The Holidays - mad, sad or glad?

The Holidays - mad, sad or glad?

How do they affect you? Does being with family bring you joy or annoyance? For many the holidays bring depression. Part of it is the lack of sunshine in winter and the result SAD or seasonal affective disorder. Part is the emphasis of the media on joy shown in family and friend gatherings, celebrations and gift giving. If that isn’t happening in your life, watching it in others could exacerbate loneliness and grief.

During the approximately 2 decades that I found the Thanksgiving-New Years weeks painful, it was about the losses. My mother and father and 2 of my sisters weren’t here anymore. They had all passed and my need to grieve went on and on.

Eventually it lessened as I married and connected with my husband’s family. Now they too have passed. Since then, I have focused on my husband, one sister, her family and my friends. I write dozens of Christmas cards to all my cousins and out of state friends.

In addition, I thoroughly enjoy decorating our home, throwing a party, attending holiday parties with book club and with our cul de sac friends, meeting girlfriend for lunch and exchanging gifts and of course, always there’s the excitement of travel. Consequently, loneliness isn’t the issue, although overspending can be. LOL

I love the holidays now and look forward to engaging with friends and family, to shopping, decorating, plus watching holiday movies new and old. Loving the holidays is part perspective, part letting go of losses, and the rest, the decision to enjoy what is, life on life’s terms.