But not the reason for the holiday. Please let me clarify:Christmas starts for me November 12, it is the dawn of that day that I have to pull out the list from last year, tweek it and start ordering. Ordering dozens of gift baskets, planning Christmas parties, buying "team building" staff gifts, Excel spreadsheets as far as the eye can see, hundreds of Christmas cards and on and on and on it goes until the last Tuesday before Christmas. It is that day that I am freed from my work shackles and proceed with Christmas as shortly there after. It is for this reason I normally buy my gifts online while I am ordering my work related gifts. I have forgone Christmas baking. I have no tree, though we do have lights normally thrown up the first weekend after the 11th of November and hauled down about the 14th of February (or whenever I can).... I hate the hustle and bustle, it's not fun, there is no joy in the stress...
Though let me say that I am trying and I notice more and more that everyone around me is trying to outside of their work stress to quell the insanity. More of us are ordering online and preferably from places like Etsy (homemade and/or local), or opting as I did more last year purchasing donations, most of female peers have even forgone the buying of Christmas outfits and salon visits. We've all grown up with the catalogues and honestly a more simple way of Christmas and somewhere in our teen years Christmas changed - maybe it was the introduction of cheaper electronics, maybe it was just our generation, but it changed. I understand the frustration, I understand the stress. So instead I pose these suggestions....
1.List it - early on, make a list and stick to it
2.Simplify it all - the list, your plans, everything
3. Community it - I think the best part of Christmas has come with the more I do "Christmas related" activities with those around me - baking, shopping, Christmas itself...
4. Give - while yes we all want stuff, I was no worse off because people gave in my name last year and nor were those I did the same for - yet I believe that some people were better off - namely the families with access to clean water, children educated, young girls at risk protected and the animals provided (even though yes the vegan in me does find that one hard at times). Oxfam, World Vision, Unicef, your local food bank and the list goes on...
5. Drink - Water, vodka, coffee and repeat until it all gets better... or maybe not, just take time for you
And stay away from Walmart or any big box store for that matter, the Hellmouth of the Holidays...
As a personal opinion side note - I do love the reason for this holiday, sure it conveniently usurped some pagan holiday and we all know it wasn't on December 25th that the said event happened, but it means something to me all the same - so here are if you are interested two of the songs I love at this time of year they aren't standards but they are still well the reason I opt to celebrate despite all that seems be utterly wrong with the way we choose to celebrate as a society.
Labor of Love - Andrew Peterson
I Celebrate the Season - Reliant K
Merry Christmas - May You Find Peace in these less than Peaceful Times
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