(Flickr photo by allerleirau)
So far, this holiday season is going just as it should, right on schedule. Everyone has been sick at least once, the presents are bought but waiting to be wrapped and mailed, the Christmas letter is written but is not even printed yet–much less addressed and stamped, the decorations are still in their boxes waiting for my “want to” to kick in (it’s not looking good so far).
Welcome to my Bah-Humbug post of the year. I hope it will be my only one, but since there are twelve more days until Christmas, I can’t guarantee it.
Don’t get me wrong. I celebrate Christmas–the real reason for the season, the birth of my Savior, my Hope and Love. It’s the secular “Happy Holidays” I have trouble with–the holidays that put more stress on me to get well, get to work, get to the post office–times two. Once for Mom, again for us. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, my time is not my own. It belongs to everyone else, and the stress can make me cross-eyed. The past several years, I’ve started dreading the stress of the season as early as October first. Breathing easily doesn’t recur until January 2, or this year, January 3, when MSB goes back to work.
This is the way I feel–put-upon, stressed, desperate for down-time–and I always feel guilty for it. Another negative emotion to add to the list. But in my heart, I know I’m blessed. My mother is still among the living, meaning I feel stress over her to-do list instead of sorrow over her loss. I have kids and grandkids who are a joy to buy for and a delight to watch as they open their surprises. I have friends and family who care enough about what is happening to me and my family to read that Christmas letter year after year.
Christmas is always merry for me because I love my Lord. And when I take the time to remember my blessings, the holidays are happy for me, too.
Several years into it, and this blog still refuses to be categorized. It's eclectic and includes everything from writing posts to snippets from my ordinary life. 
Linda W. Yezak 
I’m sure a lot of people are putting pressure on you to perform according to societal ideals regarding Christmas. I ignore them. Why should I kowtow to people’s wishes when Christmas is not about people?
Getting gifts is entirely voluntary in my family, most of them for the children–my great-nieces and great-nephews. I think it’s the imposed pressure to perform which turns people into bah-humbug Scrooges.
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Buying the gifts isn’t really the problem. Wrapping them and getting them out wouldn’t be so much of a hassle if I hadn’t started so late. But this year, everyone was sick, I was on the road way too much, and it just seems like time is taking flight on a Concorde jet.
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Linda, stopping by to wish you a very merry holiday season. I know exactly your feelings and have struggled in my own world. This year has been different, as much from my son being older and being in a different life stage, as from my planning.
http://livelearnwithsally.blogspot.com/2010/11/road-through-holidays.html
Grace and peace be yours now and through the new year.
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I love your reminder to Be Still in your post. thanks for sharing with me.
Merry Christmas!
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I hear ya about time not being our own. But I love Christmas – everything about it, really. I can admittedly be a bit of the a Scrooge the rest of the year, but not during December. It’s a magic month.
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I’ve never known you to be a Scrooge! Nope. Not possible.
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Don’t feel bad…my Christmas cards haven’t gone out yet either.
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I didn’t do cards last year. I might not make it this year either.
I put the tree up alone this year and loved every minute of it. I did it my way.
I have to sort through the purchased gifts, figure out what needs added to, and try to wrap before Christmas Eve.
I tried to break tradition by suggesting I not buy/make ornaments for my kids this year–just the grandgirls. That caused an uprising. You can’t break tradition. I guess that will be expected until I die. 😉
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I don’t do many cards, either, just to closest friends and family. Even then, they tend to come from those store-bought 20-pack boxes. As with gifts, I believe the giving and receiving are not nearly as important as the Greatest Gift of All.
~ VT
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Christmas cards! Dang, I knew I forgot something. Oh well, there’s always next year. So in lew of that datburn card, may I wish you a joyous celebration of Jesus’ birth. May His gift shine bright in you this coming year.
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I just loved that ending statement. 🙂
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