Coping With the Holidays: What About Next Christmas?

For some people, coping with Christmas is a challenge, at the best of times.There is no Christmas that is one hundred percent perfect, but does not have to be a perfect Christmas in order to be enjoyed.

If Christmas was not everything that you expected it to be this time around, remember that Christmas will come again next year.

Each one of us can do something to bring about a better Christmas next year and with respect to other Christmases, for many years to come. We can begin to plan seriously for Christmas, so that each one is better than the last one, which we just celebrated, endured, hated or ignored.

Look at my actual Christmas scenarios, just for fun.

"Bah, humbug," I only heard one time this year. 

"Oh, oh, not another Scrooge," I thought to myself. "We will always have at least one Scrooge in our lives around Christmas time. It would not be Christmas without him." The Scrooge concept makes us appreciate the folks who do celebrate Christmas in a joy-filled and loving way.

"Ho, ho, ho," I heard another elderly gray-haired man, say with a chuckle. As usual, he had a grin on his face, but then, he always seems to wear that kind of a grin. He cannot seem to wash it off. 

Perhaps he was born with a happy gene that has yet to be identified and confirmed. It appears that his Christmases are always wonderful ones, a time filled with fun, celebrated with family and friends. If there were to be some genetic studies done with respect to the happy gene, perhaps in the future, it might be possible to do happy gene transplants for all of those who are truly unhappy people, or just unhappy with respect to Christmas?

"Just another day," one middle-aged woman said sadly. "I hate Christmas." 

Her Christmas was a mad rush to get everything done, as she frantically ran from store to store trying to do everything for everyone.

"This is my time now," she finally said, during the week after Christmas. "I don't care about anyone else right now." 

It appeared that she had contacted a bad cold from someone, which did not seem to help her mood. I thought to myself, "How horrible it must be to hate Christmas. It must be terrible to be sick at Christmas time."

Personally, I love Christmas and everything that it represents, well almost everything.

Of course, there were the usual Christmas pranksters again this year.

First, I found a huge, musical note carved by some amateur Jack Frost artist, into the icy pattern on the glass of my front door. I never did find out who was so musically inclined, but I think whoever it was, might have been been wanting to make some music, hoping to sing Christmas carols, or perhaps he or she was into the sauce. It was actually quite well drawn.

The same day to my surprise, I found one small screw left on my doorstep, carefully placed in between my two front doors. I think that whoever it was that that put it there must had at least one loose screw. 

"I was here," it said silently, without any explanation at all.

There was a mean or nasty person who had to break the head off a gingerbread-man cookie and then left it for someone else to eat. That was no Santa's elf or Santa Claus himself, as Santa would have eaten the entire cookie and then left nice presents under the Christmas tree. Next year, this person gets a lump of coal from Santa, not a homemade cookie.

There will always be mischievous folks around at Christmas. Perhaps they are just attention seekers. The problem is that they never stick around long enough to get any attention, or to give any attention to someone else. They just do their fun, mischief or damage and then run.

There was the traditional, country, family celebration held several weeks prior to Christmas. It seems that one part of the family enjoyed it and the other obviously did not. Everyone had to listen to complaints from them. The complainers did not put any effort into the celebration; nor did they appear to help in any way. After over-indulging, they just sat there like bumps on a log, until it was time to go home. Their sole contribution was their magnificent presence.

There was the call or two, from those who were dreadfully lonely and on the verge of tears, because there was no one there to celebrate Christmas. Someone could have been invited, but it takes an extrovert with an introvert's heart to welcome others into one's life, especially at Christmas. When asked if they had sent out their Christmas cards, the answer was an angry, "No! I don't do cards."

There was the traditional Christmas Eve celebration, where a few people gave and received gifts, but most of them just ignored the gift giving part of Christmas and thus, there were almost no gifts under the tree.

They were all quite willing to accept gifts and were critical about the gifts they had received. They did not have the heart to give presents. When asked about when Santa would be coming to their home, the reply was, "He has already been there." So much for others.

"What about Christ being born," I wondered. "He is the greatest gift of all! Is that not why we celebrate Christmas in the first place? Is that not why we give gifts to one another? Is that not why there is joy in celebrating the holiday?”

What about next Christmas?

 Let's put Christ back into Christmas. After all, He is the reason for the season. 

What will next Christmas bring? 

With planning ahead of time, Christmas can be wonderful. Christmas should be something special for everyone, not just another day with which people have to cope.