Another Christmas... gone

Gone. Two days ago. A bit like a wedding Christmas has, for some, a lot of prep, a lot of hype, a lot of cost. Then, like the last donut in the box, like a baby bird trained and ready for flight, like a spec of dust near the noisy hoover, it's gone. Gone with the wind.

What is all the hype about? Giving? Stress? Joy? Jesus? I heard from a reliable source recently that in the States, until 110 years ago Christmas was a non-event... until department stores saw the 'value' of it. 'Course it's been running for a good while around Europe. I believe it began with a great, rich guy called Nicholas who, on the 6th of December gave money to poor orphans to keep them out of slavery. That generosity got Nick a sainthood and as time went on the whole thing morphed into a celebration of Jesus' birth and then an opportunity to give things away to people - especially children - that we love.

Anyhow, this year at our house we didn't do Christmas. And you know what? There was nothing lost. No stress came and no hype died. 

I like Jesus and I like kids and I still like presents. But even without "Christmas" I had a great day with people I love. I didn't put on any weight or go into debt.

Main reason I'm writing is because lots of people get depressed after Christmas. So here's to say, you can look ahead to next Christmas and choose the option to opt out. We did and we're no worse for it. Perhaps better!