The holidays should be called the survivaldays. I try to stay chilled out and think about the real reason rather than the shopping frenzy and where to be when etc...
I agree completly.
I try hard not to do the madness, but some of the nastiest family fights I've ever seen usually happen at either Thanksgiving or Christmas.
I'm trying to keep it very low-key this year. Just not doing a lot of the stuff i might otherwise because we can't handle the stress right now.