I'm not doing either.

I've volunteered to work.

It didn't land on me to work Xmas as I'm days, but one of the shift teams have to do it.

This way I get double time and someone with family gets to spend Xmas with their loved ones.

I hate this time of year.

I used to spend Xmas day alone seeing if I could drink more than the year before.

2005 is an impossible year to beat

create a ritual that makes you happy - doesn't have to be christmas - just something that is /yours/

I don't know what I will be doing yet,probably celebrating with loved ones.
Christmas to me is only for the little ones now. I love seeing their faces when they open there presents.
I also have 6 stockings full of goodies for when the family come round.
Think I might hunt out the xmas cd as well.
Or I might just get plastered on baileys and burn the turkey.. hmm decisions..

Yearly family dinner & menorah lighting scheduled for next weekend, bringing kibbeh.
A grandfather in law used to accompany all the songs with his harmonica, thought that was quite a ludicrous / jovial instrument.

My parents are Muslim so we never celebrated Christmas but after I got married, my husband and I celebrate (since he’s Christian.)

This year money is tight so we’re doing Secret Santa with everyone.

Every year we watch the Star Wars movies. The originals. It’s fun. He usually falls asleep in the middle 😊

I thought Muslims had a version of xmas?
Considering the basis of both religions are similar, just a different god...

They have Eid but it’s nothing like Christmas. They are very similar in their beliefs 😊

I want to be eating pizza and drinking vodka, but apparently im not allowed and must conform to the traditional dinner of dry turkey and over cooked carrots.

Well ****shit - thinking of you!

My plans are seeing my parents, and playing card games with my fiance... really low key, but imho thats the way it should be...

Haha Nix it can't be that bad. Just close your eyes and imagine that juicy pepperoni pizza taste.
People are not as traditional these days( at least not some of the people I know anyway) they plan on going for a Chinese or an Indian.
I do like a roast dinner now and again but the only thing different is crackers on the table at xmas.
It gets tedious at times. I plan on getting merry and singing along to xmas songs while pulling crackers and watching kids enjoy there day.

Is it a potluck sorta dinner? Could bake pizza and bring that, have yet to get turned down when increasing diversity.

My advice: be good to yourself. Get yourself something you like. See a good movie--even if it's at home on television or a DVD.

What are your mom's prospects for recovery? Was she taking her blood pressure meds before?

If a person has high blood pressure, and does not take the meds, he/she will eventually have a debilitating stroke.

Hope your mom recovers--and hope you get some useful information from the hospital.

Make sure she takes them. Older people are absolutely notorious for failing to take their meds!

My christmases have shrunk over the years. They use to be huge, my entire mothers side getting together under one roof to eat and play games and eat some more. Then, my mamaw passed away. And my mothers siblings didn't want to have christmas anymore with us. So now it's my mom, dad, me and my brother. It's nice to have a day off work and see my parents and of course to exchange gifts but I can't help feeling that it's a bit small.

As a kid, my Christmases were huge. My grandparents on mom's side of the family would host a huge shindig on Christmas Day for all aunts, uncles, cousins....AND my grandparents on my dad's side of the family would do the same thing on Christmas Eve. Kids all got together, hyped on candy and new toys, and ran amuck. It was great

Around 2010 ish, my mom started to do the holiday dinners (both of my dad's parents had passed by then; my mom's mom was getting older and didn't want to do it anymore). However, going to my mom's house is super duper stressful. She's all hyped up about how hard it is to do Christmas (or any holiday for that matter) and how much work it is. She's always super stressed. It sucks

In 2005, we moved to a town a couple hundred miles away, and a couple years later, I started to experiment on doing my own Thanksgivings, etc., so we would not have to travel to the high stress place....ended up being very easy and laid back. One year, I hosted TG for 27 people....I did cook all day for that one, but was never stressed. Another year, my son was barely 2 weeks old. Even with a 2 week old, I managed to put on a pretty impressive TG feast....not quite ALL the trimmings, but pretty good. Not quite as early as I would have liked, but hey...

It's very, very hard to get out of going to my mom's for Cmas...the biggest holiday of all. So I'm sorta dreading it. However, my husb has to work Cmas day, so we are going a little before and coming back home on the 23rd. SC will visit the kids on the night of the 23rd and I will cook a meal on the 24th and that is when we will celebrate our precious Christmas time.

Speaking of Muslims, Araz...one year, when we were lucky enough to be home on the actual Christmas Day, we used to live by a park...out our back yard was a big park...and our friends, who were Muslim, were at the park on Christmas Day...a woman, her 4 kids and her mother, visiting from Egypt.

I sent my son out to invite them to Cmas dinner, expecting that they would decline. But they accepted!! All of a sudden, I had to rifle through cabinets and start preparing extra recipes to stretch the food! They came over 4 hours later, and a big meal was laid out...there ended up being plenty of food, albeit some was maybe less "traditional" Christmas food (I made a bunch of fried chicken in a pinch to stretch the meat, since I had ham and that wouldn't work for them, etc) I have to say that Christmas is one of my absolute sweetest and most cherished Christmas memories. We had a fab time and it was full of friends and love....Christians and Muslims sharing a Christmas Dinner...who would've thunk it? It was precious

Run around your neighborhood naked. Count all the pets and children you scare.

Try to top yourself next year...

Aww PepperJ that sounds beautiful!

Every day is a holiday for me, so x-mas isn't special.. just annoying. I get a couple of gifts from my sisters and send off some to them & the kids.

I'm gonna fly to see my love, but fly back on Christmas day because my family wants me around. I am scared it'll break my heart to leave. I'm already wondering about the cost of missing a flight home...two weeks of work at least? Maybe I could miraculously convince him to come back with me for a few days? I'm so so excited.

My parents are forcing me to do the Christmas thing with them this year, but I'm not really all that excited about it. Thankfully, it's just going to be a small one, and then I'll come back to my house for some peace and quiet before my sane sister-in-law (brother's ex) and her kids and husband come to visit for New Year. Ironically, just as I was typing this, my mother called to wish me happy Chanukah (first night tonight).

My brother and his psychotic fiance can shove it, though. I'm going to save money this year and onward because I'm not getting a damn thing for them.

On a happier note, one of my oldest and closest friends is coming to spend Christmas for the first time in years since he moved interstate, so I'll get to see him at some point when he's not busy with his family. It will be the first Christmas I've spent with him in 10 years.