i agree. i think the most fun holidays are when everyone just relaxes and doesn't worry about having the perfect present or the perfect dinner.

Just drink through it. It's worked for centuries.

Gail,

Don't you think women today try too hard... more so than women before? I think 9/11 changed the way women think and live. A lot of high-powered career types left work to be stay at home moms, and now put that same pressure on themselves to be over achievers at home. The mommies of the world today are scary!!

9/11? Wow! Even I would've been hard pressed to tie frenetic holiday domestic issues to 9/11, and I can tie it to ANYthing. Kudos. And mommies have always been scary, especially in organized groups.

Let's face it... if women were to go "on strike" during the holidays there would be NO CHRISTMAS at all! "Santa" is not and never will be a man... only a woman can fill boots that big!!

Sexist comments like the one from "Santa's helper" have no place in our society. Keep that kind of hate to yourself please, as we dont want to read it.

Time for the 12 beers of x-mas!

Mass media is now the single greatest influense on our society. We can't even enjoy an evening with our families without being reminded to worship public figures. In particular, Hollywood celebrities, who spend a fortune (wealth reaped from the middle class) on high fashion, make-up, cosmetic surgery, homes, cars, boats, and extravogant living. They deliberately garner as much attention as possible and flaunt themselves in front of our spouses, our familes, our friends, and our co-workers. Who often have more love and admiration for celebrities than us 'common folk'. We can't read the paper, watch the news, turn on the TV, or do much of anything without being reminded of their superiority. They earn more, own more, live better, and live longer. and not by any kind of reasonable scale. Its a sickening daily reminder of a growing injustice. So many social and economic problems caused by a growing obsession with greed and vanity. An obsession which has been promoted and celebrated for decades.

Cowards.

Earlier, I posted a comment about Holiday stress. I tried to explain how the American people have been turned into perfect little credit card junkies. Deeper in debt and more stressed out than ever before. I tried to explain how the media are partially responsible. There was no profanity, no name calling, and no threat of any kind. My points were valid. I must have hit a nerve. That comment was deleted. I expect my last 2 comments (posted at 2:24 and 2:25) to be deleted as well. I would like to see my comments restored and answered. In the meantime, I will call the local radio show and make the same valid points. Gail might want to listen if she is in the area.

I have to retract my last 2 comments (2:25 and 2:47). When I typed the first comment with regard to the richest 1%, their various industries, and the shrinking middle class ATM machine, I did send it but I might not have confirmed its place on the blog. I stand by the original points. Many Americans are stressed because of their financial status. and that you can blame in part, on the richest 1%. They have deliberately orchestrated a MASSIVE transfer of wealth FROM US TO THEM. They now own more than 1/2 of all United States wealth. As a direct result, the middle class is deeper in debt than ever before. We work more hours, bounce more checks, loose more sleep, gain more weight, take more drugs, and struggle just to make ends meet. The unreasonable, unjust, and downright obscene distribution of wealth has had a profound effect on our culture, our health, the crime rate, the housing market, the job market, and the economy in general. That is the underlying cause for much of our stress and anxiety.

A number of years ago I remember feeling very rushed and quite not ready for Christmas. I began to feel stressed and I stopped myself. . .thought, "Hey, Christmas, the real Christmas, the birth of the Christ child will come and go no matter whatever I do or don't do." I became ever more ingrained in the meaning because if you sit quietly at midnight between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, you will know what I mean. . .you'll be able to feel the meaning whether or not all of those little extras are finished or not. A couple of years I did not send cards, but chose not to stress or I may have only made one pie instead of two, and sometimes the Christmas was quiet and cozy or very hectic. Yes, I felt food, a tree, and presents were pretty much basic if one allows themselves to be basic about it and not to go overboard.
Some years I had more energy than others depending upon what was going on with our life at that time. I began to allow myself to slack off a bit in the name of the meaning & focused on Jesus.