What Holiday Obligation are you saying NO to?

As a department we decided NOT to participate in the office decorating competition. Oh, we are going to decorate, but not enter the competition for the right to a trophy for a year. It has gotten so ridiculous with some people who get soooooo competitive, it has sucked the fun out of it.

I am saying no to inviting DH's brother and his wife for Christmas Eve. I'm not even telling DH. He won't do it. He won't even think of it until maybe Christmas Eve.

They never invite us to their house. They never worry about another brother, who is single and very isolated.

Pretending to be 'jolly'. Eff that.

I used to go all out with everything when the kids were little. Haven't done it in years. Sooo much better that way!

No tree this year, I simply don’t feel like it.

Thank you for posting this question! It has given me a lot to think about. We usually host dh's work party, but are not this year. We often wonder if people even want to come and it is so expensive and so much work! Usually I decorate a bunch because of the party, but now that I don't have to I'll probably keep it simple. I do love having the house decorated though... hmmm...

Today was probably the last warm day to do the holiday lights, but we still had to put the deck furniture away so we did that instead. I wonder if I will wish I had done more once the season really gets going? I know I will be thankful afterwards to not have to put everything away so maybe I need to focus on that.

I’m saying no to the office party. I don’t really like parties and by the end of the week I’ve had enough of the work environment.

We are not doing the office Secret Santa. Instead we are pooling our money and buying two or three angel tree requests for clothes or toys.

I'm going a little different this year, I'm saying no to my inclination to be a grinch. I know what I'm going to get everyone in terms of gifts, and several have already been bought. that's the biggest stressor to me, having the money and time to shop. With it done, what's left will be stuff I WANT to do, the baking, letting my oldest DD decorate the way she wants to, stopping and enjoying the season. Too often I let the rhetoric of I hate this echo in my head. So, my tradition of grouching my way through the season is going to stop this year. I'm open to what comes and we'll see if I (gasp) actually enjoy the time this year. If I don't next year I've given myself permission to go back to being a grinch.

May all of you find what you need this season, if not baking or decorating is what you need to do, then do it, or don't do it in this case.

You have to pay to attend your office party??? I've  ever heard of that.

That would be a big no thanks for me.

I work for a school district, and we had to pay for our party, as well. We are reminded regularly that we can’t expect the taxpayers to pay for things like that. (For the record I don’t necessarily disagree, but it can be taken to the extreme at times, but that’s a different discussion). We no longer have these kinds of parties because everyone stopped going.

Ours is held offsite with a full bar and a meal. They sell tickets to cover the cost as well as prizes. it can run 50-80 per couple, but you get a full dinner plus drinks for that cost. 80 per person is insane.

My entire adult life I've been super low key about all of it. There have been years when I don't feel like having a tree and many years when it is totally not a traditional tree, sometimes I don't bake, we haven't put up lights outside in an age, I'm prone to sending out cards every 3 or 4 years.

I'm not grinchy about it, I just do what I feel like and no one seems to mind.

The only thing I can think of that always happens is an advent calendar for ds. He favors the 99 cent one from Trader Joe's.

Driving 10 hours each way to see DHs family. We've been married 5 years and every year, including some of the time we were dating/engaged, we've gone back to see his family. (There is a bit more to the story, and I don't regret coming back to see his family as his mom and last living grandma have passed away during this time, but now there are fairly few relatives and friends left here, we/he come back at least 4x a year, and it was just a matter of "Well, that's what we always do" and me finally having to challenge that thinking.)

This year I told him I want to be in our own home for Christmas and we can trade off in future years. So we came back to see his family for Thanksgiving instead. I'm super excited to be home for Christmas, and the weather was a lot better to travel in too.

I did go all out decorating our house before we left for Thanksgiving because I'm excited about Christmas at home! Two of the last five years we have been moving at Christmas, and sometimes we'd spend a whole week back at his family's, so my holiday decor was pretty minimal.