Take back your holidays. Throw the expectations out the window. And enjoy the season. Take back the time and make it the relaxing, happy time it was intended to be.
But…But tradition, the family, the kids… and….and…. What will everyone else think? Yes, tradition, the kids, the family, public perception. Let’s go there.
What is it you’re concerned about? What is it you are teaching your kids? What traditions are you passing down? Are you teaching them to spend meaningful time with family or find joy in the season? What is it costing you/them in the process? Is it worth it?
Running around cursing the other asshole people doing the same thing you’re doing. Does that bring you joy/peace? Is the tradition to spend money you don’t have? To get things you really don’t need and will be in the back of the closet/garage sale pile before the snow melts. Do we want the stuff to brag about how much we got, or how much we spent? Have the gifts / giving just become bragging rights? It’s the thought that counts? Right?
I remember setting up the train with my dad and sledding in the park. Cookies with grandma and blanket forts with my cousins. I have no idea what I got for Christmas last year, let alone what I got as a kid.
Family events are rushed, strained affairs. No one wants to be there. We do it for Grandma. So, smile, be good, and play nicely with your cousin. Yes, I know they smell funny. Be nice anyway. How is that fun? When did the season turn into a giant guilt party?
But…But… I have to do it. It’s the way it’s always been. My family would kill me if I didn’t bring /do the… or… or…
Really, really!!!! Do what your mother always told you to do. Just say NO! Don’t fall to peer pressure. Even if it is your mother.
Just say this year, I am not giving out gifts. Please don’t give me any. This year, we are not driving to hell and back. I am not sleeping on the pullout couch in the basement. I am not eating Aunt Jane's mystery Christmas casserole. I am staying home in my PJs for the day. This year, I may or may not decorate or send out Christmas cards. This year what gets done gets done, and everything else, fuck it.
The holidays, after all, are a celebration of the winter solstice. All religions have their ways of doing it. It’s the big party at the start of the long, dark cold of winter. Yes, it has always been a big party. It celebrates a year of hard work before a new year starts. Before it is back to the grindstone and months of working without a break. A party before long months of hibernating between work and trips to the grocery store.
It is a much-needed time of joy. It has been a long year, and we made it to the end. Celebrate it. Give yourself, your loved ones, and maybe a friend a happy memory. There is no need for a fat man in a red suit. There’s no need to spend lots of dollars. Have drinks, do dinner, see a show, and create a memory you can smile at.
It’s your party, and you get to do it your way. If your way is going all out and doing it all,
that’s okay. If your way is nothing but binge-watching,
that’s okay, too. You’re in charge. You make it yours and stop stressing. We put too much on it. To much hype.
It doesn’t have to be all this or that.
It is, after all, just another day of the week.
Comments
Post a Comment