I don’t remember the last time I had an actual “proper” Christmas where there was a tree and presents and lots of people came around. My family has never really been the “get into the Christmas spirit” type of family. I blame this entirely on my Dad (RIP) who told us once that “Christmas was just another huge marketing ploy to suck people into spending money on crap they don’t need or with money they don’t have.” To be fair, he’s kinda right about that. The biggest retail time of the year (next to Black Friday) in my country is Christmas time. Everyone wants to get that last minute present they forgot, everyone wants to prove how much they love their family by getting them the perfect gift(s). Just like valentines day, I don’t buy gifts for my partner and he doesn’t buy gifts for me. We buy gifts for everyone else. I like to make other people happy. I don’t need a gift from the person I love the most to prove anything. We buy things all year round that we want, Christmas and Valentines Day are just another day on the calendar.

I guess this sounds really sad, lol. Don’t get me wrong! Christmas can be a wonderful time for family – giving each other presents, eating glorious food and not having to go to work the next day. Or if you go away, having a great holiday relaxing and being with people you love. Some of this is very much Christmas to me as well, but we just don’t do the presents thing. I also don’t have a lot of family left here and the family I do have I hardly speak to (very long and boring story). So there’s just the three of us at Christmas time and I am very OK with that.

To me it’s about being present in the now, to show you care on every other day is way more important to me but that’s just me. Perhaps I have become a little jaded as time has passed because of certain influences and experiences in my life but that’s OK too. I am good with it because I adore my family all year-round, not just on the holidays. I think that’s a very important part of being with people you care about. It’s not a part time thing, its an all-the-time thing. And days like Christmas day are just an easy way to let people off from not caring for the rest of the year and I don’t think that’s right.

Sorry if this post is a bit of a downer. I wholeheartedly wish all my readers a wonderful Christmas, however you celebrate it. Be with you and yours, by all means give them presents but give it from the heart and if you can’t do that, well, I think you might want to spend the time you have off thinking about the true meaning of family.