I haven’t written anything in awhile. I’ve had a lot on my mind, and just haven’t known what to write. Yes, I know, that’s ironic.

Anyways, I saw a post on Facebook the other day about how there are only 9 Friday’s until Christmas! When I read that, I totally cringed and my mind went into complete overdrive about plans for Christmas, shopping, decorating, the works. If a kid were seeing that, they’d be so excited! After all, Christmas and the holidays are supposed to be happy, cheery and fun! As I’ve gotten older, I’ve really started to dread holidays (and no, this isn’t some pre-30 midlife crisis). So, where did I go so wrong? What happened to the joy of the holidays?

When I was thinking about this, for awhile, I really thought there was something wrong with me and it had me really down. But, I had to stop and think about why I had the dread. At the end of the day, my dread comes from the stress that’s associated with holidays, whether it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas. There’s all of the cleaning, cooking, preparing for people to be over, shopping, finding the perfect gifts, traveling, making sure everyone else is happy, blah, blah, blah. Don’t get me wrong, once things are set, and you can sit and enjoy company, holidays are great! But that’s just it, if it’s about enjoying others company, and being with family and friends, why do we need all of the added stress of making sure everything is perfect?

Now, I know some of you are reading this and just don’t understand how I could feel this way, and that’s totally fine. But, the more I think about it, the more I truly believe that we, as a society, have completely ruined the meaning of holidays. These days, it’s all about the gifts, spending money, finding the perfect gifts, making sure the spread of gifts is even, making sure others are happy, etc. At risk of being called selfish, I personally would rather hang out with my friends and family, eat pizza (yes, I realize I don’t eat pizza anymore, but you get my point), and play games or watch movies. I’d rather save money to have experiences later. I’d rather feel relaxed and not worried about the countless worries we all have on our minds during the holidays.

So, where do we go from here? How to we change this? I, for one, want to rethink how I celebrate holidays. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to or won’t celebrate them. It doesn’t mean I’m going to sit in my cave alone, like the Grinch. It just means that I spend some time contemplating how to make it less stressful, so I can start looking forward to the holidays again. Maybe this means I hand-make gifts this year. Maybe this means I get people a couple thoughtful gifts rather than just getting them ‘things.’ I don’t have the answers right now, but, I’ll be sure to share them when I do. I’m also open to suggestions on how you combat these stressful situations.

Feel free to call me the Grinch, but keep in mind it was the Grinch that said “maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”