I don’t celebrate Christmas… and I’m still happy (I promise, it’s possible)

Ah, Christmas. The rush in the shops, the cousin of someone’s brother’s sister who comes to dinner and has to get a gift without really knowing who it is, the comments on our physical appearance from an aunt we haven’t asked anything about…

I’m sorry to be a little bitter on the subject. But you see, I don’t celebrate Christmas. And let’s just say from the outside I’m not a fan of anything related to this period.

Since I passed the age of 12, I confess that I have a hard time hearing myself advertising frame before the end of the year. Christmas was part of my childhood life and gradually disappeared. Since then I have kept a memory of it that depresses me a bit, and I really don’t like to go back to it.

In my family, we don’t really celebrate Christmas

Christmas has never been very important to me. Overall, it still reminds me a lot of my childhood time, when it was super nice to celebrate, because there was magic and so many people from my family with me.

Now there is fewer people in my family who are present for Christmas. Yes, because well… Some people are no longer of this world. And also because others fought. So family reunions are only held in small groups, only among those who get along very well.

I’m still happy to be with my parents and grandmother at Christmas time, but we don’t actually celebrate Christmas. We meet once during the holidays, often at tea time, and we don’t have any decorations or a tree. We don’t even eat anything very different from ordinary, mostly chocolate – I’m not complaining about that.

The fact that we get together at Christmas is not much different than when we get together for birthdays. It’s also a little sad at times, I find, because it reminds me that some people are gone. It also feels quite forced, because ultimately we don’t really care if we meet right then and there.

After all, we can eat chocolate cake together every day of the year.

Christmas is always more beautiful in other people’s homes

Christmas is both something I find forced when it comes to celebrating it, and at the same time something that makes me jealous, because always looks nicer on others. I know that’s false, though, and that there are certainly plenty of people who feel terribly uncomfortable in their families, or who aren’t happy about fifteen people gathering around a table to talk politics over foie gras.

For me, holidays in general are a bit like being shaken really hard and saying: BE HAPPY NOW! ENJOY AGREEMENT! YOU HAVE A BLAST! IT’S WONDERFUL. While frankly It’s cold, I don’t have a budget for gifts, and it’s always dark…

I find it a bit of a shame for people like me, who don’t celebrate Christmas, because I see everyone does and they seem to like it, so I feel like I’m forced to do the same. While I don’t want to have a Christmas tree going everywhere, and I don’t like Christmas music! Globally I don’t care, but the fact that it’s omnipresent makes the party something of an injunction.

I almost get jealous of the perfect family who celebrate Christmas and give themselves lots of gifts, because everyone around me seems to be doing it.

Although I have fond memories of celebrating Christmas, I feel that now it really is something that should stay in my life as a child, I just don’t have the energy to worry about it as an adult. Finally, it is not part of my daily life in December, nor that of my family.

I don’t want to put myself in humor Christmas when I know it will only remind me of childhood things, without bringing me new memories. Yet I find garlands beautiful, eh.

Greater diversity of traditions

Beyond the fact that I don’t worry about Christmas, I finally feel more worried about… other holidays!

In my case, I celebrate Hanukkah because my family is Jewish. It’s very different from Christmas, even though it’s the same time right now. Children often receive a gift during this holiday and a candle is lit every evening for a week. It’s cute and brings everyone together.

And finally, I tell myself that there are many holidays, in many religions and many occasions that bring people together, and they are not Christmas. If you think about it, if all celebrations were as popular as Christmas, we would definitely be partying 24/7, right?

Finally everything is fine

No one blames me for not celebrating Christmas, but it’s always a little strange to tell people I’m not doing anything special that day. I think social media doesn’t help: seeing all the family dinners and not doing the same is sometimes strange.

But honestly, even though some of my friends are surprised when I say I’m not doing anything for Christmas, I’m not depressed though! Sure, I just wish people would stop asking me what I’m going to do for Christmas, but overall no one judges me for it and I’m always happy to shut up in front of a series with Ferrero Rocher.

I think if Christmas were less popular, I might feel less sad about not celebrating it. However, if Christmas is your favorite holiday and you like it, all the better, enjoy! I prefer to sleep and wait to find my friends who will tell me all their jokes about their famous family dinner.

Photo credit: Vlada Karpovich / Pexels