@chaski Said
I like it better with out all the smaller kids and gifts/gift wrapping overload.
In my family all the kids are ages 19 to 30... none as yet have their own children.
Thus Christmas is an adult thing that mostly revolves around good food, good company and varying degrees of booze (depending on the individual).
Conversations on politics are verboten (mostly). We all like the traditional Christmas Carols and traditional Christmas decorations. We send Christmas cards to each other and all our friends. We are somewhat split over the traditional live green Christmas tree vs White Christmas Tree...though not enough to argue over.
We say "Happy Holidays" from Dec 2nd to Christmas Eve. During this period we pepper that with "Merry Christmas" as we see fit. On Christmas Eve/Christmas Day, "Merry Christmas" takes over completely. The day after Christmas we shift to "Happy Boxing Day". We then shift back to "Happy Holidays" until New Years Eve/New Years Day when we say "Happy New Year"... then we mix it up with either "Happy New Years" or "Happy Holidays" until January 6th.
We do acknowledge Hanukkah to both each other and our Jewish friends... sometimes attending their celebrations if invited (I usually am).
We get dressed up for meals & parties with Christmas like clothing... we sometimes wear ugly Christmas sweaters and Santa Hats.
Most of us avoid going out on New Years eve over a
fear of drunk drivers.
For the most part Christmas decorations stay up until January 6th (the Epiphany).
It is a great and festive season!
Festive is good....