Christmas.
To be honest, I am not the biggest fan of Christmas. My family was never the holly, jolly caroling kind. It was more like who could and would fight with who and what family member you wouldn’t be talking to for the next year of your life.
It has always been chaos.
And that led me to hating Christmas.
I don’t love the holiday. I don’t love feeling pressured to get a million gifts for people. I don’t love the pressure to spend money that I may or may not have. I don’t love the idea of people talking shit about your present you got them. I don’t love Christmas.
I don’t eat a lot of food and have never really liked turkey. The only good thing about Christmas is the green bean casserole.
But this Christmas is different. For the first time and hopefully the last time in my life we are living in the midst of a global pandemic with everything in the world seems out of whack. It’s not just me, sulking and eating sugar until I puke.
Instead it’s the world feeling more alone than ever.
And so today in lieu of a review for Countdown For Christmas, I wanted to give some advice for Christmas – weither you love or hate it – and dealing with the world around you.
BE FORGIVING
Every emotion that you could ever feel is heightened right now because of the pandemic. People are angry and scared. No one knows how to feel and that could lead to people acting out of anger and fear.
Take every second slowly. Don’t let it overwhelm you. Don’t let what people say make you angry. Be forgiving of others.
BE UNDERSTANDING
It’s a scary time in the world. Everyone is at odds. People have different opinions about the pandemic. People have different opinions about politics. No one is perfect. While opinions are like assholes, and everyone has them, it’s not the time for big arguments. Be understanding of others. This year has heightened everything and what can go wrong will go wrong. But everyone is going through it – so be understanding.
SPEAK WITH KINDNESS
I don’t know about you, but the holidays bring about for me the big urge to smack the shit out of everyone. It’s like people show their dumb ass card and you can’t even deal with the stupidity.
But no matter what people say – treat them with kindness. People need it now more than ever.
CHECK IN ON PEOPLE
With the pandemic – a lot of people can not travel, can not go home, and are going to be spending the holidays alone. It’s a hard time and people need patience. But that being said – no one wants to feel alone. So check in on people. The Happy Holidays texts that they all normally dread and never respond to they need now. So give them the love and courtesy and patience and time. Check in on them and let them know they are loved.
PUT YOURSELF FIRST
Self care is the best care. Tell people what you need to be there for them, but make sure to be there for yourself first.