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Christmas 2021 The good the bad and the ugly.

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I think for me Christmas is both joyful and sorrowful, depending on what I focus on. Leaving behind all the preparations, the preparations themselves even are done to acknowledge what the day 'is' and what you want to do (give; worship; celebrate; etc), and so they are voluntary and nothing is right or wrong. Do what is true to you, and brings you peace or joy, and is possible. To try to improve another's situation, and one's own, even if for a moment.

That being said, I have long thought the 1st "Christmas" was on the run (for their lives), without much family, in the cold, and without a home or acceptance or much security. Pretty much Criterion A material. Yet it is called a "Wondrous and Holy Night" with the birth of the Prince of Peace, or Emmanuel (God-is-with-us), in Christianity. Somehow, it was joyful, not just despite everything but with it.

So this year I figure, since it is the only one I know I 'may' have (one never knows), or there may be a string that follows, I'm going to try to make it a good one. Since I figure if there was a 1st Christmas (for me I believe there was), then they 'get it' and I am in need of what it offers, maybe more in need than some. To that end, I think I have to think less. PTSD symptomology ruins or interferes with a lot, for me. I'd prefer it stays as a less unruly guest outside my door and heart this year, and I'm going to try to remember that every time something negative crowds out the reality of what Christmas means and signifies, and tries to make it negative instead.

That probably sounds stupid but it's the best I can verbalize it.

I wish everyone some happiness and peace. Even if it's under the covers (that's ok too). 🤗
 
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When I was a kid it was a great feeling to look forward to a Christmas just like the year before. So deeply rooted in memory that it felt as automatic as breathing, Christmas was coming! Then as I grew up and family went away i was forced to make it happen as best as I could, it went away, that wonderful anticipation. When I had my own family and kids growing up it was great again, we had our own family christmases and it fealt wonderful to see the anticipation and happiness. Then my kids all got married and had families of their own so christmas is like multiplied and every year is bigger and better with more grandkids both here and on the way.
If i had no family and no kids or grandkids, i hope that by now I would have figured out a way to feel good about christmas with some kind of positive continuity. i hope I would have remembered somewhere along the way that giving and anticipating the gift was what it is all about.
Or maybe going to a kids christmas concert at a grade school once a year, just sitting alone and smiling and watching. something.
Merry christmas on line friends, hoping you can all remember the happiness or make it up as you go along, be well
 
Kinda looking forward to it this year. We're away a fair bit nowdays for one reason or another, but this weekend we're catching up with Nicolettes god parents in Albury Wodonga, then back for the Christmas days with kids and grandkids, then away again for something I am not yet privy to, surprise, then away again in Feb to my family in Queensland. I think we've been away for a night or more a lot recently. Good 4WD tracks, business, family, etc.
 
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Hey… 10 years ago today/last night (12/11) my (then) husband tried to kill me.. and came very, very close.

V. I. C. T. O. R. Y.

For me.

And for my Kiddo, whom he almost killed -on accident- by throwing him against a wall as the skinny (spine & ribs showing …discharged from the hospital only weeks earlier, after months inpatient)…. Saved. His. Moms. Life. By attacking a man twice his height & 5 times his weight. Thrown against a wall. Bounced back. Wailing on him some more.

A lot of Christmases I haven’t known if I’d see my kid, again. (As the courts gave his dad half custody; “due to years of ongoing abuse and neglect we find there is no relationship between father & son. THEREFORE we award the father half custody in order to repair that relationship”. Ironically? Is was the Christmas he (my Ex) threw my kid out… in the middle of the night… on an island… in the cold & storms... to wait for a ferry 10mi away for 12 hours… that marked the beginning of my “having” him (TheKiddo) full time.

I haven’t been able to “do” Xmas right since 2011. I still can’t.

But myKiddo is alive. And I am, too. And where there’s life? There’s possibility.
 
@Mach123
the bumble is great. Wish I had one. I found a Herbie once (the dentist) and put him up for grabs at a white elephant Christmas gift exchange, he was a big hit. The bumble would have been bigger. I am old enough to remember when the show was sponsored annually by Norelco shavers, and had commercials with Santa riding around in the snow on a giant-sized electric razor and the company name changed to read Noelco. That's how freaking old I am, but still willing to sit through an airing if only to watch the kiddos squirm with boredom.
 
@Mach123
the bumble is great. Wish I had one. I found a Herbie once (the dentist) and put him up for grabs at a white elephant Christmas gift exchange, he was a big hit. The bumble would have been bigger. I am old enough to remember when the show was sponsored annually by Norelco shavers, and had commercials with Santa riding around in the snow on a giant-sized electric razor and the company name changed to read Noelco. That's how freaking old I am, but still willing to sit through an airing if only to watch the kiddos squirm with boredom.
I’m that old too. I found a copy of Charlie Brown Xmas online a couple days ago, complete with a few commercials. It was a different world. Ever year must watch 1. Charlie Brown 2. The Grinch original cartoon done by the bugs bunny crew at Warner bros. and 3. Scrooge with Alastair Sim. We play the Charlie Brown soundtrack for about a month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s a nice time of year and I am glad I’m able to enjoy it in spite of the trauma stuff, which does get tweaked !
 
Thats some fancy shit @anthony - color co-ordinating wrapping paper with the tree. 😏

Ever year must watch 1. Charlie Brown 2. The Grinch original cartoon done by the bugs bunny crew at Warner bros. and 3. Scrooge with Alastair Sim.
yes to 1 and 2- thats a christmas eve thing. the rule is kids can have as much tech time as they want that day but it has to be christmas shows/movies. their mom started that, and she always makes sure those two shows are on. i even have a copy of both
i dunno who alastair sim is but we watch one version of that movie too. a christmas carol.

the kids will hopefully have good memories of christmas traditions
 
Thats some fancy shit @anthony - color co-ordinating wrapping paper with the tree. 😏
All wife, not me. I started using some other paper and got in trouble, had to start again. I'm just happy she used these baubles two years straight, and she didn't give them all away and buy a whole new tree and decorations. I swear... her and things that sparkle.
 
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