Do I HAVE to?

[docellis]

I don't want to do Thanksgiving or Christmas. I want to enjoy not working.

[Freed Roger]

If you can, without alienating yourself beyond repair from people you care about, then definitely go for it. Maybe you can target the people you really care about that might be offended, and make a surgical holiday strike to satisify the obligations and then go about your own [expletive].

I used to really like Thanksgiving. Easy, no gifts. Grandmas. Chill. For the last several years we've been traveling to my sister in-laws. I like them, for the most part- but its a pain in the ass and exhausting. No lounging around after eating, watching football, or movies. No joking about shirking dish duty- because the other guys in the clan are competitive dish cleaners, (aka p-whipped...I do my share of the cooking and dishes, but with dishes it's no [expletive] competition for me).

We get off work today and it's off to the store to get [expletive] to make to take with and driving up to Chicagoland.

We visited up there with them this summer for no occasion and enjoyed it. It's the extra hoopla and my sister inlaws imposed pretense on the occasion ( a schedule, agenda) that makes it less enjoyable at the holidays. We get a few moments with my family up there, but since my family side is not as anal-y organized, that gathering doesn't stand a chance.

Maybe schedule a vacation trip or something -say you got a deal that you couldn't pass up. Anyway, I'm tired and rambling and drinking procrastinating because I have 50 things to do before we leave tomorrow AM.

[StL Dan]

Go for it, doc! Be happy!

[Jocephus]

im pretty much the same way

[go birds]

same.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are more work than actual work, i feel.

Thanksgiving Eve is the most wonderful drinking night of the year, but I won't be partaking because i have to wake up earlier than i normally would for work and drive home to hang out with family for a few hours, which is nice, but I'm over by like hour 3. My family doesn't drink so its boring as hell.

I might be an alcoholic.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I have basically been told to stay out of the kitchen....so I drink and listen to Pandora just outside and chit chat with everyone. which is nice.

[cardinalkarp]

Used to do the whole major family ordeal for thanksgiving, it just began to be a pain in the @ss. My wife & I will go when it's at my parents house but if it's at one of my aunts house we just do our own mini thanksgiving at our place where my parents, sister & her husband come over. It's still a good bit of work because we make pretty much everything & I do my tradition of smoking a turkey breast (as opposed to everyone bringing a dish)...but it's nice to not have to worry about leaving the house.

Oh, and I'm sure the rest of the family is annoyed by this but at this point I don't give a rats @ss...we do all the Xmas hubbub and that's enough for my wife & I.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

but it's nice to not have to worry about leaving the house.

++ I would rather cook everything than have to go somewhere.

[IMADreamer]

We go two freaking hours away to some relatives. This would be fine if it was just me but since my parents are old I have to take them as well. Not that I don't in driving them but when my Mother is involved you can bet on the day being living hell. First she just can't get her [expletive] together which means five minutes before we need to leave she's fixing something, then she's not even ready. Then as we are leaving she realizes the dog needs something. Then there is the drive. Slow down, speed up, you're too close to that guy, why are you so far from that guy, I'm hot, I'm cold, the radio is too quiet, the radio is too loud. Every year on the way to Thanksgiving dinner there is a good chance I intentionally drive us all into a tree.

Then we get there. I have a huge family so it means upwards of 50 people at our dinner. Most are very nice, some are really cool, and a few are complete and total [expletive] [expletive]. Then there is ultra conservative Glenn Beck worshiping dick back of a cousin-in law. Who thinks the holidays are a time to tell everyone how evil Barrack Obama is.

I'd really just like to go get a pizza and go to my cabin and watch the river flow by.

[Radbird]

Good news: we're going to friends house for TDay dinner. Since I am primary cook, this is a welcome relief. All we have to do is bring a fruit salad - no cooking and about 10 minutes prep time.

Bad news: we're going to friends house for TDay dinner - and much of their extended family will be there. Lots of idle banter with people I don't know. [expletive]. I've successfully minimized my time by volunteering to pick up our neighbors from the airport at the same time the festivities start so I'll be at least an hour late. Which means I get kudos for being a good neighbor as well. In corporate speak, that's a win-win.