Christmas when I was growing up was wet, cold, and busy... I grew up on a ranch and winters meant feeding livestock, every day. We raised cattle and sheep. The sheep were lambing, and we'd have to bring in the new borns and put them and their mom's in a barn. As a kid I guess I didn't think about it being work. As I got older I realized what it was and didn't enjoy it anymore. Now I really hate to feed cattle and thankfully we no longer have sheep. We have a couple of horses to care for, but I enjoy spending time with them. As I think about it, spending time with the animals is much more preferable than spending time with certain family members !!! I have found I can relax around my horses and dogs, but rarely do so around some family members....Christmas seems stressful to me because of the expectations of $$$ spent or lack of $$$ spent for certain persons (kids that get anything they want and don't appreciate any of it) are my biggest complaint.. As my daughter being an EMT/Fighter (volunteer) helped out at the station on Sat night when Santa was there to give gifts to kids that otherwise wouldn't get stuff. One little girl about 5 yrs old ask for shoes and a sleeping bag so she could stay warm when she visited her mom (mom's going thru rehab) Little girl has "coke" teeth.. It's damn sad when some have so little while others complain they didn't get the latest video game...