Christmas is just no fun for me. I get that it is (apparently) for other people and I don't begrudge them that but, as a childfree 40 something non-religious queer woman, I think it's kinda lame lol. I do love having time off from work though, so that's cool.
Obligatory gift giving is not at all my thing. I love getting thoughtful gifts for folks and I'm generous by nature, however, I don't care for being strong armed into it by arbitrary convention. I wish the emphasis was on charity rather than consumption and all the time, not just for a few performative weeks.
The commercialized religiosity of the holiday in the US gets increasingly grating for me. The narratives around the traditions are tired. It feels like being shouted at for months. I prefer the pagan roots of the thing and try to ignore the vulgarity of the current interpretation.
I like the idea of mailing gifts so that the recipient gets a fun surprise and the comfort of opening it in their own space, and on their own time, without an audience. So I just mail out fun little things, sometimes homemade, sometimes purchased, throughout the entire year to my loved ones and make no specific effort at Christmas time. Like, a Christmas present is all well and good, but it's also quite predictable. A gift that shows up on March 12th for no reason other than you're awesome and I love you feels much more thoughtful to me.
Around 14 or 15 and was terrified of anyone in my family finding out so I kept that realization locked down. I actually never came out to my family as a queer woman. Then, in my 30s, one of my jesus freak aunts found a picture of me and my then girlfriend on said girlfriend's social media page, still to this day don't know how, and sent it to my entire family. Boy howdy was that a to-do.