What holiday traditions do you refuse to do?

[RevCheesehead]

I learned a long time ago that people will always give me cookies and other goodies (it's a church thing, I guess), so I never bake.

Also, this year, I'm refusing to go to the shopping malls. I got caught in the parking lot trying to get IN the damned place, so I just kept driving until I got out. I'm doing all my shopping on-line this year.

[noonwitch]

1. Watch "It's A Wonderful Life" I hate that movie

It's just very annoying to me, for some reason.

[AngryAmish]

24. agreed

I'm a total Scrooge. I have not liked Christmas since I found out about Santa.

So I am not doing it this year. My familiar responsibilities have decreased so I decided to flee Christendom. I suppose I have to get a gift for my gf and sisters but I am avoiding all Xmas parties, I will not wear any stupid sweaters, will not watch any movie and listening to tapes or sports talk radio in the car.

[richmwill]

2. Anything that involves singing...

And anything that involves wearing a dopey red Santa hat.

[m_welby]

3. when I was a wee lad I went to midnight mass every year

I don't do that anymore.

This year we even made the big break and skipped the christmas tree. The kids are grown, no family is coming over (we're going out), so we figured it was just a waste of time, energy and a baby tree.

[BigMcLargehuge]

4. We're staying home this year on Christmas day

usually all of the in-laws gather at either my brother in laws or my mother in laws. It's cramped, stuffy, hot as hell (brother in law keeps therm at 75, mother in law heats with wood, so it's 100 degrees in the house). Toys get busted, kids get jumpy and want to go home to play with their presents...

So we are staying home. Door is open. We've already told the fam, if you want to see us at christmas, come to our house. We'll have a roast on, and drinks available.

We'll be in our jammies playing with toys.

[tigereye]

13. we have people over Christmas Eve

so Christmas is just for us. We refuse to drive all over the place in the snow.

[BigMcLargehuge]

36. My in-laws are nice and all

but at the holidays they are :crazy: and fight about Christmas trees (*family wants them, mother in law doesn't), and all the insane decisions that have been made of the last year end up collected in a small series of very hot rooms-

My 10 year old nephew who still shits his pants and wears a diaper.
His brother who is 6 and still bites.
My sister in law who was straight republican born again, then a lesbian, now a straight born against new age crystal waving republican
Her daughters who, of the 4, three dropped out of high school, one is a prostitute, another abandoned her kids (see above), the third can't seem get get that last .5 gym credit (she's 22!) to get her HS diploma.
My brother in law who just has his license suspended for DUI
My other sister in law who gets pushed around by her ungrateful kids...

It's a weird day, even when things aren't going bad. It's like everyone makes small talk around the various elephants in the room.

I am glad we are staying home.

[tigereye]

39. oh my!

"straight republican born again, then a lesbian, now a straight born against new age crystal waving republican"


I can't top that one. All of my relatives are Democrats. In fact, other than liking to imbibe a bit too much, my family and extended family are quite dull, and I mean that in a good way.

I had a colleague who used to say that Christmas was people standing around ignoring the coffin in the living room.....I always tell folks that Christmas is "loaded for bear."

[bif]

5. I refuse to go to church

Recovering Catholic.

[tigereye]

20. even though I am no longer a practicing Catholic

I miss Midnite Mass.

[jus_the_facts]

6. I don't put up a tree....or decorate in any way.....

....since it's possible for me to buy some gifts this year I'm gettin' gift certificates for everybody so they can buy whatever they want instead of gettin' shit they may hate that I pick out...I really can't stand xmas...the lie of Santa is as fucked up as the religious aspect of the holiday...all the LIES that people TRADITIONALLY tell their kids really makes me HATE most holidays. BAHUMBUG! :(

[ET Awful]

7. Celebrate and get into the Christmas spirit . . .

Bah! Humbug.

:P

[RevCheesehead]

8. Then I wish you a mediocre holiday season,

at best.

:P

[ET Awful]

9. Thank you! And may your Christmas cheer come back to

bite you in the ass :P :P :P

[RevCheesehead]

10. It usually does, my friend...

Last year, my SIL got me a subscription to the Limbaugh newsletter for my birthday. I couldn't even get my money back - it went back to her after I cancelled it. :(

Oops - today is her birthday!! Any ideas?

[ET Awful]

11. A subscription to The Nation?

:P

[crispini]

12. You're kidding, was she being funny?

How awful.

How about a nice subscription to Mother Jones for her? :evilgrin:

[tigereye]

14. I really don't get how anyone could do that

either plain ignorance of your politics, or just to jag you?


Copy of Rush Limbaugh is a big fat liar? :)

[Redstone]

15. The one where you have to pat your head and rub your belly

at the same time, while chugging a beer by gripping the bottle in your teeth, then run six time around the backyard (clockwise) barefoot, singing "Good King Wenceslas" backward. In Latin.








...What, none of your families have this tradition? I guess the War On Christmas succeeded a long time ago; it's sad to see the old traditions and rituals dying out like that.

Redstone

[tigereye]

18. that's a fun one Redstone

before I had a kid, my favorite was the post Midnight Mass drunken poker game at my parents house. That was fun.

And I used to clean up since I was the most sober.

[calico1]

16. Eat fruitcake. n/t

[LeftyMom]

17. Other than the dead thing on the table? No tree.

I'm allergic to the real ones and the fakes don't seem to be worth the trouble.

Oh, and I don't go to services since I'm not religious. At times I'm a little sad LeftyKid will never sleep on a chilly hardwood pew during midnight mass, as it's a bit of a family tradistion if not one I remember fondly. Then I snap out of it and realize there are some traditions I'd rather not pass on.

[RetroLounge]

19. Hang Outdoor Lights

Don't have enough holiday cheer to brave the cold to do that BS this year.

Oh, and a certain somebody I know gets a lump of coal in her stocking.

I refuse to pretend that I am happy this year. Fuck it...

RL

[tigereye]

21. wish I had a good poem for you

I'll look around...

Hope things improve for you.

[RetroLounge]

27. Oh, they will, one way or the other.

thanks

:hug:

RL

[tigereye]

37. even though I do not know the reasons

I wish you well. Like my mom always says, things always look better in the morning.

:hug:

[RevCheesehead]

25. You can enjoy my lights when you get here.

As for my gift, just tie a big bow on yourself and come on up, you sexy thang!

:loveya:

[RetroLounge]

26. Ya gonna make me Pray?

or just yell "OH GOD" at the top of my lungs?

:D

RL

[RevCheesehead]

30. Both.

If "pray" means "beg for it." :evilgrin:

[Sequoia]

22. I can't stand the office parties.

I can't afford rent much less buying any presents. Christmas is for people who have money and I don't have zip.

[tigereye]

38. you know the year I had the least money

was the best Christmas ever. I think I had fewer expectations and that was good. I got people sets of chopsticks and one or two got a simple Chinese rice bowl. It meant more, somehow. Don't let lack of funds stop you from enjoying things.

[Sequoia]

40. Chop sticks, well now, that reminds me

of the time I gave them as a gift wrapped in tissue in a shiny box (the real deal from China) and the woman I gave it too did not know what they were and thought it was for her hair. I was stunned.

I don't care so much that I have no money for myself but for my kid, I'd like to get some things. She has some money left over from her birthday and doing odd jobs and she asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I told her that was her money and I didn't want anything. Sweetheart.

[tigereye]

42. huh

yeah that is hard. And that is sweet of her. :)

My son is an only child and the only grandchild and he gets too many things, not that he doesn't appreciate them.
I think it is the simple gifts that really matter. Maybe a re-read of O Henry's The Gift of the Magi is in order for me. That always makes me think about what this season really means.

[kwassa]

23. Shopping, which is, of course, the meaning of Christmas

I am not observing the traditional rituals of standing in long lines buying useless things that nobody wants. This tradition is meant to be followed by the second ritual of long lines returning gifts that nobody wants.

I am in denial of the spiritual realization that quantity of love expressed is represented by the amount of money spent on a material item wrapped in fancy paper

Makes me a lousy Christian, I guess.

[RevCheesehead]

28. Not at all... it makes you the BEST kind!

One year, I gave gift cards from Heifer Project. You know, a gift of fish, bees, a cow, etc... all to needy countries around the world. I got nifty cards with them, and a note that "a gift of _____ has been made in your name."

One of the best Christmas gifts I ever gave.

[Burma Jones]

29. Sacrifice little Pagan babies

and drink their blood......


What? You never did that?

[HughBeaumont]

31. All things "Drummer Boy".

The Little Drummer Boy sucks as a Christmas carol . . . totally depressing, only topped in moroseness by that shitty John and Yoke-Oh carol. Not even Harry Simeone's Choir can save it.

Also, I've NEVER seen "Christmas Story" with Messy Marvin. And I live in the Cleveland area.

[Sequoia]

41. But that one with Bing Crosby and Ziggy Stardust guy is terrific.

[HughBeaumont]

43. That it was, but now it contains a stupid hip-hop backbeat.

Because, as we all know, a nice song just doesn't have that certain something unless there's a danceable drum sequence backing it.

Some stations stick with the original version, though.

[Sequoia]

44. Well that must sure suck.

I found mine a few years ago on Sound Amercia and copied it to my computer. Now if I could only figure out how to add these songs to my playlist....!

[Initech]

32. Shop!

I HATE going to the malls / large department stores during December. It sucks.

Hell, I dont even refer to this holiday as Christmas anymore, instead I call it Xmas.

[AirmensMom]

33. I haven't been in a mall for over 4 years.

The perfume makes me so sick. So I always shop online. It's very relaxing and fun -- and NO traffic! :bounce:

But this year I'm not baking any cookies. I'm only preparing healthy food. Oh, and there won't be a turkey or other dead animal on the table, either. It's going to be VERY different. (I did get my husband some See's chocolate balls, though.) :hi:

[Cats Against Frist]

34. "The Twelve Shots of Christmas"

Especially when you get to the double shot of 100 proof vodka, at the end. I've seen it do a lot of damage, and NO WAY do I get involved with that, anymore.

[Heidi]

35. When Christmas shopping, I deal only with small businesses.

No malls, no franchises. But that's not just Christmas. We've been shopping like this for about five years. Yes, it's more expensive on the surface, but we very much like knowing that none of the small businesses we've supported have gone belly-up in all this time. :thumbsup:

[Faygo Kid]

45. No lutefisk, I don't care if my ancestry is all Scandinavian.

Butter cookies and pickled herring, though, oh yes. Not together, of course.