No, I’m not trying to be a Scrooge! I LOVE Christmas! It is hands down my favorite holiday and time of year. (Just maybe, minus some snow?) I genuinely enjoy the giving season and opportunities to spoil people I love and care about. However, there are still a few things I dread as we get closer and closer to the holidays.
- Family drama – Because trying to figure out what to get your brother isn’t a pain enough, now you add in to the mix siblings not getting along, plus in-laws, and heaven for bid angst filled TEENAGERS!
- Friends who don’t mix well – Its all fine until you mix in alcohol – they didn’t call it a truth serum back in the day for nothing! I’m sure we all have stories of alcohol bringing out the worst in us – now add in friends who dislike each other – it’s room of broken glasses asking to happen.
- Office parties – My biggest Bah Humbug on this is fear I’m going to be cornered by someone I don’t know well, or (gasp!) someone I don’t like much. Okay, and what to wear – truthfully, trying to figure out clothing options for the office party typically puts me in a crap mood for weeks.
- Awkward personal questions (“So, when are you getting married?” “Are you seeing anyone?” “When’s the baby due?”) We all have someone in our families, that bless their heart, means well, but ALWAYS asks these types of questions. Typically you can guarantee it will happen at any holiday family function and at the family reunion. Year after year of the same Q&A can take a toll on anyone, especially if through no fault of your own, one of the above hasn’t happened.
- Holiday shopping – No offense, but people turn crazy when it comes to the stores and holidays! Carrie Underwood recently admitted she does all her holiday shopping online, after dealing with grouchy people in stores and watching those horrible Black Friday gone wrong videos, I prefer to shop small and follow in Carrie’s steps for “big box” gifts.
- Gift-giving competitiveness – This is a real thing! NO ONE wants to be the person who received the BEST GIFT EVER! And gave a below average purchase. I recommend setting a dollar amount for gifts, at least that’s what my friends and I do. So far, so good!
- Relationship fights and disappointment caused by unspoken expectations – You THINK you’ve done a fantastic job of dropping hints, or telling him exactly what you want for Christmas, and then he buys you something totally random. True story: my mom asked my dad one year for a few things around the house (new sewing machine, pair of boots, etc…) she ended up getting a new garage door for one of our greenhouses and a power hammer. Yes, you read that correctly. He gave her an electric hammer that you hold up to the nail and it does the hammering for you. Granted this was also the year he gave her a table saw for her birthday. This was after they had been married for just shy of 50 years.
Hopefully we can all relate to the above and laugh at how silly some of it seems. The important thing to so keep our “holly jolly” selves from becoming the Grinch! But even he discovered that Christmas is more than just gifts, and one day of fun and excitement. Perhaps he thought, it was about so much more!
-Sarah
