Anonymous wrote:DH does almost nothing. I forced him to help with wrapping last year and continued this year. But we do it together. Other than that, nothing. No gift buying, no cooking, no cleaning, no activity planning. We both work full time, my job is more stressful and demanding.

It’s really frustrating and I pretty much hate Christmas.

Omg. I can recall my mother having a meltdown about “how much she f*ing hates Christmas” every year, and while I don’t do that, I totally get it now.

Anonymous wrote:PP here - you all have shitty husbands and should have set better expectations early on.

Or they don’t care about Christmas- at all, and they wouldn’t blink an eye and would be totally happy if “Christmas” didn’t happen. Don’t think you somehow have a better husband because he wraps presents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious, how is Christmas prep divided in your house?

I do 100% of the planning any fun holiday events, crafts for the kids, extra baking, holiday menus, the tree chopping and set up, gift/stocking buying, Christmas decorating, holiday cards, wrapping, and hauling down to the living room all the gifts. It is just so much. Am I the only one that does pretty much the entire holiday shebang without help from spouse? DH a is generally helpful in everyday life he just DGAF about Christmas- at all.

His approach is just fine, you know.

For him, absolutely. Christmas could come and go and he doesn't care at all. Which is fine. But we have three kids. I don't go crazy on the holidays, but even the minimal things are a lot of "extra" on top of everything else in daily life if there is no help

Christmas is only about observing the birth of Christ, our Lord. None of the other stuff is necessary.

I am a Hindu married to a Jew and we celebrate Christmas - decorations, santa, cookies, tree, and everything. Please, provide commentary, I so desperately want to hear what you have to say about us.

PP here - you all have shitty husbands and should have set better expectations early on.

My husband does 85% of Christmas decorating and preparation. We buy gifts together for the kids and separate for our extended families. I am in charge of wrapping gifts for the kids and him, he wraps for me and his family members that we see in person (my family lives far away so we ship gifts to them).

DH does almost nothing. I forced him to help with wrapping last year and continued this year. But we do it together. Other than that, nothing. No gift buying, no cooking, no cleaning, no activity planning. We both work full time, my job is more stressful and demanding.

It’s really frustrating and I pretty much hate Christmas.

Anonymous wrote:This thread hits a nerve with me. I do all of the Christmas prep, shopping, wrapping, cooking, card writing, decorating, etc. and I’m carrying a lot of anger about it. His family is coming over later this week for a holiday meal and he got snippy with me when I told him I need his help and will make a list of to-do’s. Oh yeah, and I am the lawyer in our family, not the big law spouse.

That’s maddening.

This thread hits a nerve with me. I do all of the Christmas prep, shopping, wrapping, cooking, card writing, decorating, etc. and I’m carrying a lot of anger about it. His family is coming over later this week for a holiday meal and he got snippy with me when I told him I need his help and will make a list of to-do’s. Oh yeah, and I am the lawyer in our family, not the big law spouse.

He didn’t grow up with Christmas, I think he’s still adjusting to what it means here.

I do:
Advent calendar
Christmas activities
Baking cookies
Buying gifts
Wrapping gifts
Decorating (mainly it’s just buying ornaments up and putting lights and ornaments on the tree)
Menu planning
Most of the cooking
Some shopping
Some cleaning
Make and send family holiday cards
Holiday gifts for teachers
Relative gifts
Gifts for friends and people who have helped us
Christmas movies
Christmas music

He does:
Some cooking
A lot of cleaning up after cooking
Some food shopping
Helps to go and pick out tree and set it up
Watching kids so I can do holiday prep

I love Christmas time, however this year I was/am in a funk. DH suspects I was/am depressed

I started the season decorating fake tree with kids. Kids and DH decorated house with Hanukkah. I was not feeling well and didn’t push to do any other lights or anything else. DH took me to store to buy new lights, he hanged them inside and out. He did a nice job. I also told him, I would prefer a real tree, so he took the family to buy a real tree. I decorated with lights only, it looks great. Then I ordered gifts and wrap them. DH helped bring the gifts up and also got me a card and a gift. I did the holiday cards and mail them all. He invited my family and made a feast for Christmas with specialty drinks, and many food options. He cleaned up on his own. He also did two gingerbread houses with the kids. I’m very thankful.

Anonymous wrote:Childless household here ~ there are benefits to a spouse not paying attention. Embrace it! I felt lazy so decided not to unpack the box of ornaments. DH didn't notice. Instead put on extra lights and garlands. Easy.

A person from a childless household doesn’t have much to contribute here. Someone has to pull it together to make Christmas festive if you have kids.

DH usually eats the Santa cookies and reindeer carrots on Christmas Eve so the kids think Santa came...does that count?

In all honesty, he does a few other things as well...but not much. I could say that about many aspects of our family life.

Childless household here ~ there are benefits to a spouse not paying attention. Embrace it! I felt lazy so decided not to unpack the box of ornaments. DH didn't notice. Instead put on extra lights and garlands. Easy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious, how is Christmas prep divided in your house?

I do 100% of the planning any fun holiday events, crafts for the kids, extra baking, holiday menus, the tree chopping and set up, gift/stocking buying, Christmas decorating, holiday cards, wrapping, and hauling down to the living room all the gifts. It is just so much. Am I the only one that does pretty much the entire holiday shebang without help from spouse? DH a is generally helpful in everyday life he just DGAF about Christmas- at all.

His approach is just fine, you know.

For him, absolutely. Christmas could come and go and he doesn't care at all. Which is fine. But we have three kids. I don't go crazy on the holidays, but even the minimal things are a lot of "extra" on top of everything else in daily life if there is no help

Christmas is only about observing the birth of Christ, our Lord. None of the other stuff is necessary.

Go away weirdo.

NP. How dare you call the poster a weirdo for not only posting her belief but also the truth. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of the Son of God. If you don't believe, fine
But you do not run your filthy mouth on someone else's beliefs! You would never dream of making a such a despairing comment to a Jew or Muslim about their religious beliefs. You are beyond despicable.

This is a secular board. No one here is interested in hearing your nonsense. Truth, lolololol. The ask was about whether peoples husbands help with the prep. Try to stay on track.

He refuses to plan or think about it ahead of time; then about one week before Christmas asks me if we have enough presents for our kids, and goes nuts ordering weird things he thinks they will like off Amazon.

He does (or doesn't) handle all presents and present requests for the kids from his side of the family, but those have died significantly off (present exchanges, not family members) over the years as the kids grew up.