Kelly loves Christmas and wants to start celebrating as soon as Halloween is over. I also love Christmas, but it is still far from my favorite holiday (the 4th of July). The reasons I don't like Christmas are as follows.
1. Pressure of getting the "right" gift. I have so often heard that it is "the thought that counts" only to realize that this is in fact a bunch of BS and that the thought dwarfs in comparison to the gift itself. I understand that I, like many, have fallen victim to the commercialism of this day. When you combine this with my strong distaste for shopping in general I have my first case against the Holiday Season.
2. Christmas used to be a relaxing time of eating sweet treats, waiting for school to get out, and playing in the snow. Since becoming an adult, Christmas is hectic. You are trying to juggle family time and doing the appropriate activities for the season. This is all multiplied in my own life due to my work. People drink more milk and order more product in the winter months, almost 20% more. This is my money season and with the economy still on the rebound and with inevitable medical and tuition payments to be made I recognize that the additional earning potential of this season might be necessary during next summer. It is hard to have Christmas Cheer when this time of year is serious business for me.
3. Christmas in Idaho will never be Christmas on my mission. The two best Christmas' I have ever had were the two on my mission. They were the best because they were absent from the commercialism of the season and the true purpose of the Saviors birth was felt in its entirety as a missionary. Now that I am home for over 3 years from my mission I feel guilty around Christmas for my weak missionary efforts and how little I do to help those in need around me. Christmas on my mission was a time of sacrifice and personal growth, now it has become a time consumed by money (in addition to the unsatisfying growth around my waste that happens each year). It also makes me miss the people from my mission that have had an everlasting effect on my life. The Bradshaw, Parr, Stewart, Wickner, Thomas, and Downs families (just me name a few).
I recognize that all of my issues with Christmas are my own mental issues and how I perceive Christmas. I also recognize that they are solvable problems. Maybe this blog is the first step in me solving some of these issues. I have innumerable blessings to count from my religious beliefs and there affiliation with this season and I hope to make progress in moving Christmas up the list of my favorite Holiday's. For now I will do what I do best, work hard, stay busy, and eat bacon.
Classless
1 day ago

