The whole damn Christmas Thing!

Oh my, I agree, just having arguments about who is staying. So much stress and planning, Christmas I could do without.

Christmas was much more low key when I was a child. Just the five of us for Christmas dinner, having had our gifts earlier. The afternoon was spent watching a film or reading books.
On Boxing day we would visit my aunt for tea. I remember jelly and blancmange featured every year.
This was in the 50s post war years but we had a great time without all the worry about a perfect Christmas that seems to have come about in modern times.

Oh I'm so glad those days are over. My DH found his birth family in 2017 after 60 odd years and we were invited over for a couple of Christmases. That seems to have come to an abrupt halt along with Christmas and Birthday presents. There has been no falling out though. My youngest DD comes before Christmas as they live about 1 1/2 away and work hard all year so like their time just chilling out. My eldest DD usually comes for her dinner then goes off to friends or whatever.
We buy ourselves some treats and plan our meals so we don't have to go queuing up in shops.
I just find it all too much. It's so commercialised to the point of being ridiculous. Adverts on tv in September/October and shopping channels selling a lot of Christmas tat.
I will be glad when it's all over.

The trimmings around Christmas can be dialled either up or down depending the person.What can’t is the religious significance of Christmas to Christians which is obvs at the heart of it.
Yes, Dickens through his stories made a big thing of feasts and fun with large families, and Prince Albert brought German traditions of Christmas with him, fir trees full of candles and candied fruits and so on.