have a close family and always get together. This year in particular we are looking forward to it as it is our first Christmas in England as a family in decades. (I have had 2 Christmases in England in the past as my mother then my father died at Christmas). We are living in the same town as my sister for the first time ever, our son just moved into his new house and we are all within 15 minutes walk from each other and the town centre. Our daughter and her partner are flying in from California on the 20th.

On Thursday last week we were walking through the town with thick snow on the ground, Christmas decorations, market stalls on the cobbles (Thursdays and Saturdays are market days) and I expected to see Bob Cratchet hurrying along to get back to work. Magic.

 

[Osprey]

I'm not religious but I love the holidays for the opportunities they bring to get together with loved ones, and they make the march into winter far less depressing than it would be without the festive atmosphere.

 

[Dash man]

I spend a lot of time at church and it’s a true blessing around the holidays. Tomorrow we’re distributing Poinsettias to shut in parish members. We’ve given a lot to shelters and food banks along with gifts to our church. Having a new grandson this year has made this year extra special! We genuinely feel the joy of Christmas this year.

 

[Red Badger]

I love the holidays and look forward to them. We are a very close family and the holiday season is an opportunity to get together.

Edit to add - the commercial aspect around Christmas does irritate me.

I voted like. The commercial aspect(s) disgust me. Love the family, faiths (all), and fellowship aspects.

 

[Red Badger]

Try 6 oz heavy whipping cream, 1 tsp DaVinci sugar-free Egg Nog Syrup and nutmeg & bourbon to taste.

---------------

Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
* 1 bag of fresh cranberries (12 oz)
* 12 drops liquid splenda
* 1/2 cup erythritol
* 1 cup water
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation:


1. Put cranberries in a pot on the stove, and pick through to remove soft and/or brown ones.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, and bring to a boil on medium-high heat.

3. Stir frequently. The cranberries will pop, and then release their "gel" -- and the sauce will come together like magic. Cook until the sauce is the consistency you want, about 5 to 10 minutes. It may take longer.

Thanks! Gonna try them next week!

 

[Koogie]

Well, b*gger me.... I was just making it up but apparently some of us still DO sorta sacrifice a goat at Xmas !

Yule Goat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_Goat

 

[jollystomper]

I love the holidays. I do not have to work so I have a lot of time for relaxation and reflecting on the year. I enjoy putting up the tree and lights. Very simple setup for both, particularly now with the laser lights .

The crowds do not bother me, maybe because I grew up in a big city and now live in a suburban/rural area, so crowds and heavy traffic here = a normal big city day . In fact, DW and I like going to the shops and malls to relax and people watch. Many of the farms in our area put up great drive-through or maze light displays.

Gifting is simple, since our families are easy to please so there is little stress in finding the "right" gift Our parents raised us right . We give gifts to about 40 individuals and it only takes us a day or 2 of shopping. We enjoy wrapping gifts, for DW and I it is a way to share time together. We will wrap and chat, or have a movie on, or have music on and occasionally break out into dance.

It is also a time for opportunities to secretly give and cheer up someone else. We have been blessed to have provided presents to families who had some type of problem, but have done so anonymously. I get a big kick out of seeing someone so happy to have received something without them knowing who it was from.

Although my Dad died on a Christmas Eve (the one Christmas that is still in a fog for me), I still enjoy the time. This when we usually visit his and my mothers grave sites, which will always have an element of sadness but much moreso joy, in reflecting all of the good times we had with them, particularly around the holidays (which we have many pictures and some video of them.

 

[brett]

Don't care one way or the other. Just don't ask me to go to a shopping mall.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Love the holidays!

As a child, Christmas was always the best time of year - no school, great food (and lots of it!), beautiful snow and winter sports (snowball fights, sledding, ice skating), beautiful music - what more could a kid ask for?

As an adult, and Christian, some of these aspects has been replaced by - no, supplemented with - the deeper meanings of the season, but all the joy still remains.

I admit it can be overwhelming. The Christmas season doesn't (and shouldn't) begin with Halloween, or Thanksgiving. When I worked, the weeks leading up to Christmas were generally pretty stressful - MegaCorp managers liked to set arbitrary deadlines for major projects/milestone to be due right around the holidays, so there was added stress to get done with stuff before I could take off. Plus the shopping and other preparations. So, for me, it was always impossible to even THINK about celebrating or enjoying until around Christmas Eve. As a result, we started celebrating, more or less, the traditional 12 days of Christmas - starting on Christmas eve, and lasting through Epiphany (Jan 6), which is usually about the time school and work start up again. By delaying and shortening our celebration (compared to what the rest of the US does), we find it to be much more enjoyable.

I also do all of my shopping online, so that also removes one source of stress.

Now that I'm retired, I'm thrilled to have so much more time to help with the preparations, and to be able to spend more of my time helping others in need.

Merry Christmas to all!

 

[vince]

Grandchildren make the holiday. Without them, it really wouldn't be that much fun. And as others have stated "thank god for Amazon".

 

[Curmudgeon]

I live out in the country, about an hour's drive from a major US city. Yesterday at 11:00 am I ordered some stuff from Amazon prime. This morning, I saw it on my doorstep when I woke up - not sure whether they dropped it off late last night, or earlier this morning. Either way, amazing!

 

[Teacher Terry]

I voted neutral. I used to love xmas when my kids were small, all the planning, shopping, cooking was fun. Everyone is long grown up and we have no grandchildren. We stopped exchanging gifts with everyone about 10 years ago because everyone had enough stuff. I kept one small box of stuff to decorate with but got rid of the tree. I stopped sending cards as that was the only time of year I communicated with some people so that seemed silly. For about 10 years on both Thanksgiving and xmas I would host about 25 people that had no family locally but got sick of it and quit ding it 5 years ago. My DIL is from Poland and xmas eve is very important to her so she took over that meal which is really nice. We are guests and just bring some good booze. On xmas day we usually go to a movie and out for dinner. I don't dislike the holidays but they aren't special anymore either.

 

[Walt34]

I kind of like the holidays, although I leave the car radio turned off so I don't have to listen to the same songs I've heard 80 gadzillion times before. But there is a big family gathering and a huge feast, and I like that, and I like seeing everyone and the little kids playing with new (to them) stuff and taking photos and then sending them to family.

We (well, DW actually) put up a small single-piece tree that is ~four feet tall and sits on a table in the living room. Afterwards she'll put a trash bag over it to keep the dust off and put it back down in the basement.

I'm a lot more mellow about it now that I'm retired and don't have to think about the traffic and the drunks and shopping for meaningless gifts. Other than for the kids, we don't bother with gifts anymore and DW enjoys shopping for them so I happily let her take care of that. And especially now that the hosts of the huge gathering moved to WV ten minute's drive time away instead of an hour and a half it is all a lot more enjoyable.

 

[Badger]

Mostly this is about Christmas but just wait until New Years Eve and all the drunks are in full force on the road. This is a dangerous time of year and a lot of irritable people running me off the road.

I think I will stick with Winter Solstice celebrations and dance naked in the moonlight in the back yard.

Cheers!