It's officially the start of the holiday season, and I'm not happy. I frickin' HATE the holidays.It may be partly because I work part-time at a church, and other than Easter it's the busiest time of the year. Extra work, but of course, no extra pay.
Not to mention all my own shopping, Christmas letter, cards, parties, the six-hour drive to visit my mom and the five-hour drive to mother-in-law, yadda yadda yadda.
As a Christian, I should love the season, looking forward with great anticipation to the birth of Christ. But we've turned the holiday into such a bastion of commercialism and family duty that it's lost its meaning.
I've considered just abandoning all the secular trappings, but I don't think I can do it. My family expects gifts and I don't want to disappoint them. My friends and relatives actually look forward to my annual letter and card, or at least they say they do. The church people need the Christmas events. And my mother and mother-in-law really want the visits and would be sad without them.
This year I'm going to try really hard to improve my attitude. Yeah, I know, I'm a curmudgeon and everyone expects me to bitch and moan all the time. But I really mean it. I'm going to do my best to find the joy this year.
How do you feel about Christmas? Do you love to shop? (Grrr, I hate it... oops, sorry, backsliding already.) Do you love the decorations? The insane holiday music everywhere you go?
And do you think I'll really manage to change my attitude? Does it count if I just hate it inside and don't bitch and moan?
2011, the year of Scrooge-no-more. Hey, it could happen...
