I think that everyone's had it happen to them at one time or another. Didn't get that one gift that you really wanted. Family that was supposed to be there, got delayed or just never showed. Dinner burnt and mac n cheese isn't going to cut it. Dog/cat got under the tree and unwrapped everything for you.
Enough is enough with the holiday cheer. Too much eggnog is something to gag on. I'd like to hear some of these stories. And to start off a Letdown of my own.

My birthday is the 26th. and my parents took the family up to the mountains for a white Christmas, turns out there was no heat at the cabin they had rented, and we had only brought enough wood for two nights (we were going to be there for five). Christmas morning we open our gifts. I got a box with a cat figure on it and a COMBO birthday-Christmas gift of a 35mm camera... which didn't work. Never did. I got a "happy birthday merry Christmas, here's a camera that doesn't work."

... wow... the worst thing that has ever happened on Christmas for me was rain... I don't go farther than two blocks and our family has a gift limit. We trade names at thanksgiving and then get a $25 gift for that person. Sometimes we go a little over, my mother got a $30 coffee pot for our aunt, but that's about it. I never get anything that interesting, socks, underwear, candy, shampoo etc., but that is normal.

That sucks that your birthday is the 26th... Happy boxing day? My cousin's is the 27th and she has a rule, "If you wrap my presents in Christmas paper I will hate you." Or something like that...

Did you have to burn chairs or something? Or did you have to huddle close to your family?

This year is our biggest letdown...our cat jumped on our tree and broke it in half. xD We now have a tree stuck together by duct tape and staples.

That is an interesting fix... I have never had a real tree(allergies and all that jazz) so if it falls over or breaks we can weld it. We had one that was stuck up with a broom handle(ran through the inner piping)

o_o how big is your cat? Or are real trees flimsier than toilet-brush trees?

I haven't really had a bad Christmas surprisingly...although there was that one time when my family was staying the night in a cabin and my sister burnt popcorn in the microwave on Chirstmas Eve....I couldn't sleep because of the stench and was tired while opening gifts the next day.

What's worse is the stench of burnt rice... My mother's forte... happened about two hours ago... bleh...

How did your cat break your tree in half?
__
Anyway, my worst Christmas. . . uhm, well, for Christmas Eve we're allowed to open one present. One year, when I was a kiddo, I wanted a Jospehine American Girl doll. I already had an Adie doll and I was thrilled that there was one that looked more like me. (Don't know why I didn't want one of those customizable ones, though...). So the deal was I also wanted a pair of doll glasses so she looked even MORE like me, and for Christmas Eve I opened the glasses.

It wasn't that bad really; I know that. It was kinda cool b/c I knew that I was going to get the doll I wanted the next day, but to an impatient lil kid I was about out of my mind. Especially with my siblings all playing with their Christmas Eve presents. What was I going to do w/ my doll glasses? I could have put them on my Adie doll, but if I remember correctly, my dog had abused her too much at that time and I didn't want to touch her.

So now if someone opens a partial present or an unusable (for now) present, we call them "doll glasses." LOL.

I think my worst christmas presents were getting art supplies every year. These supplies aren't your good quality stuff, they were cheap, kids supplies that I had no use for like crayola and whatever other brands out there. I was fine getting these for a few years in a row by my relatives, but then it carried on and on for quite a few years longer. I think they mostly got it because they knew I was into art and couldn't think of anything else to get me.

Thank goodness that I'm older I don't get crappy art supplies any more XD

Tis the first year without my sister living here :(

My dad is in the military, Christmas while a parent is overseas not so great. Thankfully it only happened the one time, it just didn't feel like Christmas that year.

My Grandma gave me a pink frilly teddy bear sweat shirt when I was 16 that was pretty sucky as presents went.

@ Blitzy That's sad. I hope you get to see her soon.
My closest to sucky Christmas was when I got a Gamecube and Super smash Brother Melee. I was so excited to play that game. Unfortantely there was no disk inside the box. So I had a Gamecube but no game play it with. I was so bummed. Luckily we were able to return the box the next day and exchange it for the game. Surprisingly, we were not the only one that got a game box but no disk.

Oh, that sucks. Can't remember my letdowns.

Biggest Christmas letdown for me was two years ago while I was deployed. We were out flying for a 8.7 hour day (which is alot by the way.) We got back so late that our company cookout was over with and there was no food left. Not a single person left us any food. =/ So we ended up having to start the grill back up and cook our own food.

My biggest letdown was when my Father (my parents are divorced), full on forgot to get my a christmas gift. He got my sister one, but not me.

My family had to put two of our dogs to sleep.

Holidays have sucked, so far...

Oh wow, a lot of these holiday letdowns makes me feel rather spoiled and unappreciative =(
I hope all of your Christmases go well - I'm sure you'll get awesome gifts! =D

As for me, the only holiday letdowns I've had involved family-wide arguments and fights D:

I'm sorry to hear these. I did ask. But now I think we'll feel a little bit more appreciative for our good years.
@akinmytua. did not have to burn the furniture, thankfully. we just had to huddle, which is not cool when your younger sibling refuses to bathe.
@Wish. I know what you mean. I still get those "travel" art kits that have markers crayons and pencils in them... and I'm 21.
@Blitzy. Oh man, parents not being there due to deployment is a major bummer. I'm glad it hasn't happened again.
@Bartuc. that's the kind of day I just want to end it by crying. feels like you were forgot, and nothing goes right. at least you got your food prepared the way you liked it.
@Ebony mist. I'm so sorry to hear about your dogs... after a while they become part of the family.

My biggest holiday let down has to be this year. All my friends are calling me to let me know how awesomely awesome their gifts are, and what they got. I'm happy that they got cool gifts, and I wouldn't really want half the extravagant gifts they got, but my grandma told me the other day I needed to grow up and realize that Santa claus isn't real so I don't need presents. Especially "Unpractical" ones.

-sigh-
Here's a letdown from this morning...

I just got a cell phone... finally after a lot of negotiating with my parents
..& I think I already broke it! T__T
Either that or it just hates me...


Not as bad as some peoples but... still makes me sad.

Gosh, some of these are awful.

My worst holday let-down, was probably a few years ago, when my mum, my brother and I all had the flu.
And I'm not talking about when people get a bad cold and call it the flu, I'm talking about proper full-blown flu; fainting, cold sweats, vomiting, delirium... all the nasty stuff.

All three of us spent the whole day in bed. I couldn't even unwrap presents, and Christmas Dinner was sucking ice cubes (I couldn't even keep water down at the time).
It must have sucked for my dad and the brother that didn't get it, too. As they spent their Christmas trying to look after the rest of us.

I guess I haven't really had any bad Christmases.... Although this holiday season has a bit of a downturn: my Granddad's funeral is the 31st. Oh, and I spent 15 hours yesterday in airports/planes to get home in time for Christmas. And this was with two very full, and rather heavy checked bags, plus my carry-on and personal item. Customs was a pain.

I don't think I've ever really had a crappy Christmas either. Maybe when I was younger I was like obsessed with decorating the Christmas Tree and my dad threw out our tree and I was pissed all day on Christmas because all the stuff I went through to decorate it.

@ Ebony Mist: I'm so sorry to hear that! I'd be mega upset if that happened to me.

I'm going to have a low-country boil with the side of the family that's BORING! I hate low country boils, and I hate spending time with boring family members I'm not close to. My boyfriend didn't like the present I got him, or that I picked him up 10 minutes late from work yesterday... *sigh* ... I think this one's going down as the worst Christmas.

Well I wanted to see Avatar but we switched to Sherlock Holmes, I DID want to see Sherlock Holmes for a while but I was disapointed hearing it wasn't much like the book. :/

My Aunt is sick and staying with her friend right now. She also has part of the gifts from herself and my Grandmother with her so I have to wait until she gets better and drives back here to watch me open my presents and stuff. It was kinda disappointing, but you can't really do anything about it. We don't want to get sick.

That, and my Boyfriend had to work today so it's harder to talk to him while I wait for my Dad to get here. x-x