What Would Make The Christmas Holidays Better For You?

[Hashi]

If I could not feel like my neighbours must think I'm a loser for being here on my own over Christmas - my choice, I like it, but I think they view me with pity.

And a ban on Christmas music in shops, office Christmas parties, Christmas shopping and... can I just ban Christmas?

 

[catjudo]

What would make it better? I'm not sure. I know that a big part of me wishes I could just stay in bed with the covers pulled over my head and close out the world around me until the holiday season has passed. But, I have a young daughter and Christmas is an exciting time of year for kids. I will say that seeing her so excited makes things a little better. She still believes in Santa Claus and just seeing the wonder and excitement in her is enjoyable. But with that comes pressure to put on a happy face and be excited for and with her, trying to make it as special as possible. When she grows up I want her to look back on her childhood with fond memories, not sad ones...and that makes me put a lot of pressure on myself to be happy, upbeat and fun even when I'm really not feeling it.

 

[Deleted member 6617]

Being able to fly home and see my girls and the rest my family and friends. Would be really cool if I could surprise them. Hmmm....air fare and car rental....Well, one can dream. But then I need to face reality and find a way to really make it through Christmas with a good attitude and in the spirit it is meant to be celebrated in. So I guess the question for me is "how WILL I make Christmas better?" I best be figuring that out!

 

[Tinyflame]

I think Christmas- 'real' Christmas- is meant to be (for me) appreciated for what it means, 'was' and 'is', here 'now', more so than any past memories of my own.

I guess what I mean is, despite Christmas Card portrayals etc, those at the the true first Christmas must have felt a lot of what I feel- fear of the future, worry for others, etc. Their journey sounded pretty difficult, unsure and painful.

So I guess finding 'that'- the ability to celebrate amidst realities and make it nice for others and somehow help bring them that, and to have a sense of trust, safety, peace for myself- even for a moment, that would make it easier.

 

[The Albatross]

I've been staring at the title of this thread for a few days... and I don't know. I don't know what would make the Christmas holidays better for me. This is where my inability to imagine or reluctance to dare to try comes out to play. A nationally acclaimed psychotherapist said I've been conditioned to fear the future... at some point I decided to block conjecturing or hoping or imagining a future. It has been a deffinite handicap of my recovery. I shared before I even flunked ink blots because I didn't allow myself to "see" anything.

 

[Tinyflame]

To be honest, I don't know what would make it better.

 

[Loloma]

I didn't want to be on my own so I booked a bus trip for 6 days over Christmas to go Brandenburg by Berlin, Frankfurt and a few other places. This is a trip for singles only, not young singles.

It is a well known fact that Christmas is the worst time of the year for a lot more people than we think, and this includes families and people alone. The amount of stress due to commitments, feeling obligated to buy presents for every man and his dog, plus feeding them. This includes the added expectations of young children today with all the technology in the stores. It's just all too much. The psychiatric hospitals have the highest number of placements during this period.

Really is insanity itself that a time of "joy" is such a miserable unhappy time of the year. Where's the logic to it all.

 

[Lionheart]

Plenty of money for gift giving and if my grandparents and my dad were still alive, that would make Christmas better for me.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

This will be the second Christmas since my husband died. I have always struggled with Christmas and I have had to learn to simplify things. We have kids in the house so we have to do Christmas things for them to give them good memories.

We will do out traditional submarine sandwiches, open presents and stockings and stay out of the stores as much as possible.

I am pretty excited about doing Kris Kringle this year and am greatly inspired.

We are going to keep things as simple as possible. We will be munching on our sandwiches and chips and dip etc all day and watching special movies.

The kids will decorate the tree and I will get hot chocolate and cookies for them. They used to come over to my house so they could decorate my tree and I would serve them hot chocolate and cookies. They loved being able to decorate two trees.

As for me I could do without it. But for the kids it is important to give them fun and exciting memories to hold in their hearts.

The main goal is to keep it as simple as possible.

 

[Deleted member 6617]

Having my girls come out here for Christmas. Schedules don't work out for them to do that, but it would be awesome!!!!

 

[KP the nut]

Having my girls come out here for Christmas. Schedules don't work out for them to do that

Same here. Both my girls live in different parts of the country. We will get together but not on Christmas. I love the fact they are independent young women - Hubby and I did good, but I do miss them.

 

[Anrish]

To be able to avoid the Christmas festivites at my parents' place. I don't like Christmas very much and prefer to stay alone, but my mother is always head over heels to see my sister and I.

That my parents and my sister won't drink as much as they did in the last years. I never stay over night and so I have to remain sober and they are impossible to handle when they're buzzed...