I feel like I’m supposed to post something positive today — to, you know, spread joy and love or some other such crap — but I actually think Christmas is kind of the worst.
If I were to take my Facebook feed at face value, I would have to buy that 100% of people are feeling 100% merry. But sometimes the internet deceives us *gasp*
So today I will be the grinchy one on the internet and point out, for everyone else who isn’t feeling the magical Christmas crappola, that you are not alone.
Contrary to popular propaganda, for many people, Christmas ends up being a super stressful and depressing time of year. Particularly if your life is less-than-perfect which, I think it’s fair to assume, most of ours are. People who have family issues (is there anyone who doesn’t?), suffer from depression, are not wealthy or middle class (i.e. don’t have disposable income, therefore making the Christmas consumeristic frenzy all the more stressful), or who are alone, suddenly feel all the more low about these day-to-day struggles.
I think it’s important to point out that, in particular, Christmas can be nightmarish for women who are living with abusers and/or are living in poverty. Alcohol consumption is high, stress is high, and police report a higher number of calls from women over the holidays than other times of the year:
Normal life is not going on. The children aren’t at school. People aren’t at work…The expectation of a good time adds pressure and alcohol can be an aggravating factor. (via Sky News)
For many, Christmas just reinforces the idea that if you are unpartnered or don’t have a traditional (and happyhappy!) family or family life, you are flawed. That, tied to the fact that incidences of domestic abuse rise over the holidays leads me to believe that, regardless of the overpowering surge of Hallmark-style status updates, the holidays are not as universally wonderful as we imagine they should be.
Oh right, also the whole world isn’t Christian.
While I do hope many of you are having a lovely, happy day whether it’s with family or friends or pets or just on your own, I noticed that the barrage of saccharine holiday-related posts made my general lack of interest in Christmas time shift from plain indifference to crabby. Is everyone lying? Or is it that those of us who may wish that Christmas would just be over with already so we can stop feeling flawed and guilty for not engaging in the week long holiday gush are silent?
So to all those who are having a MEH-ry Christmas — you are not alone! We just aren’t posting much on Facebook.
Catch you on the flip side, lovies.
xo