AS you are most certainly aware, Christmas is on the way.
Christmas is meant to be such a happy time and everyone is expected to be so happy.
It is true that Christmas is one of my favourite times of year; the lights, the presents and just the genuine warmth of the holidays. I love the family time and that all-important and very competitive game of charades at the end of the night.
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But even though Christmas is this huge, spectacular event that we really start celebrating straight after Halloween, it can be a lot of pressure.
Whether it is the pressure to buy everyone you know spectacular presents, or the general pressure to just be happy. Not to mention the fact that everyone generally looks better in the festive season which just means a lot more hair and nail appointments.
The money pressure is one that often gets people down but unlike other times of the year, it isn’t generally acceptable to complain about anything, let alone money troubles. So people don’t tend to mention how much everything costs. Not just that, but people kind of push themselves that little bit further to almost prove that they have nothing to complain about.
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I know that it is Christmas, but I don’t think that your accountant will thank you for it, or in my case, I don’t think that my mom will be too pleased.
Then there is the present buying. Particularly for those closer to you, people feel that they need to get a real kick-ass present to please them. Don’t worry, I am not going to go into the whole “material things don’t make people happy” thing because no one wants their loved one’s face to fall on Christmas morning. And on those early Christmas mornings, we tend to not be as good at masking our feelings!
I know that present buying can be an incredibly stressful situation, especially when you are faced with angry shoppers with sharp elbows. My family is keeping present buying local this year (as should you) but it’s the whole premise of it all that can be too much for some people.
Then there is the big one. The general pressure to be happy, just because it is Christmas. You are expected to have the biggest smile on your face at all times and you are expected to embrace every part of Christmas with full enthusiasm.
But, let’s face it, there are times when we just don’t feel up to it. The way that I see it is that any other time of the year, it is okay to have a down day, so it really shouldn’t be so different for Christmas.
Even it is just a few minutes when you need to shed your “Christmas face”, it is okay. You don’t need to be smiling just because that creepy little Santa doll in the corner is.
So, for a million reasons, Christmas is a time of year that everyone is made to love, but it can be hard. It’s a lot of pressure to have everything right and to enjoy yourself.
It’s stressful for me at the moment, so I can’t imagine what it is like with sugar-filled bags of excitement running around the house…well, good luck.
Anyway, I don’t want anyone to think that I am the Christmas-hating Grinch, because as I say, I love it to bits, but it is okay to admit that it is a lot to take sometimes.
So maybe we can wipe our Christmas faces off from time to time and relax a little bit.
Well only for a little while… The elves are watching you know.
