It’s always the first three quarters of the year entirely where I just do not care for its holidays. They’re all boring and forgettable to me. Which is why I love the last quarter of the year where Halloween, X-Mas and X-Mas Part II reside.

New Year’s Day - Wooo…just watching a ball drop and people just drinking or going to NY just to kiss on camera.

Valentine’s Day - Awesome…just to be reminded how single some of us are so all of the mush of couples being shoved in our faces.

St. Patrick’s Day - Just another excuse to go out drinking to most, not as if drinkers turn every other day into drinking.

Easter - Nobody can agree as to the true meaning of this holiday. It’s just seen as yet another excuse to consume candy and go on dinners, kinda what Halloween and Thanksgiving both became more about. Non-religious people think it’s bunny related, religious people believe it belongs to Jesus and whatever. Conflicted holiday, can’t care.

4th of July - America’s Birthday, yeah I’ve not have had a single solitary reason to celebrate America’s birthday at all given the reputation it has gathered as of late and for a while. This is the period of the month where people annoy everyone with their big shopping sprees on fireworks.

  • BurntWits@sh.itjust.works
    4·
    13 hours ago

    Easier way to explain it for me, breaking down all public holidays (in Canada) and what I do for each, as a non-religious Canadian:

    • New Year - stay up till midnight, have a drink, usually play board games while we wait for 12:00. We don’t always make it to midnight though, so sometimes we say 10:30 is our midnight and celebrate then instead. Depends on the year.
    • Good Friday - mostly just an excuse for a fish dinner. I’m not religious but I like to observe traditions where I can. I was never raised catholic but I know fish on Good Friday is important to them and I love anything seafood so I take it as a good excuse to have a nice fish meal. I don’t really do much else.
    • Easter - usually a ham dinner. Again, an excuse for a nice meal. Don’t do much else.
    • Victoria Day - I haven’t done anything in the past, but I’d be open to ideas if anyone else has any. My wife and I just restarted a rewatch of Doctor Who for the millionth time and just watched the episode where they meet Queen Victoria last night, maybe we could watch that episode every Victoria Day or something.
    • Canada Day - wear red, hang up a Canada flag, listen to Canadian artists, eat stereotypical Canadian food, drink Canadian drinks. I think last time for supper we did Hawaiian pizza, all dressed chips, and Caesars (the drink, not the salad).
    • Civic holiday - not much, just enjoy the day off.
    • Labour Day - same deal, not much, just enjoy the day.
    • National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - haven’t done anything before but I’d like to start a tradition. If anyone has any ideas I’d love to hear them.
    • Thanksgiving - an excuse for turkey dinner. Not much else.
    • Remembrance Day - wear a poppy, moment of silence at 11am, otherwise not a whole lot.
    • Christmas Day - I’m a big fan of Christmas, it’s my favourite time of year, not for the religious or consumerist aspects but my parents growing up always made it an incredible time of year and now that I’ve got a little one, my wife are using that as an excuse to go all out. We’re doing homemade decorations and stuff as much as we can and it’s been a ton of fun. My wife is quite crafty and has made almost everything on our Christmas tree. Most of our decorations around the house that she can’t make were bought at a thrift store. I hate how consumerist Christmas has become but you can absolutely go all out with the Christmas spirit without spending tons of money. I also genuinely love Christmas music despite working in retail and being subjected to it for two months straight every year, so lots of Christmas music gets played from November 12 (day after Remembrance Day) until January 7 (what we call Old Christmas, I’m not sure the reason now but it works as a good cutoff for the season). We also have a traditional Christmas dinner. My dad and I also play racing games together throughout the month of December. Not strictly Christmas but it always feels Christmas-y to play Forza now.
    • Boxing Day - growing up we would go shopping for big ticket items but I’m not really into that these days. Now it’s the day to spend with anyone we didn’t get the chance to on Christmas Day/Eve, as well as enjoying any presents we did get for each other and just spending time together watching Christmas movies, drinking hot chocolate with Baileys, etc. Sort of the wind down after the hectic fun of the big day the day before.

    For other holidays:

    • Saint Patrick’s Day - not much, but usually a single drink of something Irish. Either Guinness or an Irish whiskey.
    • Halloween - I’m not usually a big fan but since having a little one it’s more fun now. I don’t care for dressing up and I don’t have a sweet tooth, and I don’t care for horror movies, but dressing the little one up is adorable.
    • Valentine’s Day - give my wife some flowers and give her a spa night. I don’t care much for the day but she loves it so I make it important for her.
    • Mother’s Day - I try to give my wife a good day, but nothing specific. Just try to spoil her. She’s not materialistic so I don’t usually buy her anything but she’s big into dates and experiences so I try to take her somewhere. Maybe a stroll or a nice dinner or something. I also go out with my mother usually the week before to a cafe when it’s not as busy.
    • Father’s Day - my dad always wants to go out for breakfast to the same spot every year, so we go do that. Otherwise not much.