Vent your holiday stress and drama HERE!

Get some earplugs starting tonight - I too cannot go back to sleep very easily.  

I have a weird relationship with Christmas and I know part of it is because of childhood issues (when my parents were together on holidays, it seemed to melt into some argument with yelling and screaming and so I tend to get stressed over "family" time). I LOVE spending the day with my hubby and my son - we all get along, we don't argue, we do our own thing - sometimes in separate rooms, and heck, we eat on TV trays watching a movie or game. My Mom tends to walk the line between being appalled I don't set a table (why?) and that I don't get together with my sister (again why?).

My sisters were born when I was 12 and they had a different upbringing - parents resolved issues, loved group gatherings (which of course put me on edge as I just waited for a bomb to go off each time) and I was the "built-in" babysitter so no social life at school etc. My sister who lives close by keeps harping that she wants me to join in with her new husband's family gathering because we shouldn't be "alone". UGH. I've tried explaining it multiple times, but like Invisible above, I swear no one hears me because it's not something THEY want to hear. Meanwhile, I'll just keep saying no and enjoying the day our way.

I don't know about anyone else, but Christmas for me meant years of misses in the gift exchanges. My parents would go crazy, but I admit Christmas mornings were disappointing. This year, Mom sent gifts for my birthday and she was all over it telling me over the phone how much I'd love it, my son would love his (Eagle Scout ring - NOT BSA approved) - we'd LOVE it. Well, my son was not impressed - it's a cheap ring that she paid way too much for and so not his taste. And here I am at 60 and my Mom buys me cheap costume jewelry that (a) doesn't fit my wrists and (b) is imported from China and Nepal. I get into such a funk over it - I love horses, scrapbooking, flowers, anything tropical - how did I again end up with yet another THING that I'll never wear? I told my hubby that this is exactly why I'm not into gifting. I'm thankful he gets me I guess!

Now if I could just get hubby to put up a tree instead of cleaning the neighbor's sty house, I'd be really happy!

Don't do it!

For me it’s an example of why I don’t allow certain family members to write on my wall anymore. Telling everyone that my aunt was dead on FB was not cool. BTW at the time of their posting she was still alive. Guess who got to handle the phone calls and texts from other family members about that? Me. And they (the annoying FB posters) wonder why I want very little interaction with them.

I'm feeling blue this season and I just need to get over it because there are so many others that have it so much worse. My parents divorced after 50 years earlier this year. My mom is now re-married and has moved 9 hours away with her new husband. She texted me one Sunday morning saying...."oh by the way, we got married last night". My dad is moving about 8 hours away next month. I get they wanted a fresh start but I'm still sad as I won't get to see my parents at all for the holidays. DH was gone for Thanksgiving and leaves Christmas Eve to go to work. We will celebrate with his side of the family on Sunday but it will just be me and dd on Christmas day.

I hope you all can find some holiday joy despite all the stress!

Ok, I'll share mine too. Divorced 12/28/2018, so 3 days after last Christmas. DD is 16 and lives with me. Ex is in town, she sees him but has never stayed there (yet). Christmas is my favorite holiday!! I guess it's not a big deal to DD. She was invited to her Dad's for breakfast at 9 Christmas morning. I was ok with that, "Santa" could come and she could open the gift and stocking before going over there. Now she says Ex's live-in girlfriend suggested that DD spend the night at their house so she won't have to get up early.
Sure whatever no big deal. Not sure when "Santa" will come. And I'll be alone on Christmas. Not sure I can talk my boyfriend of all of 2 weeks into spending the night for the first time on Christmas Eve. But I'm not afraid to ask.

You don't have to be the one that makes holidays happen. Scale way down. Your children will unfortunately learn (as mine did) where they stand in the grandchild hierarchy (mine are also at the bottom - probably due to my ILs issues with me). Surround them with love and let your DH answer that question.

No way. You can also just get her the Kohls blanket.

My sister-in-law who lives locally to me and her son have the flu. My other sister-in-law who lives in Houston has decided to delay their trip here from Saturday to Monday. Which is fine, except that DH had already asked off for Monday and Tuesday, even though it's year end and he really NEEDS to work to get everything done. So he's going to work on Monday, but he won't be able to take a day off later in the week while his sister is here. So entertaining them and taking my girls to hang out with their cousins falls solely on me. I love my inlaws, but I don't want to spend 5 full days with them. Plus, my SIL is highly allergic to my cats and so I have to clean literally everything in my house so she won't be miserable while she's at my house. I just had my carpets and upholstery cleaned for her, and my cats have to be locked up in a separate room for three extra days because of the delay in our get-together. On top of all that, I had already picked up groceries before I knew they were coming three days late so now I have all this food that I hope won't spoil before I can cook it.

Establish a new tradition now.  You get Christmas Eve with your daughter and the ex can have Christmas Day.  

My illness and my dh's temporary unemployment in November has truly sucked a lot of the joy out of the season for me. It seems that every year I can do less and less and it sucks. We will have a lovely holiday with just the 4 of us but I miss family gatherings.

I usually get to do a lot of donations and random gifts to strangers but this year money is too tight so I can't. It makes me sad but next year I will start getting things a little at a time so no matter what our circumstances I can still do my secret santa.

I wish all of you a beautiful holiday and hope that no matter what you are going through that you can find peace and love.

I couldn't find the 3-wicks at my store, but I did buy two sets of the 3-pack tinned candles to use as stocking stuffers for the women in the family. Wish I could find a few of the 3-wicks for myself.

I had a slight cold in early November that turned into a sinus/ear infection around Thanksgiving. Got over that, had a mild cold that turned into a wicked cough. I'm on prescription cough syrup and it isn't doing anything to give me any relief. I've been coughing like this for over a week... my ribs and back hurt, I can't sleep and I gave birth to big babies (over 10 lbs.) and apparently have weak pelvic floor muscles. Let's just say I'm keeping depends in business with all this coughing... sorry, TMI . I just want to feel good so I can enjoy Christmas with my family... DS is 19 and I don't know how many more Christmases we'll have with him at home.