I used to love Christmas. For a kid like me with an overactive imagination and energy to spare, it was all too easy to get caught up in the season. My sisters and I went to a parochial elementary school, so the holiday became completely integrated with everything about our school lives for an entire month. Waiting for the TV specials to air, and watching when they did because it only happened once each year, was an event. Decorating the tree and the house were cherished family traditions. The handful of Christmas albums in my parents' somewhat minimal record collection were favorites, just because they seemed to resonate a bit differently. It was always exciting to come home for winter break during college, knowing how much family and cousin time there would be. Even the one piece of writing I did of any note, before the past few years, was seeing a play I wrote produced by a community theater group. It was about a little boy who wanted to stay up late on Christmas Eve to ask Santa Claus to help him find his missing dog.
But things happened as I got older, and now, to put it simply, I find Christmas to be one of the most depressing times of the year. I'll spare you the details about why, but all too frequently I find myself wandering through the season feeling much like Charlie Brown in his beloved TV special. He sees everyone around him so involved and happy and full of cheer, and is left slightly perplexed about why he can't allow myself to see it all the same way. (If you know the special, you also know Charlie Brown tends to overthink his way through the story. It's no secret this is an issue of mine as well.)
Luckily though, I've learned in adulthood to try and be proactive about such problems. The way I see it, if you know some kind of emotional obstacle is just on your horizon, why not find ways to circumvent it before it becomes overwhelming? Which brings us to this year, the Christmas season of 2015.
I know myself well enough to realize I'm much happier when I'm working toward a goal. This past summer I had some success with that by covering my refrigerator door with a collection of sticky notes, each one listing either a task there'd be time to accomplish during the summer or some kind of small adventure I could have. I didn't get every item on this massive To-Do list completed, but I finished enough of it to make my summer into something it otherwise would not have been. In the spirit of proactivity, I've decided to bring that idea back for Christmas. I've come to think of the holiday season as the stretch of time between the first day back to school after Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, which essentially means the month of December, give or take a few days. I don't plan on going with the sticky notes like in the summer, but instead, for a more seasonal touch, I bought a set of note-sized gift tags, like these:
The problem now is trying to think of what to include that will help squeeze some joy out of a time when I tend to lean the other way. There are some traditions to list and look forward to, but they might not be enough to chase off holiday blues, or even help push me toward my goal. So today, just as the holiday season is about to start, I'm putting out the call for any ideas or recommendations people might have about things to include on the December gift tag Fridge List. What are things you enjoy? What traditions do you have? What might you suggest to nudge me out of the funk I know is coming, but won't necessarily overly-stress me in the process? If you're someone in my daily life, what are some things we could do together? These don't even have to be holiday-specific ideas, but things that could be done this time of year, especially with winter break coming up in a few weeks.
So...any ideas?
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