|
Pinings: Scroogey
by Sherry Hughes sah103@hotmail.com
Dear Pinings,
I hate the holidays and am glad they are over. It’s really hard to get people to understand this. They always try to get me to buy a tree, go to parties and celebrate with them. I’ve never liked this false sense that everything is alright and peachy just because it’s Christmas or New Year’s. I don’t want to put a damper on their celebrations, but for me, it’s just awful.
I don’t have any big thing in my past that makes me dislike them, I just don’t like fake stuff. I swear, someone could die on Dec. 24 and the very next day, everyone in that person’s life would insist on celebrating anyway.
How do I explain to people that I don’t need to change, I’m fine the way I am?
Not really a Scrooge
Dear Not,
As much as you say you have “nothing in your past” that makes you dislike this time of year, I bet that isn’t really true. I’m not saying it was traumatic or dramatic but there’s something that happened somewhere down the line that makes you dislike the celebrations ... either you don’t appreciate the social aspects or you don’t relate to the religious aspects or you have experienced some kind of falseness that touched you, negatively, in a profound way.
Regardless, you are entitled to feel the way you do. And others are entitled to observe Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa or Ramadan in ways that work for them.
My best advice is to accept that much of your world is changed during the months of November and December. It’s not the way you’d like it, but you are sort of swimming upstream here. You can’t change it, but you can live with it. If asked about a tree or decorations, just say, “I’m not really going to do that this year. But I’m happy it’s something you enjoy,” and leave it at that.
And you needn’t explain why to anyone.
Sherry Hughes welcomes letters from readers at sah103@hotmail.com
Comments? Thoughts? Discuss this article and more at hippoflea.com
|
Navigation
