i just wish the whole bit about peace on earth good will towards all would be more than a line in a Hallmark holiday card...

I got the Christmas message this year.

When our families asked us what we wanted, we felt really silly. We wanted to be married, which happened this year. We wanted to have a great wedding, which we had with our parent's help. We got everything we could have asked for on August 23rd.

This year his family is coming into town and we're doing stockings. But mostly we're doing things- Christmas Eve service, breakfasts, fun dinners out, concerts, tree-trimming, etc... THAT'S what Christmas has come to mean to me. I didn't have a great family Christmas growing up and I think that's why I get so much into the spirit now. I just love every minute of it because it's on my terms and I can be as happy as I want to be and there is no drama.

Now I have spent Christmas by myself and while all of my friends were fussing over me, worrying that was all alone on Christmas, I enjoyed that, too.

Maybe it is because I am older...

maybe because I am a Christian and worship my SAVIOR'S :bday2you:...

maybe it's because I have a very close family and friends to share Christmas with....

maybe it's because we have such a wonderful church that will give out around 100 baskets to those in need this year....

maybe it's because my wife's Christmas Day Mexican food feast tradition is incredible....

or her posole or tortilla soup on Christmas Eve is wonderful....

maybe it's because my family is buying all our gifts here http://www.worldvision.org/content.n...vision%20gifts this year....

or maybe it's because so many of my 3FC friends are in need of a great CHRISTMAS this year...

but I am looking forward to the holidays....I wish and pray that you all are!

I ditto the Christmas music...there are two local stations that normally start the music on Thanksgiving Day. This year...they started it about a week or so before, ugh! Not to count any store you go into. Not that I don't like Christmas music...because I LOVE it! But two weeks into December, ugh! I've had my fill.

I used to really love the holidays. My family always had such a great time together - my grandmother pretty much made the holidays what they were for us. When she passed away things just weren't quite the same.

Now that I'm married (to a mega grinch) and my family is all too far away to be with... the holidays mostly just make me sad. I used to try to decorate and do cards but the husband just poo-pooed it until I stopped.

I have a hard time this time of year- because I start thinking about the child I wish I could have and the magical holidays I'd make for them and it becomes unbearable.

So I'm working as much as I can. My husband worked on Thanksgiving and he's going to work on Christmas too. I'll spend xmas alone like I spent thanksgiving. So- to make a long post short - no, you're not the only one that isn't into the holidays.

After a long time I am on holidays (Christmas holidays). I and my family have planned to celebrate Christmas in Chicago this time. It will be very cold there, but we were all eager to see the place.

Chicago houses most of the best restaurants in the world. We have booked one of the best restaurants referring boorah.com, so hope our Christmas will be exciting...

I went through a phase where I didn't care much about Christmas. It's starting to come back to me now. But obviously, it's not about the commercialized Christmas. It's about the meaning of Christmas, about family, goodwill, and enjoying the rituals of decorations and food. I LOATHE seeing decorations and hearing Christmas music before Thanksgiving. But the day after ... bring it on!

I have a seething, loathing hatred for Christmas. 99% if it, that is. I love the 1% of Christmas that revolves around the birth of Christ and the significance of it. Its the ONLY part I like. I hate, hate, HATE HATE how much time effort and frikken MONEY it sucks out of me every single year. Its horrible. The ONLY comfort I get is on Christmas Eve when I get to go to church and remind myself of the real reason for the season.

It all sucks!! Except that its Jesus' Birthday.

A few years back, in the poor college years, I made a tradition of making Christmas presents...because I couldn't afford them. We recorded CDs of us singing Christmas carols, we knitted hats and scarves, we made baskets of baking mixes from cheap ingredients, molded soaps and scented cheap Jergens lotion base...and we noticed that the more -time- we put into gifts, the more we thought about the people we were giving them to and were filled with Christmas cheer.

I love the part of Christmas where I remember my grammy by baking brownies to give out in cookie baskets, in her brownie pan with her recipe, just like she used to do with my mom when she was a little kid. And when I make hedgehogs (another kind of cookie) for the baskets, I remember my mom telling the story of how she was always in charge of rolling them when she was a little girl.

I love when I'm working on the handmade ornaments I make every year, because I know that my parent's tree (and my tree, my sister's tree...) are filled with memories from each year - last year I made an ornament that had my wedding picture, my sister's wedding picture, my parent's wedding picture, and a photo of my grandpa...classic.

I love writing Christmas Cards, because for me, it isn't a chore - it's an opportunity to think about and remember all of the people that are important to me. I write a few paragraphs on each one and really THINK about the person, what they mean to me, and how fortunate I am to have them in my life. The moment I start resenting writing your Christmas card, you're off the list. It's my time to send love and blessings to all of my favorite people.

I love waking up Christmas morning to my grandfather cooking breakfast...the same breakfast he has cooked every year since I was 5 (eggs and kielbasa, fried potatoes, toasted sweet bread he bakes every year, and fruit salad). I love sitting with my entire family and eating and talking about how lucky we are.

I do NOT love people shoving in stores, the rudeness, the fighting, the lines, and the fact that Sesame Street changed the lyrics of "Feliz Navidad" from "I want to wish you a merry Christmas, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas" to "I want to wish you a merry Christmas, with lots of presents to make you happy". But I try to "check out" of that as much as I can...one trip to the craft store, another to buy cookie making groceries, and maybe a few online purchases for people, and I'm done.

They did not. But it's Sesame Street!

Once that darn Tickle Me Elmo took off, it was all dollar signs for them, apparently.

I really like that, thanks! Gives it a new spin for me.

For real??? Wow. That is depressing as heck.

I forget what I was watching...it might have been Dora.

It's funny, last year when I weighed 333 pounds and could barely walk a block, I detested Christmas preperation , (shopping, decorating, even cooking). This year I am on fire with Christmas passion. I LOVE CHRISTMAS! What a difference a year makes. Thank you God!

word up, holiday-haters! i am one of you. i distinctly recall being in a women's room in a restaurant this time of year a couple years ago. that crappy christmas music was going non-stop, and the woman at the sink next to me started telling me (completely without provocation) that she was sick and tired of people saying "happy holidays" when they SHOULD be saying "merry christmas", and she didn't care if it wasn't PC, it was CHRISTMAS, and what kind of horrible person doesn't celebrate christmas? i said, "jews, like me." and walked out. didn't wait to hear a reply.

those with no spiritual connection with this particular holiday are STILL subject to the overcrowding, parking problems, stress, cheesy music, and the rest of the worst of the season. ugh.

I am so sorry some of you feel stressed over the birth of CHRIST...I don't think He would wish it that way.

I know the season can become overwhelming...with shopping and traffic...that is the time to sit back and remember why we are celebrating a birthday on Dec. 25th

Am I the only one that enjoys the "cheesy" Christmas music?

Alvin and the Chipmunks ~ Peanuts ~ The Carpenters or even Sawyer Brown or Third Day Offerings (Maybe the best ever Christmas CD)....

so many songs....so many-many memories....

cheesy?...maybe...but for me...I LOVE IT!!! :)