I love holidays and gifts, but it is stressful. In my family, the goal is to find a gift that would have been exactly what the other person has always wanted, had they thought of it, and the second they open the box, they don't know how they lived without it. So, you know, no pressure. No lists, no "I want X" -- that was the best way NOT to get what you asked for; it had to be a surprise. So most of the gifts turned out awesome, because so much thought went into figuring out what someone would really like -- but, boy, stress. DH's family, OTOH, just emails each other what they want and where to find it (and sometimes, they even buy it for themselves and the other just sends a check). Now THAT I don't get.
Luckily, the last few years have gotten a lot easier (and cheaper). All our parents have gotten to the point where they have everything they want, so we give them contributions to their preferred charities, and they give us 529 contributions, and the "gifts" are limited to stocking stuffers (or things like a night's free babysitting so DH and I can go out). My siblings and I still exchange one present (on the order of $20-50), and DH's family does an awesome Yankee swap with a gift limit of $15 and an intentionally odd assortment of gifts. Kids still get presents from grandparents and from us, but the last couple of years we have been traveling, so they basically got cash to spend on treats from those locations.
My recurring issue is what to do with teachers/daycare/coworkers/friends and such -- the kind of thing where you don't know if you're supposed to get presents or for how much. I have been happy to contribute when the kids' schools arrange a class gift, and I pick up some gift cards to the local coffee shop for daycare teachers and the like. For the rest, I have started to make homemade cocoa mix and marshmallows (the mix is just flat-out decadent, and the marshmallows are huge fun to make with the kids and dead simple). That way, I always have an appropriate gift on hand if someone gives me something -- and if I end up with some leftovers, well, gee, darn, guess I'll have to take care of those myself. ;-)