On: Pet-Peeving Christmas
Colleen
Rogers
Today, my singular,
intense pet-peeves of Christmas were re-animated. Once again, like every year since childhood,
I experience a gnawing distaste for the holiday season.
My husband and I kicked
our festivities off as consumers in a big box store. Although it’s early in the season,
merchandise was already “picked over”, and shoppers were eyeballing cart items
that did not belong to them. People were
stacked to the rafters, some scrambling for free samples, others jockeying for
position in winding check-out lines.
While we were purchasing food items AND deciding on holiday hostess
gifts, I was suddenly overwrought. The stew
of unrelenting humanity, predatory greed, and smoldering agitation was well-seasoned,
and I wasn’t having any of it.
I have never experienced
any youthful trauma related to the “mirthful” season, but I have always seemed
to find the whole goings-on difficult to navigate. Some of the continued seasonal issues I face
may be common threads during each of our holiday seasonal events:
1.
Dual invites: My husband and I do not receive a myriad of
invitations, but when we do get asked to holiday festivities, the celebrations
are always from two separate families (or groups of friends) who reside in two
distant states. We have traveled
overnight on Christmas Eves from Shabonna, Illinois to Etowah, Tennessee. We have packed two sets of presents, some
specialty food items, and our own luggage to make the pilgrimage. We have seen as few as three cars from
Illinois to Indiana, because other than Santa and reindeer, who really
travels on Christmas Eve?
One favorite tradition we
found eternally amusing, though, was stopping at Waffle House to hear “It’s a
Waffle House Christmas” on the juke box, giving us our own special holiday memory.
Takeaway: You are
blessed in your travels…you have someplace to journey to be with people who
love you…
2. Financial obligations: Every year
we struggle with the amount we should spend on Christmas. Should we give gifts or gift cards? Do we know the recipient of our gift well
enough to make a memorable selection for them?
Will we overstretch our budget on innumerable, random stocking stuffers,
or should we go for one "big ticket item” that may not be valued either? What is the best way to even approximate a “financial
confirmation” of the true feelings we have for the recipients of our gifts? In spite of our best intentions, we somehow always
fall short when serving as Elves or Secret Santa.
Takeaway:
If you are able to have something to give with love, and are
lucky enough to have people to receive with understanding…you are blessed…
3. Food prep: If you are
designated hostess for holiday events, it is a daunting task to deal with the
festive presentation of gracious holiday “delicacies”. How much food is “too much” to prepare for
your guests? What foods might satisfy
everyone’s special palates? How much time
should be spent in the kitchen cooking at the expense of socializing with
family and friends? How much charity can
be expected to extend to the “plus ones” that show up uninvited to your expertly
prepared table? And, most importantly…What
should really be done with the annoying aunt who never brings a dish to share, yet
hauls out with a stack of others’ “best dishes” when leaving the party?
Takeaway: If you do
your best in preparation, and are generous in what you do have to share to
those “less deserving”, your charity will make your home both a refuge and a memory…
4. Holiday decorations: The issue of holiday décor grinds
my gears every year. Why do people mix
Mickey Mouse with Mangers on front lawns?
Why are there so many dead mouse dirigibles, like misplaced Pub Crawl drunks,
deflated in peoples’ yards each morning?
Why do people ignore the careful, tidy placement of exterior illumination by
choosing instead to TP fling lights over symmetrical evergreens? What’s up with the duel re-purposing of gaudy
red lights for Christmas AND Valentines’ Day?
Takeaway:
It’s for the kids…
Image From:
https://www.google.com/search?q=girl+grinch&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjN4r_K1ZPfAhUMeKwKHajuADoQ_AUIDigB&biw=1349&bih=771&dpr=1.71#imgrc=2uDW_RF8iWuVCM:
