I’m a sucker for a good holiday. I love the pastels of Easter & the cute dresses that come along with it (not to mention the chocolate bunnies). I love Thanksgiving for obvious reasons & if I could, I would keep my Halloween decorations up all year long. Christmas however, is not on the top of my list. I know, I know-It’s weird. Who doesn’t like Christmas?! The older I get the more I dislike it. You would think having children would mean that I’m overly into Christmas, but it’s actually quite the opposite. It took having kids to realize just how over this holiday I really am. Ask me what I want for Christmas & I’ll tell ya. I want December 26th.
You always hear people saying “oh, it’s Christmas time. Everyone should be kind & considerate.” 🤔So does that mean the other 11 months of the year it’s ok to be a complete douche? Because I actually think it’s this time of year that brings out the worst in people. I mean, shouldn’t we always be kind & considerate…like all year long? At least that’s what I try & teach my kids.
Now, I have both legit reasons for not liking it as well as some superficial ones. For instance, I’m a bit of a neat freak, I don’t like clutter & I like having a certain “open flow” to my house. Christmas means having a huge tree taking up space in my living room. Some furniture needs to be shifted a little, things get all out of whack, and it feels like instant clutter to me. *Now is probably a good time to add that I only put up a fake tree because there is no way in hell I can handle having pine needles all over the place.* I’m also the person that needs to have my wrapping paper all coordinating; presents put in a systematic way under the tree. Yea, you get the point (Feel free to leave the number to a good shrink). Plus, I hate the cold & snow.
And let’s just talk about these Hallmark movies real quick. I mean who the hell wrote these? If I see Lacey Chabert frolicking through the snow one more time I’m going to lose my shit. They’re all same. Small town girl moves to the big city leaving everything behind, falls in love with the super hot (but generally horrible actor), wealthy CEO, only to go back home for the holidays & end up back with her high school country bumpkin that never left. Or even better, big-time wealthy CEO living the dream in a big city gives it all up to move to a small town consisting of 87 people to work on the family farm wearing wool sweaters with little reindeer on them every day. Eff Off!
The big issue for me is how miserable everyone becomes. How bad traffic gets & how insanely packed every single store becomes the second Thanksgiving is over. It’s like the entire country just takes the rest of the year off to shop every day. It becomes a competition of who can put the most gifts under the tree. Who gets the coolest new toy before everyone else (Fingerlings, whaaaat). What happened to family time? Christmas caroling (I actually have never done this & wouldn’t because…well, bah humbug), & sipping hot chocolate watching the snow fall? Now I sound like a f*cking Hallmark movie, but seriously, where is the simplicity of it all? Wasn’t Christmas suppose to be about family & being together?
But seriously, people make themselves go broke buying friends & family gifts they probably don’t even want. Parents go insane buying for their kids just to make sure they have the best of the best. Kids nowadays expect everything under the tree. And parents totally play right into it. Myself included. We spend an insane amount of money on toys every year knowing that within a month that toy will either be broken or collecting dust. Yes, I’ll admit I love seeing the looks on my girls faces when they open their gifts & see the toy they “had to have.”But I feel like we have it all wrong.
I’m not a complete Scrooge-I can’t be, I’m married to Clark Griswold (seriously, my husband is nauseatingly into Christmas); I decorate the house, we make a gingerbread house every year, we listen to Christmas music (as much as it makes my ears bleed), we snuggle up & watch Christmas movies & we even have that horrible little Elf. I do like getting together with family & seeing relatives you don’t get to see often. I like the massive, delicious Christmas dinner my mom makes & the warm cinnamon buns with icing on top Christmas morning.
So here I am, putting on a smile & faking it for the sake of my kids & everyone around me, but I hate it. I truly hate this time of year & all the stress & chaos that comes with it. For the next 19 days I’ll be sitting here counting down the days…drowning myself in cheesy Christmas songs & wine. Lots & lots of wine.
