Just December

I think I’ll be taking a pass on the Christmas season this year. 

Notice I didn’t say I’d be taking a pass on Christmas. I’ll still go to church. I’ll still buy presents for my family and a few select close friends. I’ll still send out a handful of cards, even though that tradition has gradually gotten away from me over the past decade or so. 

I’m not entirely sure why I’m so disinterested this year in particular. Granted, this past autumn has not been the happiest of times for me, which is to say nothing of how goodwill in general has been in short supply during such a culturally divisive time. I’ve gotten through worse times before though, and survived them without intentionally deciding to let the season go on its merry way without me. 

Something about this year just feels like it isn’t worth the hassle, or the clean up, or whatever. I’m not putting up my tree, and most of my other holiday decorations are staying boxed up as well. I put the usual set of lights up around my front door a few weeks ago, but I’ve only thought to even plug them in once or twice. I’m not filling my house or my car with Christmas music, either from my own library or the local radio station that switches over to all Christmas music for the season. I’m not planning on attending any parties or events (not that there’s a long list to pass on), and I’m uninterested in being a part of any kind of Secret Santa-type gift exchange at work. I have a short list of favorite Christmas movies I usually make a point to watch each year, but I haven’t even looked them up on the schedule to make sure I catch them, and I know I’ve already missed a few. Going out of my way to watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas” might end up being my only intentional nod to the holiday season this year.

Christmas hasn’t been a big event holiday with my family for years. Depending on my sister’s work schedule (because hospitals don’t close for anything), it’s entirely possible our family will plan our get-together time on Christmas Eve or Dec. 26th instead, or for only a few hours in the afternoon or evening on Dec. 25. We do the same thing with birthdays, to be honest — as long as we make the time to celebrate or acknowledge whatever event is bringing us together, it’s not as important to us what date the calendar says. Because of this, it’s not impossible to think I could end up spending most, or all, of my Christmas Day home alone napping my way in and out of a Netflix binge or settled in with a good book. I’d be completely fine with that. 

If you or your family have any big magical holiday plans you’re looking forward to, I wish you all the best with those. I genuinely hope everything about the season you’re looking forward to lives up to your anticipation and maybe even surpasses it. Enjoy the parties, the baking, the lights, the movies, the music, the magic, and the continuation of any family or personal traditions you hold dear or are just beginning to make a part of your lives. 

I’ll be fine thinking about the next few weeks as just being December, with a family day or two worked in there.