Do you celebrate holidays?

[scbelleatheart]

Just wondered if I am the only one? DH works most holidays, always has. I was born on Xmas and DN died at 25 on Thankgiving. So I gave up on holidays. Now I celebrate each day but I will not give in to the hype of a special day, Xmas. Valentines, Labor Day, 4th of July or any other holiday you can think of.
Flame away

 

[Feralpeg]

I can understand why the holidays are not special for you.

To answer your question, I do celebrate the holidays. Some are much more important to me than others.

Christmas is the most meaningful and important holiday for me. We do celebrate Thanksgiving, but not like many. We have a very small family, so we don't do a lot. Labor Day and Memorial Day are kind of non-holidays for me. I respect those days, but I don't do anything special. While we don't do a lot for the day, 4th of July is a very meaningful holiday for me. I could care less about Valentines Day. Halloween is one of my favorites!

 

[happygirl]

Just wondered if I am the only one? DH works most holidays, always has. I was born on Xmas and DN died at 25 on Thankgiving. So I gave up on holidays. Now I celebrate each day but I will not give in to the hype of a special day, Xmas. Valentines, Labor Day, 4th of July or any other holiday you can think of.
Flame away

No flame everyone does things differently

 

[lizabu]

We never celebrated holidays when I was a kid. My parents were super religious and practically any holiday can be linked to something Pagan if you look hard enough. When I grew up I celebrated everything and I used to go all out decorating and everything. Now years later it all seems like so much work. I still celebrate most holidays but I don't go all out like I used to. I try to make it special for the kids.

 

[BlovesC]

Growing up, holidays revolved around my mom. My dad never cared, my older siblings just showed up to eat/open presents, but my mom decorated for every single holiday and I always had to spend days cooking with her to prepare. When she passed away, that was the end of our holidays together. My siblings all had spouses and celebrated with their in-laws, but I didn't have anyone. A few times I got pulled into joining my SIL's family on Christmas and Thanksgiving, and it was 1,000 times lonelier feeling like a charity case intruding in another family's holiday than it was for me to just be alone. I became a HUGE fan of Halloween and Valentine's Day, because they were holidays that involved no family obligations, that I could celebrate however I choose, with my friends.

I've gotten back into enjoying Christmas and Thanksgiving now with my DH though, but we're still in that awkward spot where, because we're the youngest in each of our families and don't have kids yet, others don't believe we're a "complete family" and can celebrate on our own. Yet the holidays DH and I have managed to celebrate on our own have been magical! The last two years we've had DH's mother and stepfather over on Thanksgiving (they're our only family in FL) and they pretty much just show up, eat, and leave. This year DH and I are having our thanksgiving dinner the day before at Liberty Tree Tavern in MK.

DH and I have both volunteered to work Thanksgiving and Christmas at our jobs this year. I work in an intensive care unit and my willingness to cover holidays is VERY appreciated. Until we have kids I'm perfectly happy not having the day off, because DH and I are fine moving our celebrations to the day before or after the official holiday.

 

[JessicaR]

No reason to flame at all. Glad you celebrate each day!

Yes, we do celebrate most holidays.

 

[Nayan]

Not really. We don't celebrate Xmas, Thanksgiving or the other major ones. We love Halloween though!

 

[SanFranciscan]

No, I don't celebrate holidays. I usually work. That is the nature of theme park, restaurant, and other jobs working with the public. A former supervisor of mine hated working in a theme park because he had to work all of the holidays, and this was time that he wanted to spend with his family. I understood and sympathized, but I would rather have overtime for working the holiday because I have seen so many angry customers out with their families who were really stressing them out at a time of year when too many people put too much pressure on themselves to be the perfect Norman Rockwell family having the perfect Norman Rockwell holiday.

I don't see why anyone would want to flame the original poster on this thread for simply expressing an opinion so I hope that that person is wrong about what is going to happen here. I love people who love the holidays because they are fun, charming, delightful people who are a real joy to be around on non-holidays too but still....

Thankfully everybody is different so that we can have some people willing to work the holidays. We make our own large contribution to the holidays too because I am remembering a sweet young woman who worked as a nurse in a hospital which I volunteered at. She really wanted to be off on Christmas to take her grandmother to mass but was denied this because she did not have family in her co-workers and supervisor's opinions just because she did not have children. Poor thing had a bad feeling that that was going to be her grandmother's last Christmas but went to work like she was told so that her co-workers "with families" could be off. Then her grandmother died on New Year's. I wish that I had been qualified to do her job so that that devoted granddaugher could have been with the family that she did have and that should have counted as family.

There are lots of ways of celebrating, and it sounds to me like SCbelleatheart knows how to celebrate her way in her life.

 

[DeaverTex]

We celebrate Christmas, sort of big-time. There are enough lights in the yard and on the house (we're on a corner lot, which provides more opportunities) that when we turn them on, I'm convinced I can see the streetlights dim for a moment.

Thanksgiving is a fairly big deal, although we're both a long way from any family except each other and Tex Jr. when he's home from Baylor. We often have Thanksgiving dinner, and Christmas dinner too for that matter, with a group of friends.

We have a New Year's party at our place every year, mostly to give us the incentive to straighten up after the Christmas chaos. That's with the same group of friends that I mentioned, and -- just to be honest -- it's not exactly what you'd call a rollicking group.

Other than that, we don't do much other than make a point of finding some place to watch fireworks on the 4th of July. I'd love to do something for Halloween, but I just don't think our circle of friends would have any interest in a costume party or such.

 

[Scurvy]

Why do you expect people to flame you just because you don't celebrate holidays?

Yes, my family does celebrate holidays. We love to. In fact, in addition to making a big deal of all the normal holidays, we make a point of celebrating weird obscure holidays as much as possible. Today is National Mustard Day! Tomorrow is International Beer Day.

I'm especially looking forward to August 8. That is "Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night".

 

[Janepod]

Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. Don't really do anything for Halloween except trick or treat. Try to avoid St. Patrick's because I'm embarrassed to be half Irish that day.

This year we'll be in London for Thanksgiving so we're going to do a big family dinner at home about a week before. We're flexible on when and where things are celebrated.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

If somebody doesn't want to celebrate holidays, that is their own business.

I still decorate and get excited about Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. For some reason, Easter never thrilled me.

 

[carrie1626]

Just wondered if I am the only one? DH works most holidays, always has. I was born on Xmas and DN died at 25 on Thankgiving. So I gave up on holidays. Now I celebrate each day but I will not give in to the hype of a special day, Xmas. Valentines, Labor Day, 4th of July or any other holiday you can think of.
Flame away

No flames.

My favorite is July 4th. I can usually find a way to enjoy everything I love about it: parade, fireworks, picnic, concert. It's a holiday that comes with little to no obligation or overspending.

 

[Eeyore98]

I've tried skipping them before but find it too depressing. I guess "the hype" has its hooks well set in me, thanks to growing up with a mom who always made a big deal of most holidays.

 

[njmom47]

We do celebrate holidays but things are different than they used to be. Everyone grows up, people get older and aren't as mobile, family moves away, so Christmas and Thanksgiving are different than they used to be.
We used to go all out for Halloween but when everyone else started going overboard, we stopped.

 

[minniecarousel]

6 of my 7 siblings live near-by. I have always hosted Thanksgiving, Christmas & Easter. My mom lived with us for 9 years and she loved that everyone came to our house (it was so nice for her to retire to her room for some rest. One or two could go visit with her; she enjoyed hearing the family talking & laughing while she relaxed.) She was concerned that we would stop getting together for holidays after she was gone, but it's been two years and we're still at it!

People need to celebrate the way they want to. We have an open invitation for Thanksgiving - all are invited. I just like to know if extras are coming since we do a sit-down dinner for that day.

 

[Wendy31]

Yes, we celebrate holidays.

Because of DH's work schedule (he works rotating shifts & is sometimes scheduled to work on a holiday), we sometimes have to celebrate Christmas on a different day w/ our immediate family. Like, if he's scheduled to work on Christmas, we will have our special family Christmas day on whichever day off he has closest to Christmas. (We also do this w/ our birthdays if he's scheduled to work on a birthday.)

Both of our families live in our town, so both sets of grandparents normally have something at their houses on Easter, Fourth of July, & Thanksgiving, & Christmas Eve. Either I & the kids or DH (if he's not working), I, & the kids will split up those holidays between the 2 houses.

(As an aside, this past Fourth of July, older DS had a migraine, & we stayed home & did our own thing. It was SO NICE!!!)

We also visit both sets of grandparents on Mother's Day & Father's Day.

We do our own thing on New Year's Eve/New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, & Halloween - sometimes, it involves the rest of the family & sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes, because we do so much going back & forth between the 2 grandparents' houses, I feel like we're losing the "real meaning" behind the holidays... we're so rushed & stressed that I'm not really in any kind of holiday spirit. However, hopefully, we're making some good family memories for our kids, &, when they're grown, they'll remember all the visits to the grandparents' houses on holidays!

 

[GeorgeG]

I'm not very big into holidays. Years of shift work kind of made all days seem the same for me and my wife's family, a large family, had to dominate every major holiday to the point I actually dreaded not having to work. Being a devout heathen, the religious aspects of Christmas and Easter mean nothing to me. I do like to spend Christmas Day at Epcot and enjoy the entertainment value of the CP (friends in the orchestra) because it's an excuse to avoid traditional gatherings. I'm really not anti-social, just tired of the traditional holiday family scene. There are some holidays that do have meaning for me, like Memorial Day, but I can do without the traditional ceremony because it's in my mind and heart wherever I am.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

I love holiday's. I don't live near any family so my dh and my kids and I all do our own thing. I try to make the best of it in our way so my kids will have great memories.

 

[disneychic2]

You have a right to celebrate or not as you see fit.

Our family celebrates most of the holidays. Christmas and Easter have special significance for us as we are a family who celebrate the birth and resurrection. I don't get into the hype or commercialism. At least I try not to. And holidays with family can be rather brutal in some cases. Thanksgiving is a very special time as well as we reflect on all our blessings.

I can see where holidays could be more of a sad time for you than a celebratory time. I'm sorry you have these experiences and hope you are happy in your decision to skip them. One day you may change your mind. Meanwhile, keep up the great attitude of celebrating each day! After all, each one is a gift.