Well, it’s that time of year again. The lights, trees and decorations are up, the shops are full of people (but running out of items), there are more cars on the road than ever, most families are madly wrapping their last few gifts and others are making sure they have every single ingredient for those all-important 6 course meals on Christmas Day. All this stress and anxiety for one day of the year that, in my opinion, has lost its meaning.
So what if we cancel it? Well, that is exactly what my wife proposed to me this year. With us recently building a house and having lost loved ones over the past Christmas holidays, the thought of drinking the expensive alcohol, eating until we could no longer move and making sure every single person had a gift that was perfect, felt less and less important.
And just like that, it seemed like our yearly traditions were coming to an end. There was going to be no tree, no decorations, no Christmas shopping, no wrapping paper, no gifts, no name tags and most definitely no excessively-over-the-top stick-on bows and you know what, it sounded very relaxing. We could focus on spending time with our family, appreciating and celebrating our loved ones who are still here with us whilst remembering those who are not.
However, as the days slowly crept up to Christmas, the urge to give in to the holiday season was becoming more and more tempting. Seeing all the Christmas decorations up in stores, and all the carols blaring through the radio, made the thought of cancelling Christmas that much harder. So what was I going to do… actually go through and cancel Christmas, or give in?
To be honest, I am not sure what I am going to do yet… the thought of not celebrating Christmas with my family feels wrong, but all the stress that revolves around Christmas, makes it seem almost not worth it.
I think Christmas has lost its true meaning, and now it’s more about receiving gifts, rather than the real meaning (whether that be religious based or spending time with loved ones).
Over the next few days I will see how my wife and I feel, and actually see if we can go through with cancelling Christmas this year. I’m hoping we reach a happy medium where we are able to celebrate Christmas in a more meaningful, heartfelt way, as opposed to what our Christmas Days have turned into over the last few years.