Listeners know I love Christmas. My wife just gave me a countdown clock to Christmas for my birthday. It features THREE digits, so I can countdown all year long.
But I am not immune to the stresses of the holiday. In fact, according to a new survey, 88% of respondents say they get stressed out celebrating the holidays with the average couple having seven arguments throughout the season.
As for what they’re fighting about, the biggest source of arguments is deciding where to spend the holidays (35%), followed by how much money to spend on gifts (31%). Meanwhile, buying presents is the thing that stresses people out the most (39%), along with cooking holiday dinner (30%) and prepping the house for guests (28%).
Another major stressor over the holidays is participating in conversations with family and friends, with 56% of people saying they bite their lip to avoid arguments with family, and 64% saying certain topics are completely off limits. As for what those topic are, politics, of course, tops the list (68%), followed by:
- Someone’s personal life (55%)
- Religion (47%)
- Money (42%)
- Life changes since last gathering (changes in looks, weight, relationship status) (29%)
But even with all the arguments and stress, there are some great things about the holiday season. The survey finds the most important thing to people is spending time with family (82%), followed by buying and giving gifts to loved ones (56%).