I'm a mailman and I usually work 12 hour days or more 6 or 7 days a week during the holidays.
The holidays means I don't get to see my family very much for about a month, and when I do I am dogged tired. And then I get to deliver giant packages to people much richer than me. Fuck Christmas. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Jerok:
I'm a mailman and I usually work 12 hour days or more 6 or 7 days a week during the holidays.
The holidays means I don't get to see my family very much for about a month, and when I do I am dogged tired. And then I get to deliver giant packages to people much richer than me. Fuck Christmas.
we started putting out snacks and water for delivery people [Reply]
I've always fancied the idea that a family picks a day out of the year where they all get together at a time when the whole country isn't travelling at the same time and celebrate life, love, food, and cheer.
My preferred days were the 2nd weekend in May for our family but alas my brilliant thoughts go unnoticed yet again.
It can be a pain in the ass when everyone is trying to do the same thing at the same time with very little coordination aka the holidays. [Reply]
We enjoy Christmas though because I started a tradition about 20 years ago. Growing up my next door neighbor, who was Latvian, made these delicious treats she called Pirags. She would make these every Christmas and Easter.
I got her recipe and since then we spend one of the days before Christmas making these. These aren't like Perogies. They are Ham, Onion, and Bacon wrapped in dough and baked and are delicious. You can use whatever filler you want. We spend the day making them by hand while watching three or four of our favorite Christmas movies. We make hundreds of them, then make plates of a dozen each and deliver them to friends who've come to look forward to them every year. In the process we eat some that didn't turn out quite right and save quite a few for ourselves as well.
If your holidays don't have traditions I can see how they can be less enjoyable. I know my son will carry this tradition on with his family some day.
If anyone wants my Pirag recipe PM me. Kids from about 10 years on have the ability to make them. [Reply]
Originally Posted by fan4ever:
If your holidays don't have traditions I can see how they can be less enjoyable. I know my son will carry this tradition on with his family some day.
.... I grew up in a family that cut wood every Christmas day. Not kidding. Fucking slave labor and my sister was a bitch princess who found ways to do jack fucking shit.
The teachers at school always used to ask the kids to share what they did on Christmas day or what their family tradition was, so I made damn sure to collect those "wow, poor kid, maybe I'll take it easier on him" bonus points every time. :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Otter:
I've always fancied the idea that a family picks a day out of the year where they all get together at a time when the whole country isn't travelling at the same time and celebrate life, love, food, and cheer.
My preferred days were the 2nd weekend in May for our family but alas my brilliant thoughts go unnoticed yet again.
It can be a pain in the ass when everyone is trying to do the same thing at the same time with very little coordination aka the holidays.
My family basically does that... we've had a couple of large gatherings in the past several years, usually in the summer, and then I go back to KC every year in the Fall and stay home during the holidays. I go on vacation with family probably at least once a year and also had family out here a few years ago for Thanksgiving, which makes for some good memories playing tourist.
We still talk on Thanksgiving and Christmas and will chat when opening any presents that are sent... make the best of it without traveling north during the winter and dealing with all the other people doing the same. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Otter:
I've always fancied the idea that a family picks a day out of the year where they all get together at a time when the whole country isn't travelling at the same time and celebrate life, love, food, and cheer.
This is a great idea. I can see something like this catching on. It just needs a memorable name though so people know what your talking about. I don't know, maybe something like "family reunion"? I'm just spitballing here . [Reply]
I loved all holidays when my kids were young enough to appreciate/enjoy them. Now that my youngest is a junior in HS the only holidays I still really enjoy are Thanksgiving for the food and Independence Day for the beer/bbq/blowing shit up. [Reply]
In reality thanksgiving is a chance for family to bond. Even if it ends up like the griswolds. You have to focus on the fact that it soon will be over and you will get to go back to your mundane life. [Reply]
I feel like shit about it, but my cunt sister has ruined it for me. I’m serious. You just say Christmas or Thanksgiving and I’m in a bad mood. She’s extra goddamned insufferable and nobody will call her on her shit so I just keep my distance. And naturally she has to grandstand about how much of a better everything she is than everybody else. Despite being none of those things she wants to be. And she picks fights about politics, religion, COVID, medical shit she’s all the way wrong on, how much worse her life is than anyone else. WTF ever. She’s going to pick a fight about it. And then be shocked when people push back.
It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just the holiday. But no. We have to do every waking moment for however long my brother is here for. I get away for work a lot. But it just goes in and on and on and makes me want to eat a fucking bullet. I don’t know if that’s her doing or my moms, but fuck man. Let’s do the thing on the holiday and stop by and visit my brother when It’s time. That way we don’t have to feed 20 people for a week or better. Nope. Every second of every day. With a person I can’t be around. It’s caused me some level of brain warp because I just hear one of the two and get mad.
My wife’s family treats me really pretty damn good. And they do holidays in a much more sane fashion, but it’s invariably a fiasco because there are 40 people and it’s just hard. Wife’s sister has grandkids and IMO it’s time to stop doing it with her parents and do our own thing and have her parents come to one. But that’s not happening. 40 people it is.
But yeah. I hate the holidays. I long for something I can do with a reasonable set of reasonable people and I’d go buy a rib roast or something. And try to do something special instead of just managing chaos and avoiding turmoil. [Reply]
I've seen quite a few mention the gift giving madness and I'm 100% in that camp. It's stupid. Spending hours upon hours of shopping trying to find something for everyone only creates unnecessary stress and sometimes even a financial burden, and most often it's just a giant waste of everyone's time and money.
For example, here's a couple pics of my garage:
What in the fuck is someone going to buy me for $40-50 and have it actually be something I need or want? I'll tell you what....not a damn thing. And this doesn't even begin to reflect all the crap in the rest of the house. I already have everything I could ever want and more, I sure as hell don't need anything else cluttering up the place. Honestly I'd rather have someone come over and take something than give me a gift. At least that would help free up some space.
So that leaves 2 other options:
1. Tell people what you want or could use. Well that's dumb and takes away the element of surprise and defeats the purpose of the entire process.
2. Give money. Even worse than #1
Luckily my family sees things the same way so we stopped exchanging gifts between adults a long time ago, and even stopped buying for children in the past 10 years. And we don't miss it at all. [Reply]
