I’m not religious so it’s just a cultural holiday. It used to be a time for family gatherings. Grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, etc. Most times I felt it was a pain in the ass. Now they are all dead and gone. In retrospect I wish I had taken more time to enjoy those family get togethers.

Not much. Didn’t grow up with it, and trying to celebrate it when I’m older without kids or parents is weird. It’s time off work for me and not much more.

Capitalist holiday preserved by corporate to sell shit

I very much hate christmas. Having a specific day to give everyone something is stupid. We already have everything we want (that’s not too expensive to be a gift), and even if there’s something special, christmas ruins it by being expected. In my family we finally managed to drop the charade after grandma died. Sadly, gonna be celebrating christmas with my GF’s family, and so far I’ve been unsuccessful in making them understand that I don’t want shit from them.

Christmas is just a giant collection of obligations that leaves us all worse off. Like getting and advent calendar, everyone gets mad when I skip days, just because I don’t care about Christmas. In my country we also have 3 days where all stores are closed for it. Great shit…

I love Christmas, and Thanksgiving. Opportunities to spend quality time with family are hard to come by these days, but it’s just as important as ever. I also like the core message of “the holiday spirit”, but not the gross consumerism it has been turned into. Love your brethren, peace on earth, and all that good old fashioned shit. Fuck yeah!

Of course it’s a very hard time of year for people without family or loved ones, and for people with emotional issues. I sympathize with those people. I’ve been one of those people at various points of my life. My mom gets super depressed every Christmas because it reminds her of a bunch of shit I don’t want to share on Lemmy. So I’m sorry that it’s hard for you. You do matter. Merry Christmas.

I still enjoy Christmas but there is a bittersweet element now due to loss, experience and outgrowing the magic. The values of cherishing family, friends and community are still important but I don’t make myself a wreck for the season.

I do what feels good and reasonable. That varies each year with my situation. It’s normal and not something to worry about. I’m a real person. I don’t exist in an advert so I don’t try to live like that.

As long as I can sit at the table with my loved ones and share the traditional meals then it is enough. I don’t need gifts or lavish parties. I also only give gifts when it feels right to me.

My country is small and we have Boxing Day so I don’t suffer the travel stress that Americans do. Maybe I would give up on Christmas if I had to deal with that. (Boxing Day should be a human right… ha ha)

Unlike another poster, I like that most stores are closed. I like the idea of everyone having time off together. I do get the poster’s sentiment though. I once felt that way. It can be really inconvenient if an unexpected need pops up.

I don’t like how commercialised Christmas has become but I mostly don’t let that influence me. A pet peeve of mine is Christmas advertising starting months early. It makes the season stale so I avoid the ads as much as I can and I don’t start listening to Christmas music until the weekend before the big day.

Christmas Eve with my family and the following two days visiting other family are nice. The whole buildup though December always pisses me off.

I don’t really enjoy the holidays. It’s too much stress, too many conflicting family obligations, too much effort dodging the religious aspects, too much forced cheer, and it all just makes me sad. Marginally I like putting up a tree, but after a couple of weeks I get tired of remembering to water it. I skip as much of the holidays as I can, and try to enjoy the small parts that don’t annoy me.

I work in education. Christmas time is so much better with kids. It feels empty without some 9-y-o bouncing off the walls and telling you all the things he wants for Christmas.

No, I hate Christmas with a passion. Despite having pagan roots, the modern version is a BS Christo-capitalist holiday. All it does is remind me (and others like me) how much our families hate us and how much this country sucks. This year is especially bad, since we’re a month out from a fascist takeover that threatens to genocide us.

Fake Christmas cheer is sickening

Do not measure your life by the holidays, any of them. No one is a failure because a holiday is not perfect. And being alone is not always a bad thing. Be thankful that you are not in a toxic or violent relationship. And single people are not losers. Every individual gets to decide how, when and if they participate in social rituals, and holidays are one of them. It’s ok to hate them or love them. But it’s never ok to make others, or yourself, feel bad for having and making your own choices about social rituals. I personally left holidays in the past many years ago. I’m done, I’m full thanks. And I won’t feel bad because someone wants or expects me to participate. And I won’t make others feel bad because they don’t hold my views. We are all Human, and we all get to decide whats best for our self.

christmas to me means moving on to become a better and happier person, spending time with family that visits town, realizing i still have time left to turn my life around. good feelings but also very nostalgic, thank you for the question!!!

None of these holidays have any meaning.

I think as far as holidays go, it’s pretty decent:

• I get some work free time.
• It’s a distraction from the fact that there’s no fucking daylight which makes me miserable.
• I get some gifts and give some gifts. It’s not about their material worth but it’s cool that people actively try make someone else happy. We don’t do that everyday.
• There is a lot of colorful lights. I love colorful lights.
• I get a lot of time to hyperfixate on some kind of programming / linuxing computer stuff. Maybe gaming.

I feel like a lot negatives of Christmas don’t affect me because: I don’t watch TV or ads, don’t go much to shops or any public places for that matter, I don’t really use social media outside of Lemmy. Also, I don’t have a big extended family.

Time off work with holiday pay, If you’re lucky.

Otherwise it’s a capitalism thing to buy stuff to make companies money.