I hate hate hate wrapping presents. The first year I had money to buy my own presents for people, I told my mother I hated wrapping presents. “I hated it the first year, too,” she assured me. “You’ll like it better once you’ve had some practice, and gotten better at it.”
I love my mother. But she lied to me, dammit! :mad:
I suppose I have improved. Now, I have acheived a level of gift-wrapping skill that might even be called “competent”, on a good day. But I still hate it. I’m learning tricks, like, choose wrapping paper with patterns that have straight lines in both directions, so you know you’re cutting straight and you can get the paper mostly straight around the box. I’ve also discovered that, although few stores offer free wrapping services any more, many online merchants will pack it up for you - for a fee - and maybe not on every item :rolleyes:
So which Christmas Chore grates on your nerves the worst? Have you found a way to make it easier, or skip it all together?
Hanging wreaths on the second story of my folks house when I visit. Their only ladder is this unbelivably heavy wooden monstrosity kept 100 yards from the house in a garage apt. Gotta haul it out to put them up on Thanksgiving and then again to take them down after Christmas. Darn thing weighs a ton.
Does being nice to my mother-in-law count as a chore?
Seriously, it gets old to keep supporting my mother-in-law at the holidays. I’ve met her 5 times, and every time I’ve flown to her, or paid for her ticket to fly here. Granted, I make 3 times what she does, but I also own a house and have a wife and 2 kids.
Flying 4 of us to her house is expensive, especially every year to 18 months.
Around our house, my personal peeve is putting up the outside lights. There are bushes and a bay window in the front of the house, and it’s inconvenient to clamber on the roof around these impediments.
Shopping for my niece and nephew. My SIL likes to disguise her wants (like the yearly “collector” Barbie) as “the kids want it.” Believe my when I say my niece has no interest in Barbie. Our standard gift to any kids we buy for is books, and this drives SIL crazy. My mom is of the “go along to get along” school of thought, but I’d rather the kids remember me as the one who really thinks about what they’re interested in and gifts accordingly.
Actually, I guess I’ll say the biggest chore is dealing with SIL at all.
My family stuffs celery with this nasty cream cheese-pimento spread (also comes in double nasty cream cheese-pineapple) that comes in a little jar. As the youngest in the family, this messy disgusting task always falls to me. Of course, only the old people without and taste buds or sense of decency eat them.
Taking the tree down. Going up is easy and fun… you’re going to have this beautiful tree to admire for a while. Coming down is an entirely different story… all I can think of is that there’s still SO much more winter to go and I don’t have another paid holiday off until Memorial Day.
I hate sending out cards. I hate it so much. Trying to be interesting and say something that pertains to what each person wants to be updated on. And it makes my hand hurt.
For those that do live trees - can we all agree that removing the now dead tree and picking up All-Those-Damn-Little-Sharp-Tree-Needles-From-The-Carpet-So-They-Don’t-Clog-The-Vacuum-Cleaner is a lousy project?
Decorating. All of it. I hate putting up the tree, which we call Arnold. It’s enormous and I swear it taunts me while it’s still laying in the box. Every year when we take it down and shove it back into the attic we hear “I’ll be back” in an Austrian accent.
Moving the yard ornaments out of the way so we can blow ourselves up on Fourth of July.
The second worst chore is deciding whether to leave the outside lights up for Halloween. You can only be Zombie Santa passing out candy so many years before it gets old.
