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The Holiday Blues
Jeff Wrangler:
I just posted this on the "If the Holidays Begin to Get You Down" thread, but I think it bears repeating here:
If the holidays begin to get you down, watch A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original cartoon, not the Jim Carrey movie).
Scott6373:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on November 06, 2007, 12:05:40 pm ---I just posted this on the "If the Holidays Begin to Get You Down" thread, but I think it bears repeating here:
If the holidays begin to get you down, watch A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original cartoon, not the Jim Carrey movie).
--- End quote ---
I wish it were as easy as that Jeff. For me, the trouble is that I question the religious implications of celebrating this particular day. That, along with a touch of seasonal effective disorder, can make it a difficult time to get through. Sometimes watching those programs (and others) almost make the problem worse.
Penthesilea:
--- Quote from: Scott on November 05, 2007, 03:11:37 pm ---I know this is a festive forum for all things holiday, but I thought it would be good to have a place where folks can go who don't feel festive. I hope anyone who has these same feelings will share, and communicate with each other. I also hope those who do not have these feelings will be supportive and share and communicate with us.
--- End quote ---
Hey Scott, I think this is a very good idea for a thread.
moremojo:
Scott, if the religious implications of the day give you pause, bear in mind (and I know you already know this) that December 25th is just a convention, and one the Church very self-consciously started to overlay pagan Saturnalia with the new state religion. No one knows when Jesus was actually born, though the Gospels would suggest a date in the spring to be far more likely than one in the winter.
Of course, I understand that even though the date may be inaccurate, the sentiment is still to celebrate the birth of Jesus. And from a Christian viewpoint, this should be a festive occasion (though Easter, logically, would suggest even more festive recognition). So I can only imagine (as a non-Christian) the pressure a Christian might feel to FEEL festive, even if, for whatever reason, they don't.
Of course, Christmas has become a de facto season of secular consumption here in the West (or at least in the U.S.), and there is pressure to conform to the social expectations that have arisen with the holiday--spending and giving, all in a mad rush to keep up with the Joneses, or to not let your kid down so that they own the same toy/game their peers do, or to not look bad in your family members' eyes. I frankly think a lot of this behavior is completely unnecessary and actually a little crazy, and the giving of gifts actually has come to represent less of what is in one's heart than in meeting arbitrary cultural demands. In other words, a lot of hypocrisy has come to play in the holiday.
My solution--just stop. Don't do it. Don't participate. Give a loved one a gift when they least expect it--then they will know it truly comes from your heart, and not just social conformity. What I value about the holidays is having time off from work and spending time with family--this is the true gift, and one invaluably more meaningful than the latest gadget or bauble.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Scott on November 06, 2007, 12:14:37 pm ---I wish it were as easy as that Jeff. For me, the trouble is that I question the religious implications of celebrating this particular day. That, along with a touch of seasonal effective disorder, can make it a difficult time to get through. Sometimes watching those programs (and others) almost make the problem worse.
--- End quote ---
Well, not every answer works for everybody. I find this works for me when I'm feeling stressed by too much to do and not enough time to do it in. A deeper cut surely requires more than a bandaid.
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