Surviving Giftsmas

I've been sick most of this week, a gradual process, one that I know too well.  Meanwhile, I have also been fighting the Giftsmas Blues.  I don't know if anyone else feels like that, but somewhere along the way, Christmas was replaced by Giftsmas.  And just between you and me, I really despise Giftsmas.


I don't mind the pretty lights and the wrapping paper and the new ornaments from The Gold Crown.  I love baking holiday cookies.  I love buying more holiday wrapping paper even though I have more rolls than I'm willing to count waiting for me at home.  I love using paper that matches the gift.  I love tissue paper.  I love having a live tree, even though the environmentalist in me tells me that a faux one would be better.  That crunchy hipster wannabe doesn't know everything.


I love so much that Christmas has to offer.  I love gingerbread houses.  I love bows!  I love switching out my bedding to the festive kind.  I love every bloody little exploitative detail.  It's all overhyped, but who cares?!  It was bad enough when they started adding in that pesky X.  But Giftsmas....it's so much worse.



And I really hate Giftsmas.



Giftsmas isn't all of those things.  It's not about the cards and the matching stamps.  It's not about the baked ornaments.  It's not about buying a specific wrapping paper because it reminds you of someone in particular.  It's not even about chasing down Monster High dolls because you know your daughter is going to do mental cartwheels.  It's about gifts.  Gifts alone.  And gift receipts.  And demands.  And exchanging money.  And e-mails telling you to make sure you do this.  It's people in an uproar making you sure you took care of everything or bought them exactly what they expect you to buy them without any meandering off course.  It's about gifts.  It's about worrying over gifts.


And that's why I hate Giftsmas.  Because this isn't the holiday I signed up for.  I didn't sign up for the exchanging money and making sure so-and-so was buying us something before we sent them something, or about guessing what someone else is going to spend on us, or buying some ridiculously priced toy because that's THE ONLY toy you were told to buy.  I didn't sign up for the worry over gift receipts.  I didn't sign up for the panic.  The doomsday.  The stress.


The holidays are stressful enough, cramming everything in.  Getting every little thing done, pushing myself to the limits, setting extremely high expectations for myself.  Like the year I wrapped over 175 packages all for charity, not counting any other gifts.  While working full time.  I really liked wrapping up to that point.  And not even all of that was about Giftsmas.  That WAS Christmas.  And it was awesome.  The chaos was awesome.  And as tired as I was, I loved every second of it.


I love buying gifts.  Picking out what I believe could be the perfect present, getting everything as I envision it.  But Giftsmas isn't about that.  Giftsmas doesn't even celebrate that.  It celebrates the gifts.  Exactly how the other person expects them with no room for error.  Or there's the other end of Giftsmas, where The Queen of IOUs gives you just that because she can't give you a gift, when you both know that is just an awkward pause. And maybe for those who celebrate Giftsmas, that would be a big deal, but again, Christmas isn't about that.


I like presents.  I do.  I like the thought someone picked this out for me; or even picked it out from a list.  I'm socially awkward though so in my head I'm worried about my facial expressions and tone and if I'm conveying my gratitude enough.  I worried one year when we received this absolutely beautiful birdhouse as a gift, and I worried about something so expensive being ruined, or gosh forbid, what if I never hung it up?  Well, it was used, and we even brought it with us to California because neither one of us could part with it.  Now, it's currently hanging up out front.  And it's wonderful.



For me, Christmas is about charity and embracing traditions.  It's about good intentions.  It's about adopting families for the holidays because if I'm going to emphasize gifts, it might as well be anonymously.  It's about playing Secret Santa every year without getting credit for it.  It’s about The Reason for the Season, no matter your religious affiliation.  In Excelsis Deo.  It's about making sure there’s magic all around during the holidays, little sparkles of creativity and joy.  The creepy Elf on the Shelf.  Ribbon sales at craft stores.  Turning wooden posts into snowmen.  It's about making contact with family, even if you can't see them.  It’s about wrapping packages while holiday music is playing.  It’s Christmas Story marathons and Griswold houses.  I want to do it all.  I want to celebrate every bit of Christmas I possibly can.  I’m greedy.  I want it all.  I understand that's not why Christmas exists, but all of it is part of the holiday, and it's certainly part of mine.  It's about knowing the differences between the hype and the true reason the day exists.

 But I don’t want to celebrate Giftsmas, so I want people to stop forcing me.  Because I have a lot of fun with Christmas and I want to continue to do so.  Giftsmas isn’t fun for me.


And if it’s fun for you, then you missed the point of Christmas.  So I’d like it if you stopped calling it that, because what you’re celebrating isn’t Christmas.  And if it’s not fun for you either, then please join me in celebrating Christmas.  It’s chaotic, it's still stressful, but I promise you, it’s also beautiful.