Christmas Ain’t So Bad After All

If you’re a long term reader of this here blog, you’ll know that I’ve struggled with Christmas over the years.

(And in case you missed out, here are a couple of posts to fill you in: Ghosts of Christmas Past and Bah Humbug!)

But this year? I’ve decided Christmas ain’t so bad after all. In fact, as I told the husbear, it’s actually kinda fun!

His response: Who are you and what have you done with my wife?!

He then went on to say that he never fully understood why I loathed it anyway. “Sure you had some horrible Christmases growing up but why let that affect you today?”

Why indeed?

I realised:

• I like Christmas carols and find myself humming and singing along as I’m doing my shopping (clearly I don’t work in retail). It really does feel like a season of love and goodwill (so long as you avoid the shops during the day, my tip – go at night when it’s less crowded).
• I also have a lot less anxiety over presents. We buy a few fun / nonsense little gifts for our kidults so they have presents to open- but the main gift is cash. Other than that we don’t actually buy much in the way of gifts for others (our extended families are quite large so it’s better this way).

• This also means it’s not a huge burden financially!
• A couple of years back I wrote a post about finding Christmas to be much more enjoyable when you remember you don’t HAVE to do anything. Because then you realise that you WANT to. Last year for example we were in the midst of moving house, and never got around to putting up a Christmas tree. This year … we even bought a new tree and decorations!
• I love seeing all the pretty lights and we are even planning a visit to the City to see the giant Christmas Tree and Enchanted Gardens.
• And for us personally, this is a magical time of year for a completely different reason as it reminds me of when the husbear and I first fell in love. Our very first date was going for an ice cream after work one December evening, 32 years ago now!

In summary? Christmas is wonderful!

I get to spend time relaxing with our lovely family, eating, drinking and being merry, playing ping pong … and afterwards we have lazy summer days. With so many of the businesses I work with closing for at least a week, I take a couple of weeks off too.

Thanks to our lovely air con, we get to stay up and sleep late, spend time together, potter around the house. I’m looking forward to relaxing with a jigsaw puzzle or two, luscious summer fruits, ice blocks, and watching the storms roll in. They all mean Christmas to me!

As with anything in life, it’s all in your perspective. And I “choose” to enjoy Christmas from now on!

What do you love most about Christmas?!