The Christmas Blues

[jubjub]

The Christmas season is upon us.

I really am not a big fan of this month that is coming up. I tend to get quite depressed, actually. I know that Christmas is supposed to be a spiritual, family oriented, renewing, generous time of giving and sharing, but I don't have much in the way of close family members and I find all the excitement, glitter and constant barrage of TV ads over and over again very distressing. I can hardly wait for Christmas and New Years to be over, actually, so everything can get back to a semblance of normal. It seems kids get overexcited and difficult, people get grabby and out of control, everyone seems to be in an irritated mood, selfishness abounds about what "I" want and what am "I" going to get, "I" have to have this or that or I will just die......the original intent of the season seems to be totally lost.

I sort of long for the good old days when the spirit of the season was more genuine and there was more being willing to give than expecting to receive, I guess.

For the most part, Christmas has become kind of phoney and the original intent has been taken over by how fast you can empty your pocketbook....

 

[ThatLady]

I think a lot of people get depressed and/or stressed out at this time of year. Not only do the obligations associated with the season cause angst, but the baggage we all carry weighs in, as well.

We must deal with family issues, decide what to buy for people and how much we can spend (which is never enough to do all we would like to do), decide whether or not to brave "that party", and any number of other things that get our fight-or-flight mechanism active.

I love the beautiful lights and the joy of the season, but I always feel a bit sad that the real meaning of Christmas has been lost to commercialism. The "I want, I gotta have" mentality of so many really does put a damper on the wonder, doesn't it?

 

[David Baxter PhD]

In my practice, this next month is usually about the busiest time of year for me -- everyone who has a reason to be reminded of loss or pain or discarded dreams will be struggling and some will be in full crisis. All the happy ads and cheery "are you ready for Christmas yet?" greetings from friends, co-workers, and total strangers in the mall or the elevator or on the bus don't help either.

One of the slowest times, in contrast, is immediately after Christmas -- as if everyone breathes a sigh of relief that it's already over.

And, while I realize a lot of small businesses depend on Christmas sales, the fact that in this area they were bringing out the Christmas stuff even before Halloween was over struck me as almost immoral...

 

[Daniel E.]

If I were the Pope, I would combine Christmas and Easter into one holiday, and I would call for a 3-day shopping fast for the whole Easter/Christmas weekend. I would call the holiday Eastermas or Christer.

 

[Ash]

LOL I get the bah-humbug's too. There's just too much pressure. Honestly, I would ignore the entire holiday season if it weren't for my kids.