no

Sad? No. Joyful , YES!

ya you always have bad days-and some of them end up on the holidays

I feel indifferent. Holidays do not move me one way or another.

Always. Thanksgiving to Valentine's (with an emphasis on Christmas) never fails to be an awful time of the year for me. I absolutely loathe the holidays from the bottom of my heart.

Only when I think about the friends that have passed away and aren't with us anymore to share in the festivities. :( +5

More so now that most of my family is no longer on this side of the grass. It even worse once the holidays are over and there's just a long, cold, bleak winter to endure until Easter.

Yes. My sadness is more of a loneliness. I have become accustomed to the feeling over the years though.

I do not feel sad during the christmas as i have not bad memories of previous celebrations.

Yes I do. Lost family and friends. Lost loves. All the atificial happiness in the world. Spend, spend, spend. The cost of a gift should be secondary to the thought behind it. If it's not from the heart...then it's just another bauble.

Yes I do. So much lost.

It goes a bit deeper than that for me.

Yep!! when I think about how much it has all cost!! it's worth it though!! :-/ I keep topping my spirits up!! seems to help! :-)

Last year was the first time. I was supposed to get engaged to the girl I was going to spend my life with but she died a few weeks before so I don't expect that this Christmas will be any happier.

The saddest part about Christmas is found in unmet expectations. What is really sad is that I can control my expectations but I'm not really very good at that, yet. For too many years I expected my children to come home again for the holidays - even after I moved thousands of miles away. Other years I expect that I will awaken to the sound of little children excitedly rushing to the tree. I booby-trap Christmas, in a way. Even when I know better, I find myself expecting the day to be like the best or better than the best, of Christmases that came before - before the kids grew up, before the miles came between us, before money became too tight to travel and . . . just before. We are raised to believe and taught to know and commercial-convinced that Christmas is about families gathered close. Little is said about any other kind of Christmas. But I know. I have learned. For some, Christmas is also about reverent solitude and simpleness. For others, Christmas is about an aging couple sharing one day, uninterrupted, together and in love. Only recently have I truly discovered that Christmas is what I make of it and never what I expect of it. Christmas will not be sad this year.

I try to occupy myself during this time of year ... working at the Children's home and the Homeless shelter ... sending time on my book and other writtings ... editing and talking to publishers etc ... so I don't have to think about it .. BUT ... I put on a good "Front" of NOT being "Sad" ; although I generally am most of the time ... +5

No, I have my family and friends too cheer me up. +5

this year, Its going to suck

Yes. The ultimate reminder of my loneliness, even when I am with family. I loathe this time of year.

Sure. Why not?

Yeah. I hate the stupid music and cuddly feeling one gets. Oh the perks of summer!

Yes, many many times in the past, but not as much now that I am married and have a family.

Hell, with a Charlie Brown Christmas in store who wouldn't.