F!@k Christmas

Lou - 17 Dec 18

Christmas is, in all honestly my least favourite time of the year. I’ve been referred to as the Grinch for as long as I can remember.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t live my life in an Ebenezer Scrooge fashion. I’m not a withered, mean old soul hell bent on ruining the season for all I encounter. In fact for 11 months of the year I’m quite the opposite, I think overall I’m a nice person, dare I even say fun?  I love parties, drinking, presents, good food, great company and, as the mother of a 5 year old girl I’m finally coming around the the idea of sequins, after all they’re so sparkly!

So given the facts I should LOVE Christmas, but every year rather than bask in the warm glow of it, Christmas leaves me cold.

I know I can’t be the only one, in these picture perfect times I can’t help but think even Mrs Claus is feeling the pressure.

#handcrafted #elfontheshelf #nativity #christmasfair #blessed.

#f!@kchristmas.

Harsh? Maybe? but fair. 

Through 9 perfect squares perfection is normalised, to the point that anything less than extraordinary is failing, anything not exceptional is not enough. 

Whilst I’m sure they’re out there, the hashtags outlining harsher side of Christmas don’t dominate the daily feed in quite the same way. 

#lonely #debt #conflict #stressed #sorrow  #violence #grief

Whilst true, they simply don’t give us the same warm fuzzy feeling inside, yet for a lot people they form a very real part of the festive season.

For every picture perfect moment there are a thousand imperfections. For every dream come true, a nightmare. Broken promises, relationships and families exist beneath the carefully curated snapshots.

For some the festive season isn’t something to rejoice but to endure, and not in a “I’ve had it with the sodding elf kind of way”

The season of goodwill only stretches so far and I can’t help but feel those most in need of a little joy miss out. Those in most need of warmth and shelter are often overlooked. 

Social media presents a heavily filtered and edited picture of how it should be. It doesn’t take into account the ghosts of Christmas past or present but feeds firmly into the Christmases yet to come. “Next year will be different” we exclaim whilst weeping into our wonky gingerbread houses. 

This year, I plan on celebrating surviving another year.  I’m celebrating not going into debt to buy gifts I can’t afford. I’m celebrating not getting swept up into the frantic festive overwhelm. I’m celebrating what I have and those I love. I feel like you can’t really ask for anything more. After all there’s nothing more valuable than the present, the present that’s here and now and doesn’t require gift wrapping and a matching tag.

In the interest of spreading the love please check out the charities below. The ones that really are reaching out and making a difference to those who need it most.

https://www.crisis.org.uk/

https://www.refuge.org

https://centrepoint.org.uk

https://www.thegoodgrieftrust.org/

Peace and love to all x

Lou

Mum of two, wife to one, friend to all.

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