What's your favorite holiday and why?

Halloween and Thanksgiving because I looooooove Autumn.

Festivus.

Halloween, definitely.

Wayne K said:

Festivus.

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That one's great too. I actually had a festivus pole in my house one year.

Festivus pole dancers are part of the miracle of the whole season.

Any day I get paid not to go to work.

The one where I get to go to Hawaii.

Definitely Thanksgiving - there's no commercial pressure to shop, and it's all about food and family.

uh, this year I guess its labor day because I'm taking off all week and going to vegas.

I don't generally enjoy holidays.

Possibly Easter because it ends up being a long, long weekend.

But as for actual holiday traditions, I would probably say Christmas. Not at all fond of the commercialisation/cheesiness/endless beating over the head with Christmas stuff for months before, but I always enjoy the actual day. I like being with my family and eating too much and giving things to people (we usually do secret santa in my family, one gift to buy and receive each, takes away a lot of the stress and expense). I like how there are virtually no cars on the roads and how you can go past houses and hear people laughing and chatting and music playing and pool splashing and kids playing with their new toys.

Christmas last year was particularly memorable, we were in the UK so while there was not a snowflake in sight, it was still my first cold Christmas, with hot roasted vegetables and Yorkshire pudding and proper flambé desserts. Totally different from the steaming hot Christmases we're used to in the Southern Hemisphere, where people often sit around outdoors in their bathing suits eating cold salads and seafood and drinking ice cold beer while the older men in the family nod off in their deck chairs in the shade.

Kenzie said:

But as for actual holiday traditions, I would probably say Christmas. Not at all fond of the commercialisation/cheesiness/endless beating over the head with Christmas stuff for months before, but I always enjoy the actual day.

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Me, too. And I like Christmas Eve. We all get together at my sister's house and have a great time. My son plays Christmas songs on his keyboard and we sing (off-key a bit). Sometimes we change the lyrics just for fun.

It will be a little sad this year since my mom is gone.

Tyndwald because all the manxies in Brisbane have a great party.

sleepsheep said:

Definitely Thanksgiving - there's no commercial pressure to shop, and it's all about food and family.

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No pressure to shop?? Maybe not for the day itself but to me it spells impending doom - Black Friday the day after and the beginning of the Christmas craziness.

I think I'd have to pick Halloween. I love trying to sync my costume to my kids' in a subversive manner. My favorite year was the one where my kid was a gorilla and I was a guerilla. Not many people got it. O' course that could be 'cause I live in a military town & my costume was BDU bottoms, a long sleeve black t-shirt and a plastic gun. Kinda common.

Any holiday that means I don't have to go to work. I get the most time off for Christmas, so I guess that's my favourite.

I hate Halloween. You don't get the day off anyway. How is it even a holiday?

My fav. holiday is Thanksgiving. Mr. Susie makes a great turkey with all the trimmings. Yummy!

Wayne K said:

Festivus.

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That be the one. It's the only one that management hasn't figured out they can force me to work on. HAPPY FESTIVUS EVERYBODY!!!!!

What is this Festivus of which you all speak?

Festivus is a Seinfeld thing.

I dislike Christmas and Thanksgiving. My favorites are Independence Day (FIREWORKS!) and New Year's Eve. I think the new beginning / clean slate thing appeals to me. And fireworks and drinking.

My family isn't religious, and are very laid-back about Xmas and T-giving, and I've run into some crazy fascist attitudes about it! so I'm sort of scarred by that.

Festivus pre-dates Seinfeld. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus

Ok, it all makes sense now.

I like Christmas itself, but not the months beforehand as people grow increasingly more frenzied in their attempts to outdo each other in the shopping stakes.

kayleamay said:

Festivus pre-dates Seinfeld. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus

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Ooh, I stand corrected... Interesting link!

Silent Rob said:

Ok, it all makes sense now.

I like Christmas itself, but not the months beforehand as people grow increasingly more frenzied in their attempts to outdo each other in the shopping stakes.

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This is part of what bugs me about it. Things get so maniacal. People end up giving you weird stuff just because they think they should.

I do like some things about it, like Christmas trees are a nice idea. They smell good. And now that I have a kid it's a little easier to get thru. But I also have in-laws now... *shudder* and they're very religious and I'm not. Religious Christmas is ALMOST worse than Commercial-Secular Christmas. Level-of-hysteria-wise.