One reason the Christmas season can be so stressful is the wide array of topics to fight about. At Christmas time, couples can still argue about all the usual stuff that starts arguments,but with the many holiday traditions there are plenty of new things to fight about. Here are some of the major topics:

1. Which set of in-laws do you stay with - Couples will actually get into a knock down drag out over where they are going to stay for Christmas. Your parents may drive you crazy, but, let's face it, during the holidays, we all want out own families brand of crazy. We all grew up with normal Christmas traditions and the way everyone else celebrates is just plain weird.

2. The Tree - The symbol of the day is, of course, the tree. People can be really picky about Christmas tress. Now, in my family, we always had a fresh tree and the wonderful smell really added to the feel of Christmas. Still, not everyone likes a green tree and an argument will break out over the old, "live" versus artificial will crop up and, the next thing you know, lawyers are getting involved.

3. Opening Presents - Every rational thinking person knows that you open gifts on Christmas morning.  That's all there is to it and I don't want to hear any discussion about it. It is wrong to open gifts on Christmas Eve night so, if you do that, stop it right now. You're doing it wrong. I don't budge on this issue. I am right and that's all there is to it.

4. Dinner - Some people just opt for a repeat of Thanksgiving dinner. I guess that's okay, but you did just finish the last of the Thanksgiving turkey last week and you've had turkey sandwiches and turkey hash and it's finally occurred to you that, turkey is okay, but there are so many better choices. it's those choices that will ruin your marriage. Some people will opt for duck or goose. Both of those choices are good for Christmas. Still, you'll fight over it.

When it comes to Christmas dinner, don't forget to argue about the side dishes as well. Canned cranberry sauce versus real cranberry sauce, what kind of dressing to have, what kind of gravy to have on the dressing. The list of possible arguments on side dishes is almost endless. By the way, the correct choice is fresh cranberries. Just wanted to establish that.

5. The Budget - Nothing stresses people during the holidays quite like money. Let's face it, celebrating Christmas according to the way "society" says it should be celebrated costs money and it's the spending of that money that leads to some pretty good fighting. You'll fight about all sorts of things including the worthiness of the person being bought for. I once knew a lady that felt that she had to buy nice gifts for everyone in the family. I guess that's find, but when you spend money on a relative that you think about once a year, when you are buying them a gift for Christmas, you might want to reconsider your gift list.

 

Those are just five of the things we fight about during the Christmas holidays. This is by no means a complete list. the holidays are wonderful. They bring with them more opportunities to bust up than you can count.

I'll never forget one chilly Christmas morning back when I was married. We were headed to her parents house (of course) when, on the curb in front of a house, we saw a fully decorated tree. I can't imagine what kind of fight lead to a fully decorated tree being tossed to the curb on Christmas morning, but I bet it had something to do with all of the above.

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