I am a big holiday hater, so…yeah. Ready to go back to work.
Why I am a holiday hater? Not sure. I have a few hypotheses, though.
It doesn’t help that holidays are supposed to be scheduled happy time. We all know how much I love scheduled anything.
Kids, being kids, love the holidays (*wipes sweat off brow, relieved she didn’t ruin her kids with her anti-holiday juju*) and husband has great holiday spirit. Like a silent Grinch, I step back and let him take the lead in holiday cheer. He loves shopping for presents and decorating the tree with the kids; I hate all of those activities but I will contribute sweat equity by wrapping everything he bought and ensuring that everyone is fed. Repeatedly. Endlessly.
Seriously. The unholy trinity of food shopping, prep, and cleanup are a domestic scourge. Some students asked me a few years ago what my favorite food was. I said “Anything I don’t have to cook.” Seriously. So sick of cooking. Takeout is expensive and somehow always underwhelming. But everyone needs to eat, multiple times a day. Repeatedly. Endlessly.
How’s your Thanksgiving break going, US blogosphere? Otherwise, how’s your weekend?
xykademiqz 
Being a professor has sucked a lot of joy out of the holidays for me, because they come at such a busy time of the academic calendar. There’s a lot of work to have a proper holiday as an adult, but to have that at the peak of the busy season? Especially since the next academic term used to start in very early January, so as soon as I finished grading for my fall classes I had to start class prep.
Even worse, my wife used to work retail. Imagine trying to do the work of the holiday season while you’re hitting end-of-semester deadlines and your spouse absolutely cannot take time off work.
Bah humbug.
It’s better now, since we changed our academic calendar and don’t start until late January, and my wife no longer works retail. Still. I lost some holiday spirit.
When working at an adult hospital during residency, the holidays were the absolute WORST because the ORs ran even later than usual (think 7-8 PM on average if you were not scheduled to work late, later if you were) because people wanted to get their surgeries done before the end of the year 2/2 insurance deductibles. I have long since outsourced the food and present wrapping to my husband. He also cleans. I pick out presents because he is bad at that. This year I also ordered Thanksgiving so he wouldn’t have to cook all day, which was nice because he wasn’t tired and grumpy after a long day of cooking on Thanksgiving. The holidays are not bad if you manage to avoid toxic relatives and most of the work. đŸ˜‰
This post speaks to me. I don’t even have kids, but I dislike most holidays. It’s all family expectations and rampant unnecessary consumerism and waste. Plus I’m not religious, so I don’t even recognize the ‘reason’ for many North American holidays. With so many holidays in the winter, which here in Alberta sucks balls, that adds to the lowered enjoyment. It’s dark for 75% of the day, frigidly cold and snowy. I agree too about the forced happiness and togetherness. Why can’t we just have a big meal or a fancy pie and a family get together when we feel like it? In fact, my husband and I do just that. I randomly ordered a fancy cake about a month ago because I wanted a fancy cake. We basically don’t celebrate holidays anymore. Last year we drove up to visit family in August (when the weather in Northern Alberta is lovely) and gave nieces/nephews Christmas presents in August. Then the two of us went to Mexico for Christmas.
I must also comment on your line “Takeout is expensive and somehow always underwhelming.” YES. So much yes. I’ve been trying to support the local businesses during the pandemic, but am not eating in restaurants, and fuck does takeout suck. I don’t understand why people do this regularly and by choice when there’s not a raging pandemic? It combines the worst attributes of in-restaurant dining and food delivery: (1) having to drive to a restaurant and (2) eating slightly cold, slightly old, food. Some things transport better than others (Indian, sushi, pizza are usually OK) but good grief have I had some mediocre takeout over the past 8 months. Every time I see a blogger post a takeout burger and fries (PLATED no less) I’m like, “There’s no doubt in my mind that’s a very cold, very mediocre meal.”