The weather in San Francisco has been so sunny and warm lately that it's strange to think the holiday season is upon us. Now that Halloween has passed, we can expect to see decorations all around reminding us that we need to make plans for Thanksgiving and eventually start our holiday gift shopping.
Of course, the holidays aren't all about entertaining and shopping — ideally they're about spending quality time with family and friends, eating delicious dishes, and enjoying our other favorite festive traditions. Do you think we're about to begin (perhaps prematurely) the most wonderful time of the year?
Source: Flickr User Jybet
Graeme Black
Paul Smith
Nike
I absolutely freaking ADORE the holidays, and I always have. We do a ton of fun immediate family stuff and decorate and go places...lots of big dinners and late nights, and I'm looking forward to Christmas morning for my daughter..so much fun
1I love the holidays. I hate the crowds and going to malls this time of year, but I love the decorations the food and all the parties.
2Three words. Presents, presents, presents!!!!
3I always have so much hope and anticipation for the holidays. This year, I'm extra poor so I won't be doing much in the present department, which makes me sad. I love gift giving!
4love the holidays. its one long celebration!
5Both. I love the Holidays and I think they're overly commercialized. I just ignore all the commercialism and focus on my family and our traditions and I truly enjoy the Holidays.
6I voted no because it's too stressful for someone like me to try to afford buying presents for people.
If I had the money, I would love the holidays.
7I love the holidays! In my family the holidays are about family and spending time together, not presents. Every year we have thanksgiving at my house and Christmas at my aunts, its always really great and this year my brother will be home so it will be even better.
8I don't buy presents for people very often.. growing up our parents got for us, and sometimes their parents, but for the most part it was very family oriented. My cousin one of those types that buys for everyone and anyone and totally exhausts and stresses herself out doing it. She spends thousands of dollars on Christmas, which is ridiculous in my opinion. I will follow in my parents footsteps and purchase gifts for our kids and my husband, espeically since we dont purchase random toys or gifts during the year at all really, and leave it at that.
9I love this time of year! I love gift giving and being with family. Love the decorations and the smells and the warmth. LOVE LOVE LOVE!
B1uebunn - I know what you mean about being broke! The past two years I was finishing up my degree and wasn't able to spend a lot of money on gifts....I hated it!
10I love the holidays. I love to give gifts. The best moment is the look on someone's face when they open up a gift to see something you know they want but would never buy for themselves. My husband hated the holidays until he met me. Now we are creating our own traditions and it's so nice and personal.
My husband has been unemployed for over a year now so we definitely know about money being tight. I'm going to knit scarves to give as gifts to non-immediate family members to help cut down on the cost of the holidays. (I am really good at knitting and since so many people ask me to knit them scarves I figure this would still be a great personal gift.)
11I love making gifts for people, and like Yogaforlife, I tend to knit scarves and/or toques for all my family. (yes, I'm Canadian, hence the "toques" hah). This year though, since all my family received beautiful scarves from me last year, I am knitting up a storm making coffee sleeves in every colour imaginable. Maybe not as nice as a cozy scraf, but it's something people can use all year long and think of me while enjoying a nice cup of joe...
12I voted no because...
I live in the midwest and I am not a winter person (yes I should move!)
13I think Christmas is great if/when you have you're own family (I'm not married)
Money as we all know has been generally tight.
I don't like the crowds/marketing/media...
HOWEVER
I do like the MEANING of the holidays...
Just call me Scrooge. Bah humbug!
In any case, I think it's disgusting that retailers had Christmas displays up before Halloween. Next year, it will be Christmas at Labor Day!
14Ha odyssea - the christmas merchandise starts arriving in July! I was a manager in charge of seasonal merchandise at a local Lord & Taylor when I was 19 and I remember having to go through the Christmas shipments in July and August. The Christmas displays/merchandise had to be up by September 15. Anything Halloween or Thanksgiving related got put in a small display next to the entrance. Drives me crazy - I heard stores playing Christmas music last week.
15I don't know. It's not like the corporate wh***ing is that much worse during Christmas than the rest of the year. Our entire society is already so synthesized and manufactured that I'm skilled at tuning it out.
I really love picking out the perfect gifts for people in my life I really care about. I also love the anticipation of getting the things I'd never buy for myself.
16I love the holidays. I am actually okay with foul weather during the holidays (it's after that it gets annoying!).
I love the decorations, and the lights, family gatherings, family dinners, the music, the smells.
I love the love that is exchanged during the holidays. Moreso than any other time of the year - people are willing to open up and show their love and good feelings toward others.
I love having my tree up and decorated, and sitting in a dark room with candles lit and the tree on, cuddled up with the person I love.
It's a feeling I wish I could bottle and open up on my worst days.
17I LOVE the holidays! Thanksgiving, Hanukkah for my bf, Christmas for me, my birthday, then New Year's. It's a nonstop celebration! It's not all about presents (but those are nice too!)- I just like the decorations, the hot cocoa, spending time with extended family, Christmas songs, and Charlie Brown specials on tv!
18I love the holidays. They are only as over-hyped and materialistic as you want to make them. I love the goodwill that escalates at this time of year. There are many get-togethers to attend in the next two months. I am not big on spending money on silly presents. I have some presents to make and other than that my husband and I will buy some cases of two-buck chuck to mull and give to friends.
19Snuggled on the couch in the glow of my tiny Christmas tree with my husband and a cup of cocoa? While watching A Christmas Story for the 80 millionth time? Yes, please!
We try our best to pare down on the commercialism. Presents only go to immediate family and each other. One extra gift to go in his extended family's annual White Elephant. For friends, we just have a mutual understanding on the no-gifts deal. That way, we always have a little extra left over to donate to a local charity and our church.
20As a kid, I loved the holiday's. I loved seeing my cousins, everyone dressed up and all that kind of stuff. I always had the best time around the holiday's. Then I I got older. Then I moved out. Then I moved to a different state. Holiday's now? I'm already sad -- this is the 3rd year in a row I will not see at least my mom on Christmas. We are spending this holiday with my BF's family. Last year, my boyfriend and I were all alone with nothing to do on Christmas so we went to the only store open, a drugstore and hung out for a while. So depressing. We get gifts for immediate family only. As for each other...we gave each other gifts once, which was a few years ago now. My boyfriend isn't a fan of gifts (he has a cheap tendency, haha) and I don't care either way. I mean, at this point, it would take more than a gift to make the holiday's something fun again.
At this point in my life, I absolutely hate the holiday's with a passion. Every time I see Christmas stuff I just want to cry.
21I do love the holidays it brings something out in most people that is comforting like cooperation, lol.
I've cooked most Thanksgiving dinners for my family and friends since the age of seven so it's definitely in my blood. My grandfather was a cook my dad was a cook and of course I can throw down in the kitchen too. Only thing I don't like about the Holidays is the weight gain. I always find my self with an extra ten to fifteen after New Years then spend the next two months burning it off but I guess the memories make it worth the trouble.
22I love the holidays (always have) and am so looking forward to spending it with my family.
23I love the holidays! I hate the angry people, the selfishness that it creates, the long lines, the terrible parking, the "boyfriend season" that begins just about now.., and everything else thats negative about the happiest time of the year.
But I love Christmas!
24Sometimes, but generally, I find it stressful, especially when it comes to family and in-law gatherings. Thank goodness for alcohol is all I can say.
The only holiday ritual I enjoy is the get-together I have with a dear friend. We're long time friends. We always have our heart-to-heart talks, and toast the holidays.
25I love it. All the decorations, Christmas music and general love in the air is well worth the odd bit of stress here and there.
26I have a love/hate relationship with the holidays. I don't feel all that comfortable around most of my family and feel like there are alot of expectations when I see them around the holidays. I like to have mellow holidays, with just a few close friends and family, instead of giant parties. I love the weather, love the food, hate the music and hate not having money to get gifts for people. So it's a mixed bag for me.
27aww Chrstne, i know how you feel. We just recently moved to the state my parents live in after spending the 3 years after i first moved out miserable for the holidays. My first after i moved out on my own, Christmas they were all busy and excited and barely spared me even any phone time and it was sad. I cried my brains out because the celebrations were such a huge part of who i am. It only took 3 miserable overworked years/holiday seasons for me to realize that i had no wish to be states away from my family.
28The holidays are my favorite time of the year. It really brings out the goodness in people.
29I would like an in-between option. Sometimes I love them, and sometimes money stress and too much family makes me want to hide.
30I just wanted to clarify that when I say I hate the commercialism of the Holidays I mean the "buy this, buy that, buy this.." advertising all over the place. I love the decorations and music though.
We're in a different situation than some of you have expressed. We've actually had the best Holidays the past 4 years because we moved far away from our family. When we lived in the same city as our family the Holidays were anything but joyful. Now that it's just our little family of six celebrating on our own, it's so much more joyful, happy, warm and cozy. But I do understand those that have good Holidays with family having a hard time adjusting when you're away from that.
31It's the most wonderful time of year... I'm always sad when it's over!
32LOVE the holidays!!! Theyre such an incredibly special time.
33It was a very interesting revelation that as I've grown up, the act of giving all the gifts has somewhat overshadowed the act of receiving them. It's a really nice feeling. ^-^
34I love the holidays but struggle with them as an expat; Thanksgiving and Christmas are not holidays where I live now, and I can't get back home to see my family until Chinese New Year (which, not being Chinese, is not quite the same as a big Christmas Eve at Grandma's). So I try hard to make Christmas in China and not feel sad about it, though it is not easy.
35my kids make me love it more every year
36Post New Comment
Please share your opinion with our community, but make sure it is on topic and follows our Community Rules. We moderate comments and prohibit personal attacks, threats, spam, lewd images, or the promotion of your personal website.