May the stress begin! It’s the holiday season!
Mostly I love Christmas (the LIGHTS! the LOVE! the JOY!) [the cookies! the booze!], but I really don’t enjoy the events leading up to and surrounding the holidays.
Despite the fact that I stopped hosting holiday parties several years ago; despite the fact that I ceased holiday cookie baking; despite the fact that I stopped sending out holiday cards; and despite the fact that I no longer decorate my home.
But there’s still stress:
Figuring out what to give to each recipient, and then finding that item. Family usually isn’t too hard – every year each person sends out a “wish list” and the others coordinate to make sure there are no duplicate gifts. But what about a gift for someone who has been unusually helpful during the year, but whom you really don’t know all that well? What to give, and in what price range? (too little makes you look cheap and ungrateful, too much implies you’ll expect some further courtesy).
Once the gift decisions have been made, there’s stress involved in obtaining those gifts. Do you brave the holiday traffic/crowds and actually go shopping? [shudder] Do you order online and hope what you ordered is what actually arrives? (Already this year, I’ve made the mistake of clicking on a wrong, but very similar item, and now will have to return and replace it before Christmas. Ugh.)
If you order online, how do you obtain delivery? Do you assume porch pirates don’t live in your area, and have those packages delivered to your home – knowing they will certainly arrive on a day you’re not there and will mostly likely be placed in the absolutely most visible spot on your front porch or steps?
If you opt for home delivery, do you try to track the packages and monitor their arrival? Some security systems allow for remote monitoring through a smartphone. Even if you have a security system in place, if you see someone steal the package from your front steps, will you be able to do anything about it? Suppose you’re at work and home is 10 miles away – there’s no way to get there fast enough to stop a thief, and local police probably won’t consider your frantic call a priority. Even if they do, by the time they’d get to your house, that thief would be long gone, along with all your packages.
Do you assume porch pirates do live in your area, and arrange for pick up at the store(s) – thereby encountering the very holiday traffic/crowds you had hoped to avoid? Or do you arrange for delivery to a “lock box” location – which is bound to be even busier than the local mall, and with much less parking?
Decisions, Decisions.
I won’t even go into the whole how-to-wrap-the-perfect-gift issue; nor will I go into the how-to-choose-the-perfect-accompanying-card issue.
Of course, the season does have its humorous aspects. Sure, those “buy this now!” ads and “give me money!” campaigns are annoying, but some of them can be quite amusing (or unsettling, depending on your viewpoint).
A couple of for instances:
♦ A current online article touting new, improved cars, indicating how the most popular sedans have been improved for the 2018 model year. I would hope vehicles have also been improved for this year’s 2020 models.
♦ The TV ad that’s currently running, in which a cartoon rat host accidentally serves her little rat guests poison-laced food. Does anyone else find that ad obnoxious and gruesome, instead of amusing? Does the Grinch work for that advertiser?
♦ A radio announcement for a Christmas festival at a local religious shrine, with the slogan “Come Meet Jesus!” – thanks, but I’m not quite ready, no matter how stressed out I might have become over the last few weeks. Stress will end eventually; “meeting Jesus” is likely to be permanent.
If you celebrate the holidays, may your journey to “the day” be as worry-free as possible. Holiday stress is the one thing on which we can pretty much all commiserate, no matter our income level, geographic location, race, or gender.
Let’s be kind to each other.
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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Image by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalie Studio
Cordelia's Mom, Still 
Great post, CM. I love the things you’ve given up; great minds think alike! 😏
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I’m just getting too old and too tired for all the hoopla. If it were up to me, I’d probably spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day curled up in bed with a good book.
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Yeah, the holidays have turned into a circus and most of it distracts from the true reason of the season.
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Yep, too commercial nowadays.
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Amen!
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Great post, CM. I’m waiting for the “avoid the stress and danger of online shopping – come back to the mall. “
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Ha! I’m surprised no one else thought of that yet.
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I finish gift shopping by Halloween( so it can all be paid off b before Christmas) – and ditch many of the “traditions” if I don’t feel like it – resulting in an enjoyable time while I sit/stroll leisurely around watching everyone else go crazy. It’s so jolly that way. (But some of the ads are seriously weird and a bit creepy…you wonder, did they not listen to what they are saying?)
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My husband and I agree that we can’t even figure out some of the ads. I suppose it’s a difference in generations.
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Sesame Street, video games, and social media have actually changed brain functions. More people visually oriented, short attention span browsers now. And lots of pretty and fluff with little depth/information requested. Marketing targets groups.
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“Come meet Jesus” sounds creepy to me.
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I know, right? And they say it so enthusiastically!
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My family decided we manage to get what we want on our own, and holidays are for being together, so any gifts given will be something we’ve made. Decorating is minimal. If I gift friends, it will be with something like a loaf of homemade bread, and only if I feel like it.
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Homemade gifts are the best! Always made with love.
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I am happy with the companionship of my loved ones every time we get together, CM. These particular holidays do indeed bring more stress with expectations. I do know it’s worse for my dear wife Karen, who is in charge of the meal-planning, making and staging as much as I try to help out there. By and by, when the day is done and we are sitting just the three of us again, humans and dog are pretty darn happy.
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I suspect Karen loves it, though, despite any pressure to get everything done right and on time. When I was younger, I actually enjoyed all the baking, cooking, shopping and wrapping. Now I’m just too tired, and glad that my girls are really into it.
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I know what you mean, CM.
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“Come Meet Jesus!” made me LOL!
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Yep. I wonder that no one seemed to catch that before it aired.
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Being me, I have no sage advice. Maybe a couple of deep breaths…. My motto is, ‘It is better to receive – than to go crazy, trying to give.’ 😯
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It’s ok. We figured it all out, and are done with our shopping. But I’m still not ready to go meet Jesus.
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