Comments on: Holiday Dispirit

By: greypilgrim

greypilgrim — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 21:59:23 +0000

I’ve come to the conclusion that most kids will have a good Christmas memory no matter what the parents do (or don’t do). I do think that parents are the ones who feel especially needful of a “special” holiday, which usually ends with them feeling stressed and out of sorts.

Overall, we had a good Christmas, but I am glad the traveling is over. As I think I said somewhere in this entry–or perhaps I am thinking of what I told my therapist–I sometimes feel like the lucky ones are you folks who live on the other side of the country and have a valid excuse for NOT traveling. Lynn and I live far enough from our families to make travel a pain, but not so far that we can get away with NOT traveling. On the other hand, my therapist pointed out that most people use their kids as an excuse not to travel on holidays. They want their kids to have a Christmas at home. I don’t think that excuse would fly with my family, who believe Christmas at home means Christmas at their house. That brings up the point my therapist made: what would happen if one year we told them we weren’t coming? Would the world suddenly end? Other families don’t seem to have these issues of familial guilt.

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 23:23:08 +0000

I’ve become kind of glad that a) my family really doesn’t want to have much to do with me and b) i’m really far from them anyway. Reading this entry, and talking to people here who have family either in town or in state, makes me thankful for the scaled-down version of the holiday I now celebrate. This season can be really, incredibly stressful. It’s the exact opposite of the image put forth by the hype. Which, of course, heightens the stress.

But then again, I have so many other balls in the air that I try not to stress about that which I have little control. For instance, I have Christmas cookies still to make and distribute for my local friends. They’ll get done when they get done, and they’ll be New Year’s cookies. And if they don’t like them, I’ll eat them.

But hey. I understand that I have that luxury because I’m not charged with making sure a kid’s formative Christmas memories are perfect, or at least decent.

By: Mel B.

Mel B. — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:07:45 +0000

I am still attached to a Christmas that will never be again. And living so far away from my family, I don’t really even try to recapture it.
Christmas is — barf — for the kids.

I miss the food, the companionship of spending time with my family. For the past four Christmases, I haven’t been able to go home. Next year, I should be able to go home.

I am going to insist on things being the way I used to remember — the food, the eggnog, the fire.

But I know it won’t be the same. I wish I could sit in a bubble of anticipation, on Christmas Eve, forever. At 10 years old.

I guess if I had children, I’d want to make them have their own traditions, too. I would try to recapture what we always had. But it wouldn’t be the same.