like all the fuckin ads with the hugging families around winter. any educationally normal adult knows everyone just gets more stressed, with travel and gifts and social obligations and everything, but you’re not even allowed to…openly feel that, it seems? it’s like there’s this happiness benchmark you have to reach, otherwise you’ll feel even shittier and sadder for not having a happy holiday season
The trick is to figure out what you want your holidays to look like, and then just do that.
We’ve got a weird tradition of going to the beach every Christmas Eve, wandering along the freezing cold pier, getting cheesy chips, then heading home where my husband pours himself a glass of something luxurious and watches Zulu while I generally get in a spot of knitting or gaming or something.
This year, his mam is trying to organise a big family party on Christmas Eve. Whole family will be there…except us. We’ve got our tradition and we like it. No stress.