Have Yourself a “Meh” Little Christmas
PC: Danica Eylenstein
Recently, I’ve been seeing a lot of posts online about how to get into the Christmas spirit. The suggestions range from listening to Christmas music or baking Christmas cookies, to decorating your house and watching Christmas movies.
Helpful, right? Wrong. I’m realizing those cliched articles don’t actually live up to their titles. They aren’t telling me how to get into the Christmas spirit, just do Christmas-y things. Forcing myself to do the typical Christmastime activities won’t get me feeling festive and I’m honestly not sure why anyone would think otherwise. Fight me.
If I don’t want to watch a cheesy Christmas comedy or drink hot chocolate in front of a fireplace, I’m not going to. And you shouldn’t either. Hear me out: If you’re not feeling jolly this holiday season, but you try to force yourself for the sake of celebrating, you’re probably doing more harm than good. You may end up equating your “meh” feelings towards Christmas as a whole, as opposed to what they actually are–momentary.
Instead, I propose an alternative. Don’t fight your feelings; embrace them. I’m certainly not saying go full-on Grinch for the month of Dec. but there’s no need to, dream of a white Christmas, deck the halls, or go dashing through the snow if you’re just not feeling it this year.
Contrary to popular belief, there’s nothing special a pine-scented candle, candy canes or Starbucks holiday cups can really do to rid you of the holiday blues, and that’s okay. In the meantime: drink your iced coffee, dream of warmer days and avoid all things peppermint and pine. If and when you feel like celebrating, you will. Until then, I won’t hold it against you.
Why it’s totally fine to not have yourself a merry little Christmas
If the weather outside is frightful, I’m surely not going to say let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Hah. No, thank you. Keep your snow.
Let’s be honest–as an adult, snow sucks. No one likes scraping ice off their car and being chilled to the bone.
Jesus wasn’t really born in December anyway, so don’t feel bad.
Tinsel and pine needles make a huge mess. If you enjoy that clean up, you’re crazy.
Wrapping presents takes what feels like forever, but only mere moments to unwrap.
Those extra holiday pounds will take much longer to shed then gain.
Face it, the only nice thing about winter is when it’s over.
Danica Eylenstein is a senior studying communication.