Trying to put the jolly back into the Holidays

In recent years, I fear I have become a glorified bah-humbug. In my youth (youth being defined as pre mortgage, children and in-laws) I loved Christmas. I loved all of it; the music, the decorations, the buzz of the mall, the wrapping, the baking. Unfortunately family responsibilities and unreasonable self expectations for pulling off a Frank Capra Christmas have left me scarred and jaded. Christmas has become an exercise in survival. Can I mire through yet another season of shopping, baking, decorating, cooking, wrapping and entertaining reasonably unscathed?

Every year Christmas approaches with the ferocity and speed of freight train. A fast and furious commercialized beast with the possibility to do great bodily harm and significant credit card damage. What was once the 12 days of Christmas has morphed into the 3 months and 12 days of Christmas. Macys had their Christmas decorations up before Halloween. I am 100% serious. Full blown decorations and merchandising; tables stocked with coin counters, mini golf sets and Godiva gift boxes. By the time there are only 12 days until Christmas I am so sick of Christmas music I could run screaming from yet another rendition of Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

I find this early bird gets the worm approach to Christmas to be both a blessing and curse. My twisted logic rationalizes that getting my shopping done early, say before December 1st, will afford me the opportunity to actually enjoy a season I’ve come to dread with the same intensity as a root canal. The curse is obvious. I have to start thinking and planning in September. That’s too early.

Common sense would say to forgo all the fluffery of the baking, elaborate decorations and neatly wrapped packages. I am not sure my family would notice. Or maybe they would. I’m too much of a chicken to find out. Let’s face it, the combination of unreasonable self expectations and mom guilt would probably send me right into therapy. Or into the Betty Ford center. Hard to say.

I am trying very hard to carve out some special holiday-esque events so I can actually enjoy what the season has to offer. So far I’ve planned two shopping trips, a girl’s only cocktail party and a dinner reservation at a nice steakhouse as a surprise for my family. I also have this little ritual of watching every Christmas movie I own (and I own many of them) between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Many times a movie classic is playing while I’m multitasking with other things because if there is one thing that December is short on, it’s time to sit and relax.

My favorite holiday event is ringing bells for the Salvation Army. It is an annual Christmas Eve event and those who sign up early (like September) get the choice ringing spot (like right outside Macys which is in an indoor shopping mall). On Christmas Eve people are generally cheerful and generous. I hypothesize that’s because they are secretly glad (like me) that the season is coming to a close.

So with Thanksgiving a mere few days away, I’m going to take a deep breath, a gulp of wine and ask for patience from the universe to shed some of my bah-humbug ways in an attempt to enjoy the next month. Updates to follow…