From e-mail, posted with permission: Your story on PBW about Robert Frost was so sad. Do you have any happy memories of Christmas past?
Childhood, not really. We were orthodox Catholic, my grandmother always bailed, and the alcohol flowed like Niagara Falls. Dec. 26th was my favorite day, because I knew I had 365 days of freedom before I had to endure it again. When I became an adult, I was able to celebrate Christmas the way I wanted to. I either worked extra shifts so my married coworkers could stay home with their kids, or spent it alone reading, painting or writing. Both ways were absolute bliss.
That all changes when you have kids, but then your bad memories kick in and you make an extra effort to make Christmas special and fun for them. I've been extremely lucky that my ex never kept my kids from me at Christmas, but was willing to timeshare the holidays.
Despite the bad start, I never saw much use in being miserable during Christmas. For me it's a time of dwelling in quiet faith, showing a little joy and charity to the world, and doing what you can to make loved ones, friends, and total strangers happy. Even if you have to fake it now and then, they're worth it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Living with a daily pledge not to repeat my parents' mistakes --
ReplyDeleteHey, it works for me.
Back. And what'd I miss?
ReplyDeleteEven if you have to fake it now and then, they're worth it.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's actually a pretty damn good way to go through life.
Christmas was ok growing up, but as an adult it's been more problematic. Still, I dig in and work through it. The little quiet moments make it worth all the work.
Yeah.
ReplyDeleteI (insert your chosen expletive here) hate Christmas and I'm currently counting the moments 'til Monday. But we do try to make it a good one for the kid. She loves Christmas, so we must be doing okay.
{hugg}
I'm with Tam. I ****ing hate Christmas! Spending it reading has always gotten me through.
ReplyDelete{{{hugs}}}Tammy! I love Christmas, despite any and all attempts by people around me my whole life to make it miserable. I think it's good or bad, depending on what you do with it. What I do is ask the people I celebrate with what they want to do and we find our celebration. There are things I love to do that I couldn't do this year. Maybe next year it will happen. We'll see. But Christmas brings out the optimist in me and I do what I can to spread that to people who feel pressured or hopeless this time of year. :)
ReplyDeleteLinda