like all the fuckin ads with the hugging families around winter. any educationally normal adult knows everyone just gets more stressed, with travel and gifts and social obligations and everything, but you’re not even allowed to…openly feel that, it seems? it’s like there’s this happiness benchmark you have to reach, otherwise you’ll feel even shittier and sadder for not having a happy holiday season
I wish I could convince my family to drop the presents altogether. We’re all adults now, no grandchildren, and all we do is trade money between most of us with gift cards, but still have to find presents for my mother, father, grandma. Kinda stressful when most of them get themselves what they want when they want it.
Once we all became adults, we implemented a secret Santa with a money range. We pick a different theme every year. It is way less stressful to buy for a single adult than to try to find gifts for 12!
We do this in my family as well, with the exception that we all buy stocking stuffers to fill whoever’s stockings we want. Everyone in my family enjoys finding little treats or fun small gifts to put in everyone’s stockings and it’s great to see what everyone comes up with
I tried, but you just get shamed back into the game. Fuck Christmas.
My family did white elephant for a bit. It’s easier to get a novel gift for the game than it is to try and figure out what each relative wants.
Secret Santa or donations to charities of choice maybe? Idk. Presents stress me the hell out because most of the people in my life are impossible to please lol
We started doing that a few years back. Just pool our gift budgets and pick some charities to give to. So much easier and honestly a lot more fun than shopping. We usually still do some stocking stuffers but that’s just small things, little snacks and things.