Carol, I honestly feel like I have not had a "real" Christmas since I was about 14. The "Family" used to gather at my grandmother's house, about 50 of us. I remember a BIG table for the grown ups and one in the kitchen for the kids. I only remember being seated at the grown ups table once, before she died.

I don't really have a Holiday Phobia, but I don't really enjoy them much either, since then. I guess that means, since I am responsible for providing the "atmosphere" that I don't really want to provide. Consequently, I do damn little for the Holidays. All I really want to do is hide out and ignore the whole thing.

My family is so scattered and fragmented; the cousins so dispersed, that I have little interest in providing a "Holiday" for anyone, esp if it means I have to work all day cooking for only 4 of us..........

All I want to do for Halloween anymore is turn out the porch light, hide in the back room and light a couple of candles to simulate bonfires and run my "livestock" thru them. The neighborhood kids can go somewhere else to get their candy. Candy is not the meaning of All Hallows Eve for me.

November, US Thanksgiving? Just another Thursday to me; meaning Dog Day. Groom, clip nails, brush teeth, etc. Still looking for a Nursing Home that ignores Thanksgiving so I can go there. It's just an excuse for us wimmen to cook our asses off.

Christmas? Since I am no longer a Christian, it is just a marketer's excuse for me to spend money. I am real tired of Christmas before Halloween. For the last 6 years, I have refused to even put up a Tree.......or cook a "Christmas Meal". I suppose I should feel sorry for my grandchildren to be, but somehow, I don't.

New Year's Eve? Well that is an excuse for the group/jam band to party at someone's home, but we usually break up well before midnight because we are all old --I am the youngest and I am 49..........

If you want alternate Holidays, look up Kwanza, a sort of made up African/American holiday close to Christmas. Me, I'd just rather forget their existance, except for the kids being out of school so we don't have to get up so early.

I admit I am a pessimist and a cynic.