Category Archives: Christmas

December 21, 2023 · 5:49 PM

Merry Right Now

When the kids were little, we made the weeks leading up to Christmas a very big deal. We had an adorable advent activity calendar (hand-sewn by yours truly), and had a different activity planned for every day of December. We baked and crafted and made ornaments and went to the zoo and to parties and to gift-exchanges. We sent cards, we volunteered, we visited Santa. We were busy , and it was tiring and chaotic and lovely. It’s 2023 now, the baby of the family is 15, and life is … different.

And it’s okay.

It’s four days until Christmas, it’s one in the afternoon, and I’m sitting in my pajamas. The house is a mess and there’s about 6 loads of clean unfolded laundry piled in the laundry room. Shopping is done – mostly – but we haven’t wrapped a single thing. There’s a long list of supplies to buy before I start baking. I stopped sending Christmas cards years ago, and the only real traditions we’ve hung onto don’t take place until Christmas Eve.

And it’s okay.

I am turning 50 (!) in twenty days. It has made what is already an introspective time of year ramp up by a factor of ten. Instead of reviewing the past year (which, if I’m being honest, was not the best year of my life), I am reviewing the past decade. It has also allowed me to take a big step back, put things into perspective, and look at the holidays in a way I haven’t done before. I am calm. And I’m almost never calm, especially four days before Christmas.

All of the extraneous “stuff” – presents and lights and cookies and Christmas carols and holiday parties – is all just noise. Pleasant noise at times, to be sure, but still noise. And don’t get me wrong! I love Christmas. I do. I’ll spend it at home with my extended family, and we’ll eat, and exchange gifts, and drink Jingle Juice, and play games into the evening. There’s a lot of privilege involved in being able to say that, and I’m aware of it. For so many, too many, the holidays are unbearably hard.

No matter where you stand, whether you go all in or you just hold on and try to make it through to New Years, I see you. There is so much pressure around the holidays, and it’s okay to handle it in whatever way is best for you. It’s okay to take the pressure off. It’s okay to breathe. It’s okay to be gentle with yourself, and with the people around you. It’s okay to spend the holidays in unconventional ways. It’s okay to ignore the holidays completely.

And honestly? Holidays and birthdays and special occasions are nice and everything, but all we’re really guaranteed is right now. I know it sounds trite, but it’s true. One of the lessons I have learned over and over and OVER in the past 50 years is that true happiness is felt when you’re in the present moment, not living in the past or looking forward to the future.

So I won’t wish you a Merry Christmas. God willing, Christmas is four whole days away. What I WILL do is wish you a sincere and heartfelt Merry Right Now. No matter who you are, or what your life looks like, or what you do or do not celebrate. I hope today is gentle for you. I hope something made you smile. Mostly I hope that you know that just because you exist: you matter and you’re important. I’m glad you’re here.

Much love,

3 Comments

Filed under Christmas, life

December 20, 2019 · 3:03 PM

Holidays Are Hard

Two days ago, Tegan’s hedgehog, Oreo, had to be put to sleep. We’d known it was coming. Her function (just her body… her little personality and spunk was as sharp as ever) had been steadily declining for the last two months, ever since she had what the vet guessed was a stroke or a possible brain tumor. It turns out that being prepared for it never really PREPARES you for it. Crying with your 11 year old while her beloved pet dies in her arms is heartbreakingly, rip-your-guts-out sad, and having it happen one week before Christmas does not help.

And even if it were not for the death of a loved one, I’m still not doing all that well this Christmas season. I love Christmas, but – and I know that many of you can relate to this – seasonal depression is a major buzzkill. Everything is tiring. Everything feels hard. The thought of shopping and wrapping and baking and being festive is suffocating and overwhelming. If I’m being honest, the thought of getting out of bed and showering is suffocating and overwhelming. As is my typical pattern when I’m depressed, I’m sleeping either 3 hours or 12 hours. Nothing in between. I’m always tired. Always. Tired.

The week before last was tech week for Tegan’s play (her very first Shakespeare play!), which means very very long days, and it nearly kills me every time. I was still recovering when I had to make the phone call to the vet. And set up the tree. And run the errands. And take the girl to a promised movie. And catch up on all the piled-up laundry. Did I mention I’m very tired?

But.

Mike took over the gift shopping this year. Just sort of quietly got it done with a few covert texts to me while I sat beside him on the couch. I don’t know what all my nieces and nephews are getting from us this year, and I’m grateful for that. Grateful because it was one big to-do that he took off my plate, without having been asked.

We’re all here, and we’re all together. Last Christmas, that was not the case in the days leading up to the 25th (a story that isn’t mine to tell), so this year I’m extra grateful.

We have a roof over our heads, and clothes on our back, and food on our table. And I’m grateful for that too.

The thing is, gratitude and depression can and do exist at the same time. They’re both real, and they’re both strong, this year in particular. This year was hard. This holiday is hard.

In a world of perma-positivity, I think that people can forget that you can feel both. That you can be grateful, or happy even, and still be depressed. Or anxious. Or manic. Or grieving. Or any combination of the above. Holidays are hard for a lot of people for a lot of reasons, and we need to tread lightly, and gently, and kindly.

This weekend (the weekend before Christmas, because we’re crazy), we’ll go out and get wrapping paper and stocking stuffers and food and baking ingredients. And I’ll bake, and I’ll do ~~all~~ some of the things, and it’ll be okay.

My friend is forcing me to make muddy buddies, both because she knows I love them, and because she knows that it’d make me even more sad if I didn’t have them. She’s always right, which is really irritating. And she reminds me that it’ll be okay.

And the rest of the cookies will be made, or they won’t. And the presents will all get wrapped, or they won’t. And it’ll be okay.

And right now? Right in this moment: barefoot in my pajamas at 2:45 in the afternoon, looking at the tree, listening to Tegan sing and play her ukele, and watching the dog sleep peacefully on the floor… I’m okay too.

1 Comment

Filed under Christmas, mental health, Uncategorized

December 8, 2018 · 3:15 PM

A Plea To Parents This Holiday Season

Dear Parents,

As I write this, we are right in the middle of the holiday season. It is – or it should be – a festive time. A happy time. A time for loved ones and gifts and decadent meals. It’s a time for generosity of spirit, a time for setting aside differences and a time for holding out a hand to our neighbors.

It’s also a time of stress.

And listen. I’m a big girl. I can deal with stress. I don’t always deal with it well, mind you, but I deal with it, even during the holidays.

Kids though, kids are another thing entirely. Yes, they can handle stress. Some deal with way more stress than any kid (or adult!) should ever have to deal with. This much is sadly true. But how much harder it is for these young humans! Kids don’t have the life experience, the tools, or the maturity we have as adults. As parents, we can do our parts to lessen the stress our children feel, but this time of year there seems to be an overwhelming amount of added stress, doled out in generous measure by well-meaning parents.

This year, ~~I BEG YOU~~, respectfully ask you to take the following to heart when it comes to planning and navigating the holiday season with your kids:

Never tie gifts to behavior, or tell your kids that they won’t get any presents if they’re “naughty.” Don’t tell them that Santa is spying on them, or elves are spying on them, or creepy Santa cams are spying on them. Gifts should be just that: GIFTS. They should be given freely, with no strings and no expectations. Want your kids to grow up knowing how to give and receive gracefully? Show them what that looks like! If you’re giving a child a gift just because they behaved in a way you deemed appropriate, it is no longer a gift. It’s a transaction. Manipulating kids is not okay any time of year, but it’s especially not okay during the holidays, a time that is supposed to be about generosity and love… not about tricking our loved ones into doing what we want.

And while I’m on the subject of behavior…

The holidays are a great time to give your kids extra grace and understanding. Their schedules are all wacky, they’re going to parties and events, they’re likely not getting enough sleep, they’re eating all kinds of rich, sugary foods, and they’re excited one minute and cranky the next. Just like adults, all of the above is going to affect their mood, and thus their behavior. I used to work in retail, so I’m intimately familiar with how out-of-sorts the general public can get this time of year. Kids are no exception. The answer is not extra rules, punishments, or manipulations, but extra patience. Extra love. Extra deep breaths and extra hugs and extra reminders to ourselves that sometimes it’s hard to be a kid, and that it’s especially hard to be a kid during the maelstrom of holiday activity. Extend grace.

Never force your kids to hug, kiss, or otherwise show physical affection to someone else, whether it’s yourself, Uncle Tom, or great grandma. Most of us grew up with the refrain – or command – “Come give Grandma a kiss!”, and it seems innocuous enough at first glance. But if we want our kids to learn about bodily autonomy, it’s important that they know that they always have bodily autonomy, even if it’s Grandma. They get to decide who does and does not touch their bodies, and when, and how, and for what reason. This includes relatives at Christmas time. Your child doesn’t want to give Aunt Sally a hug? That’s okay. (It’s good actually, that they’re showing ownership of their body) Lightly tell Aunt Sally no thanks, and move on.

Finally, be extra respectful of your child with unique needs such as anxiety, sensory issues, or ADD. These make things like holiday gatherings ten times harder, and require mindful consideration. Don’t force or cajole when your child isn’t comfortable with something, and let them do what they need to do to keep their experience as pleasant as possible… whether that means leaving the room for some time alone, sitting quietly with mom, or re-centering with a book or a calming game on your phone. Be understanding of the fact that their experience of the holiday might not look like yours, and that’s okay. The goal isn’t to have a perfect holiday, but to have an enjoyable holiday, and that won’t happen – for anyone – if you’re trying to force something that just isn’t going to work. Having the day go according the “plan” is never, ever worth it if it makes your child miserable in the process. Listening, understanding, and respecting differences goes a long way towards ensuring that the holidays are as pleasant as possible for all involved.

I know it’s easy to get caught up in the holiday rush, to lose sight of what’s important, and to drag your kids kicking and screaming along for the ride. This year, I’m asking you to turn the holidays on their head. Change your focus and make your kids the priority. Treat them not the way you would like to be treated, but the way they would like to be treated (The Golden Rule 2.0)

Just be nice to your kids.

Please.

Love,

5 Comments

Filed under Christmas, gentle parenting, holidays, mindful parenting, parenting

December 18, 2017 · 2:57 PM

10 Tips For A Low-Stress Holiday

Christmas is ONE WEEK from today, which is… weird. It’s just really weird. This was a strange year for me, and the holidays came up quickly. I had finals for the first time in 20 something years, and Tegan’s play was wrapping up. When those two things were over (the first week of December), life suddenly exhaled and went “whoosh”, and things got quiet again.

And now it’s one week before Christmas.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have REALLY stressed out during some Christmases past. Like, truly, severely stressed out. I held myself to this ridiculous expectation of having to have everything perfect… from the (of course, homemade) advent calendar, to the paper snowflakes, to the photos, to the parties and the light displays and the hot chocolate and the cookie baking and the shopping and the wrapping and the Christmas cards and the new pajamas and the Christmas Eve church services and the big Christmas day spread of food,

and and and and….

And we were going to be happy about it, dammit! It was exhausting. I’m exhausted right now just thinking about it.

A few years ago, I decided that that really wasn’t too fun, and I wasn’t going to stress about it anymore. The first thing that went were the Christmas cards. And you know what? Life went on even though we stopped sending Christmas cards. (The sad thing though is that since we stopped sending cards, we almost completely stopped receiving cards as well… which makes us appreciate the ones we do get all the more).

But we didn’t stop doing everything. In fact, we still actually do a lot of things on the above list. It’s just that we now do them because we want to do them, not because we feel like we have to do them. And it has made all the difference.

Here’s a partial list of some of the things I keep in mind every year to keep the holidays (much) less stressful. I can’t rightly say stress-free, because… well, because life comes with stress sometimes. But the following surely helps.

1. Adjust your expectations. Your house doesn’t really need to be cleaned in every corner to have company over. If it’s stressing you out, skip it! NO ONE WILL JUDGE YOU IF YOU DON’T DUST YOUR CEILING FANS (and if they do, honestly, are they the kind of people you want to be inviting over in the first place?) They came to see you. You don’t HAVE to send Christmas cards. You don’t HAVE to make 87 kinds of cookies. You don’t HAVE to read “Twas The Night Before Christmas” just because it’s Christmas Eve. It’s not going to be perfect. It never is. That’s okay. Let go of whatever’s not serving you. Let yourself off the hook, rid yourself of the need to be perfect, and just enjoy the holiday. If you’re expecting a perfect holiday, with perfectly coiffed children, and perfectly well-behaved pets, and chestnuts happily roasting in an open fire… you’re likely going to be disappointed. Instead, enjoy it for all its beautiful, messy imperfections, no matter how they may unfold.

2. Keep your kids a top priority. This is perhaps the most important thing of all, especially during a time when many parents are finding themselves reacting to stress and/or unusually high energy by controlling, punishing, etc. This is a time when kids need parents who are patient, calm, and looking out for their best interest. Are they getting enough rest? Are they eating nourishing foods? Do they WANT to go to another holiday party? Do they WANT to sit on Santa’s lap? Getting tuned in, staying super connected, and respecting their needs and desires will not only be a great thing for your relationship, but it will also alleviate a lot of the collective holiday related stress.

3. Go with the flow of changing needs and preferences. This was one I had to learn over time, to be sure. At the time of this writing, my kids are 20, 17, 13, and 9. Christmas is different than it was when they were little … and that’s okay too. They’re not interested in the same activities. They’ve outgrown certain traditions. Not taking it personally when they say, “No thanks” to driving around the neighborhood to look at the Christmas lights goes a long way towards lessening your holiday stress. Kids grow, things change, holidays are different. The upside? Kids grow, things change, holidays are different. A new thing for us this year is that the 17 year old offered to cook Christmas dinner (he’s making lasagnas), and the 13 year old offered to bake some of the treats and cookies. Which just means that we get to enjoy them in a whole new way. And that’s really, really cool.

4. Focus on the little things. In a practice that really should continue all year long, enjoy all the fun little things of the holiday! Making the paper snowflakes, decorating the gingerbread house, picking up the special drink from Starbucks, watching the favorite Christmas movie for the 87th time, enjoying hot cocoa made from scratch (or from a canister, if that’s more your style!), just being together. This is the 21st Christmas we’ve had since we’ve had kids, and while we’ve done some pretty cool and big and interesting things during the holidays…. it’s the little moments that I remember the most. Because in reality, they’re really not so little. They’re the important stuff.

5. Simplify your gift-giving. It has taken us a little trial and error, but streamlining our gift-giving has helped a lot in terms of keeping our focus less on just getting a whole bunch of “stuff” and more on picking out the few things that we know someone else will love. Mike and I stopped getting gifts for each other several years ago (though he does break the rule sometimes :)), mainly because we get what we need throughout the year, and we’d rather spend our Christmas money on the kids and/or other people who may need it more than we do. For the kids, we generally do “Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read.” We’re not super rigid about sticking to it exactly, but it is a great place to start, and it’s made us really think about what we’re getting them. It also feels like it makes each present more meaningful than when we’d get piles and piles of gifts, just to…. get piles and piles of gifts. We do buy for all the nieces and nephews, but for the adults, we do a name drawing for each side of the family, so we only buy for whatever sibling, parent, or inlaw that we’re paired with. Which makes it fun, and easy, and lets us think about something that will be meaningful and enjoyable for that one specific person. Your mileage may vary of course (you do you), but this way has worked well for us, and made gift giving fun again, instead of stressful.

6. Keep only the traditions that are important to you. When Spencer was born, I went a little crazy with the new traditions we “needed” to follow. From the books we’d read, to the movies we’d watch, to the activities we’d do. And because life happens, and things change, and kids grow, I’ve had to accept and realize that not all traditions have to be kept. We did hang on to a couple though. Christmas Eve is always sacred, and has been for the past 20 years. It’s just for our own core little family. We’ve gone to church some years, we’ve stayed in and watched movies some years, we’ve hung out and had carpet picnics some years…. but we’ve always spent it with just us, and if I have to, I pull out full mama bear protection over that Christmas Eve bubble. The kids all exchange presents on Christmas Eve too – they do a name drawing among the siblings, and all really enjoy it. I really, really appreciate Christmas Eve with all six of us, and I know that it’s not something we’ll have forever. We also watch the same movies every year, though not everyone chooses to watch anymore. There are still a couple of cookies that I HAVE to make too (black and whites and Oreo balls are my specialties.) But other than that, we’re …. fluid, and we let the kids lead.

7. Don’t be afraid to say no. Just like with point number 1, there should never be any “have-tos” during the holiday season. You don’t have to go to that party just because you were invited. You don’t have to go caroling. You don’t have to go to that cookie swap or that White Elephant gift exchange. If you and/or your kids are feeling stressed, burnt out, or like you’ve taken on too much, it’s perfectly acceptable (preferable, even!) to politely decline.

8. REST – I PROMISE you that the world won’t come to a standstill if you take an hour or an afternoon or a whole day to drink tea and watch Christmas movies. I promise you that the holidays will still come and go and be perfectly fine and lovely and joyful if you ignore the chores one day. I’d even argue that taking care of yourself and making sure that you rest is every bit as important – if not more so – than anything else on your holiday to-do list. Unless literal LIVES hang in the balance, it’s okay and good and vital to rest, recharge, and take some regular time for yourself…. even during the hustle and bustle of the holidays.

9. Live in the present. One of the lessons I find myself needing to learn over and over again (and have written about several times on my blog) is the importance of living in the present. This is never more applicable than during the busy and stressful seasons of life. I took a Buddhism class this past semester, not because I want to convert to Buddhism, but because I needed a religion credit and I always found it interesting. Lo and behold, I learned some hugely meaningful things in this class, one of them being…. the importance of presence. There is only right now. Truly getting this, and LIVING this, is life-changing. For real. My therapist, who is not Buddhist, and does not resemble Buddha in any way, has stressed this same point to me many many times. In fact, one of my biggest take-aways, over 18 long months of therapy, is this: “Right now, there is no problem to solve.” Problems come when we’re focused on the past, or worrying about the future. When you’re really and truly in THIS MOMENT, there are no problems. Including the shopping, the wrapping, the cleaning, the baking, the decorating…. right now, there are no problems, and therefore, no stress.

10. Remember your reason for the season. I deliberately said, “your” instead of “the” because my reason for the season might not be the same as yours. Christians like to say that Christ is the reason for the season, but I think that it’s important to remember that 1) most of what we do at Christmas time has been adapted from Pagan traditions, not the other way around, and 2) that there are many many more holidays than Christmas, and that they’re all celebrating something different. I know it’s a cliche. It is. But whatever the season means to you, focus on that rather than on the busy, the crazy, the chaos, the stress that the holidays can sometimes bring. And the rest of the extraneous “noise” tends to fade away.

___________________________________

Just because you’re invited to the stress of the holidays, it doesn’t mean you have to accept.

Wishing you all a calm, peaceful, and stress-free holiday, no matter what it is you celebrate.

Can We Stop Being Jerks At Christmas?

Why do the holidays seem to bring out the worst in people? Don’t answer that yet.

And why, WHY, do people insist on treating their kids like they’re not even people? Don’t answer that yet either.

Christmas depresses me. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas. I love making it special for my kids, love giving presents, love making cookies, love the food, love the festivities. This year is a mellow year for us. We just came off the nine-year-old’s play, which was taking a lot of time, especially during that final tech week. And my semester just ended, the same week as her play. So right now, I’m exhaling. Exhaling and getting ready to enjoy the holidays, but not freaking out about getting anything in particular done in time. What will be will be, and it’ll be nice.

But it still depresses me.

Mainstream parents tend to go a little crazy this time of year. I’ve never made any secret about the fact that I disagree with mainstream parenting in general… but never do I disagree with more fervor than at Christmas time.

I don’t have the vocabulary to express how much I hate some of what goes on during Christmas. (And by the way: Like they say in the movie Stepmom, hate isn’t a word I use often. I think it’s a “perfectly acceptable word, but only to be used when I truly detest something”) I truly detest what some parents do this time of year.

I wrote about the Santa Cams a few weeks back, but the latest thing that’s been brought to my attention is the idea of “present jail.” In a public post that is getting praised up and down on Facebook, one mom posted a picture of a cardboard box with some presents in it, and writes:

So….we started this yesterday because one little girl refuses to listen and behave. Any present still in the box at Christmas goes put up and can only be EARNED back by good behavior. If they can follow the rules and be good for an entire day, they can return a jailed present back to the tree. Sometimes having a visual helps a lot more than just telling them. And they have to put the present in there themselves. Presents are a privilege not a right, naughty children do not get gifts for misbehaving. #meanmom

The first time a friend showed it to me, I said, “I should write about that. But how many times, and how many ways can I say, “BE NICE TO YOUR KIDS?” I’ve said essentially the same thing dozens, if not hundreds, of times.

And I’m saying it again, I think in the hopes that someone, somewhere will read my words, and say, “Oh. I hadn’t thought of it that way.” One person. That’s all. And maybe it’s you. Maybe you’re the one I’m talking to.

This whole idea of earning gifts is archaic and cruel and the exact antithesis of what gift giving should be. Gift-giving should be unconditional. That’s the whole point. Gifts should be something that come from the heart of the giver, with no strings, and no expectations. Buying a gift, and then taking it away as punishment? It ceases to be a gift … even if they “earn” it back. You took something that should have been an expression of love and turned it into an ugly and void commodity. Congratulations.

And why just the kids? Why do kids need to earn their presents? If you buy your husband a new watch, and he comes home from work grumpy one day, do you hold it ransom? Do you tell him you bought him a present, but he doesn’t get it unless he “behaves.”? That is not a way to treat someone you love, no matter their age. It seems kind of ludicrous to think about doing it to a spouse or a friend or another adult loved one, so why, WHY would anyone think it’s okay to do to kids? As horrible as I think it’d be to do to an adult (and I do indeed think it’s pretty darn horrible), I think it’s a million times worse to do it to your kids. Your kids are still learning. Still figuring things out. Still working out how to deal with their feelings, and how to to navigate a world that is nuanced and tricky and at times extremely complicated. They need parents who are going to love them through it, to be by their side, to model appropriate behavior. And at this time of year, they need parents to show them what giving really means. Can you imagine the sad and confusing message it sends to them about generosity to be told that they have to earn their gifts? That their gifts can be taken away at a moment’s notice if they’re “naughty?” Naughty, by the way, is a word that should never be used for a child, or anyone, especially one who is just trying to deal with something difficult the best way they know how. They need our HELP, not our punishment and our shame.

I’ve had a few moments over the past month or so that I’m not proud of. I’m a human, and I’m not perfect.

Guess what? Your kids are humans and are not perfect either.

They deserve your love, your compassion, and yes, they deserve your generosity! Whether it’s in the form of your time, of an experience, of something handmade, of something they’ve been wanting from a store. It feels good to give to people we love. At least it’s supposed to! I can’t imagine it feels good to hold presents hostage, unless it honestly makes you feel good to do something unkind, which…. isn’t right. It’s just not. We’re not designed that way. We’re designed to love unconditionally, to give without expectation, to show our kids (through our words, through our actions, through our time) that they matter. That we love them. That we are, in fact, their biggest fans. Their biggest supporters. Their biggest role models. The ones they can count on when life gets squidgy, and the ones who will stand beside them when they’re scared, telling them, without a moment’s hesitation, “Don’t worry, I’ve got your back.”

It feels good to love with that kind of love, because IT IS GOOD.

Nothing about buying and withholding gifts (and being so dang proud of it) fits into this model of true, unconditional love. In fact, it downright perverts it.

Kids need and deserve our love and compassion all year round, but especially during the holidays. Schedules are messed up, sleep is spotty, there’s extra excitement and stimulation and fancy foods, and it’s no wonder a child – or an adult – would be out-of-sorts. LOVE THEM THROUGH IT. Help them. Don’t punish them. Don’t turn gifts, something that should be fun and loving and happy, into a gross display of power and intimidation. Don’t teach your kids that gifts should come with strings attached. Don’t teach your kids that other people are theirs to control and manipulate. Don’t teach your kids that the way to solve a problem is through shaming and scare tactics.

Please, please don’t.

This Christmas, be nice to your kids. Please. Treat them like people. Treat them the way YOU would like to be treated.

And I’m pretty dang sure you wouldn’t want your new iPhone taken away because you were a little snippy one day.

Be nice to your kids.

17 Comments

Filed under Christmas, gentle parenting, hot topics, mindful parenting, parenting

November 8, 2015 · 11:07 AM

Silly Christians, Cups Are For Coffee

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Take a good, deep cleansing breath. (In through your nose, out through the mouth for the uninitiated.)

Let me just start there.

People can get a little… is there a polite way to say tightly wound?… this time of year, and taking a good step back, a good stock on our priorities, and essentially getting a grip is always an appropriate first line of defense. It seems like this sort of thing used to happen around Thanksgiving, but it appears to be coming earlier and earlier every year. Pretty soon we’ll be having this conversation the day after Easter. In any case, it’s November 8th, and the time to address it is now.

So, let’s talk about those Starbucks cups.

Apparently every year Starbucks unveils a new holiday-themed cup. A cup: A disposable, cardboard conduit for your hot beverage that’s going to end up in the landfill later, just to keep this in perspective. Anyway, past cups have featured things like snowflakes, ice skates, Santas, and what looks to me like some sort of spaceship that maybe was supposed to be a modern version of a sleigh?

All fun and festive stuff. This year, they decided to go with something simpler, do away with the illustrations altogether, and chose a streamlined red design in an Ombre style. Cool. As cool as a cup can be I guess. We’re still talking about a cup.

And a select group of Christians collectively lost their ever-loving minds.

The best I can tell, snowflakes represent Christmas, and Christmas represents Jesus … so a plain red cup obviously signifies the removal of Jesus and is thus really, really offensive. Hide your kids, and hide your wives, it’s the (invented-by-Christians) WAR ON CHRISTMAS!!

When I first heard that people were freaking out about the cups, I honestly thought it was a big joke. I assumed that the early rumblings were either from a satire site or a super creative marketing job from Starbucks themselves. (As a side note, how completely sad is it that our society is such that one can’t even tell the difference between real life and satire anymore? The real-life shenanigans of the I’m-offended-by-everything folks are often more ridiculous than anything even the Onion can imagine). And yes, I called them ridiculous. My choice of that word in a past post – also aimed at my fellow Christians – earned me a snotty comment calling me rude and judgmental. But you know what? Sometimes people are ridiculous. Whining about everyone “taking the Christ out of Christmas” when the only one who can take your Christ out of your Christmas is you, is ridiculous. Flipping out over a red cup is ridiculous. SO ridiculous in fact, that it couldn’t possibly be real. Except it is. There are real, live people out there losing it over a cup.

I’m just wondering, when did “peace on Earth and goodwill to men” turn into spending the entire holiday season – which as I already stated, is starting earlier and earlier every year – pissed off and competing to see who can carry the biggest chip on their shoulder?

A quick Twitter search of the hashtag #MerryChristmasStarbucks will give you a vast sampling of people’s collective ire, but my favorite one is this, by a user who describes herself as a Christian Conservative American Constitutionalist:

Starbucks can take ur plain red cups & shove them up ur #liberal asses! I’ll never step foot in a #starbucks again

Isn’t that sweet? Nothing says Christmas spirit like telling people to shove things up their asses. Nothing shows the love of Christ like telling people to shove things up their asses.

You guys, this is embarrassing.

Christmas was never supposed to be a battle for the title of the biggest, loudest bully, but that’s exactly what it has become. How inspiring. How Christ-like.

And you know what? Forget Christmas for a minute. Can we bring Christ back into Christianity? Let’s bring back gentleness. Let’s bring back kindness. Let’s bring back grace. Let’s bring back loving our neighbors. Can you imagine the change that could happen – the GOOD that could happen – if we replaced the outrage over holiday greetings and cup choices with compassion? With a little old-fashioned generosity? With actually LIVING what we claim to believe in? Let’s show people what it means to be Christ-like.

If there’s not enough Jesus on your Starbucks cup (and, psst, snowflakes and ice skates and space-ship sleighs are not specific to Jesus either) bring Jesus with you! Be kind to the people around you. Offer the barista a genuine smile. Pick up the tab for the next person in line. Don’t be a grumpy asshat.

Our faith should be a little bit bigger than a disposable coffee cup.

Don’t want to go to Starbucks, for whatever reason? That’s cool too. I actually don’t go all that often myself, for the simple reason that I spent a lot of past years broke, so it pains me a little to spend $5 on something I can make for pennies at home. Use your could-be-Starbucks-money on something else! Share it with the guy on the corner. Give to a cause you believe in. Heck, surprise your kids with a new toy. But stop using a company’s marketing decision as an excuse to turn your “faith” into something ugly and off-putting. Believe it or not, God’s not giving out prizes to the people who can throw the biggest irrational tantrums.

Let’s get a grip here, and save being offended for the things that are actually offensive.

And to you dear Starbucks, I apologize on behalf of the small – but loud – group of Christians obnoxiously ushering in the holiday season in the only way they know how. I assure you they don’t represent all of us. I will be in soon for a grande caramel macchiato, and to spread some actual holiday cheer (with zero requests that you shove anything up your ass)

Sincerely,

The girl who couldn’t care less what your cups look like

26 Comments

Filed under Christmas, faith, hot topics

December 15, 2014 · 9:30 AM

Saying No to Say Yes

It’s a week and a half before Christmas, which is always…. tricky.

I adore Christmas. Love it. Love the spirit. Love giving presents. Love the lights. Love the food. Love the Christmas cookies. Love hanging out with my family.

But it can be so BUSY, which, if left unchecked, can lead to stressful. Exhausting. The exact opposite of what you’d want a holiday season to be.

This year I was well on my way to the latter. I haven’t been sleeping, I’m still smack in the middle of my recovery and rehab, I’m still in daily pain, the house has once again gotten away from me.

And there are gifts to wrap! Plans to make! Events to attend!

There’s a six year old, looking to her mom with love and expectation and wonderment, trusting that I’ll make the season magical and fun and exciting.

I literally couldn’t “do Christmas” at the speed I was going, and take care of all my other responsibilities, and focus on my recovery, and make things nice for the kids, and maintain any level of sanity.

So, I started saying no.

The first thing I said no to was Christmas cards, even though we do them every year. The pictures, the designing, the addressing, the stamping. And you know what? The earth is going to keep spinning even if all my relatives and friends don’t get a smiley picture of the McGrails to hang on their wall for two weeks before they recycle it.

Then I said no to a writing project, one I’d actually really wanted to do, but that carried a deadline of ten days before Christmas.

I said no to adding 237 new cookies to my repertoire this year.

I said no to causing myself physical pain by making the house reach some magical level of cleanliness before we have guests. They’ll deal.

I said no to feeling like I needed to answer all my emails, or respond to everyone’s questions, or to fulfill anyone else’s expectations. Yesterday morning, I got up and cleaned out my email box with one big (what I’d like to think was polite) response along the lines of, “I’ll get to this after the new year.”

I said no to doing, deciding, or thinking about anything that isn’t a priority right now.

And those “no”s freed me.

Those “no”s mean that I can say YES to my girl, and to my family, who shouldn’t have to pay the price for me not being able to say no when it’s needed.

YES to a lazy day at the zoo.

YES to paper snowflakes.

YES to a movie and popcorn first thing in the morning.

YES to playing with new dolls.

YES to gingerbread houses.

YES to playdates.

YES to driving around at night just to look at Christmas lights.

YES to Christmas parties with friends.

YES to spending hours reconnecting over Pay Day or Minecraft or Little Big Planet.

YES to hot chocolate and whipped cream.

YES to carpet picnics.

YES to quiet moments, and loud moments, and silly moments.

The “yes”s come quickly and easily, or at least they do when I’m not bogged down with Very Important To-Dos (ie: things I probably need to say no to). I often find it strange and frustrating how hard it is to say no sometimes. Why should it be hard? Why shouldn’t we be able to say no at any time, for any reason, and not give it a single moment of regret?

I can’t be all things to all people at all times. I said those words on my FB page just a couple of weeks ago, and I know I’ll say them again. I seem to need the constant reminder.

I can’t be all things to all people at all times.

Because the thing is, there is nothing more important than my family, especially right now. So when the moment comes and I have to make a choice…. when I feel that little tug of “But, but… you need to do this! You have to do that!” I’ll answer, “You know what, as a matter of fact I DON’T.”

This year I’m giving myself the gift of NO, and what a gift it is.

2 Comments

Filed under about me, Christmas, family, parenting, perspective

December 14, 2013 · 6:00 AM

Hands

You know how sometimes you can hear or read or see something a million times, and it doesn’t really affect you until you hear or read or see it exactly at the right time? That happened to me yesterday. I put on some Christmas music after I posted my “Keeping it Real” post, and the first song that played was the song Hands, by Jewel. I think I heard the words for the first time in my life. What an absolutely beautiful song. Exactly what I needed to hear, exactly when I needed to hear it.

If I could tell the world just one thing
It would be that we’re all OK
And not to worry ’cause worry is wasteful
And useless in times like these
I won’t be made useless
I won’t be idle with despair
I will gather myself around my faith
For light does the darkness most fear
My hands are small, I know
But they’re not yours, they are my own
But they’re not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken
Poverty stole your golden shoes
It didn’t steal your laughter
And heartache came to visit me
But I knew it wasn’t ever after
We’ll fight, not out of spite
For someone must stand up for what’s right
‘Cause where there’s a man who has no voice
There ours shall go singing
My hands are small I know
But they’re not yours, they are my own
But they’re not yours, they are my own
I am never broken
In the end only kindness matters
In the end only kindness matters
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
My hands are small I know
But they’re not yours, they are my own
But they’re not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken
My hands are small I know
But they’re not yours, they are my own
But they’re not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken
We are never broken
We are God’s eyes
God’s hands
God’s mind
We are God’s eyes
God’s hands
God’s heart
We are God’s eyes
God’s hands
God’s eyes
We are God’s hands
We are God’s hands

4 Comments

Filed under Christmas

November 26, 2013 · 6:00 AM

Christmas, Giving, and The Year I Became a Grownup

Photo Credit: Stephen Jones

I have a few long-ago memories of being struck with a distinct feeling of, “Whoa, I’m like a grownup!”

The first was the first time I used the word, “husband” in a sentence. I was all of 19 years old, still a baby, and I had to tell a cashier at a supermarket that I’d accidentally left my wallet with my (brand-new) husband. It felt ridiculous to say it, and I wanted to giggle at the words. My husband.

The second time was when I began paying our household bills as a married couple. I remember thinking it was fun… writing the checks, stamping the envelopes, sending them off. I shared my feeling with my mom, and she laughed at me, saying, “Oh you’ll get over it!” Except I didn’t. Twenty years later, and as long as we have the money in the bank to pay said bills, I still really enjoy paying them (although I pay them online now). I have this whole gratitude thing that I do, and I really don’t take for granted the blessing of being able to pay our debts each month.

But the one that will forever stand out is the year that as I looked forward to the Christmas season, I realized that I was more excited about giving gifts than I was about receiving them.

I adore Christmas. I always have. I remember as a kid, Christmas day would mean presents at home, followed by traveling to one of set of grandparents and then another. I loved the visiting. Loved the energy. Loved running around with my relatives. Loved the music. Loved the food.

And I loved the presents.

Then somewhere along the way, something shifted. And it’s not that I no longer enjoy presents. I do. It feels good to be on the receiving end of a thoughtful gift. There’s just something… powerful… about giving to others, whether it’s through giving your time, your service, or in some tangible way. That’s the magic of Christmas that I want to pass on to my kids.

The best thing about giving is that it’s not discriminatory. Some of the most generous people I know have very little money to call their own. But oh, how they give! Those people inspire me, and make me want to be a better person.

Mike and I stopped doing Christmas presents for each other several years ago, both because we tend to save up and get whatever it is we want/need throughout the year, but also because we just find more meaning in spending that money on someone else. At first we donated money to various charities, and/or bought gifts through those giving trees that they have at places like Target and grocery stores. One year though, we had some friends who had a need that we were able to fill, so we did so, anonymously. And that year changed how we did Christmas.

Deciding as a family who we want to gift is far and away my favorite part of the holiday now. Yes, I still adore spending it with my family. Love watching my kids open presents. Love the visiting. Love the energy. Love running around with my relatives. Love the music. Love the food.

But all of that is just a beautiful added bonus.

And now when December hits, and I get caught up in the stress and the hubbub and the craziness of the season (which, if you read my blog, you know I’ve struggled with year after year) … I think of giving, in whatever way I can. I think of ways I can bless someone else. I think of the Grinch.

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.

And suddenly the hubbub isn’t so important anymore.

Learning to Relax (Or, Why I Love My Husband)

“Do you think we’ll get everything done in time?”

I was supposed to be relaxing, leaning back on the recliner, wrapped up in my favorite afghan lovingly knit by my late grandma, ice on my shoulder.

“Get what done in time?” He barely looked up as he answered me… partly because he was engrossed in what he was doing, and partly because he knows me…. knows that I was stressing out, and knows that there’s a specific way to handle to it.

“All of it. The rest of the shopping, all of the advent stuff with the kids, getting the house in shape…” Our house, which on the best of days is half a notch above “lived-in”, has been relegated to new levels of disorder over the past month while I’ve been incapacitated. There’s stuff all over all the flat surfaces – including the floor – dishes are piling, laundry is piling, and I can barely get to the 8 year old’s bed to kiss him goodnight. Last week, a friend stopped by and I was actually embarrassed.

I knew this season would be different than last, and I thought I’d made peace with it. We got our tree, we did most of our shopping, we stamped and mailed 50 Christmas cards, and I finally got the advent calendar up for the kids. We made it to a Christmas light parade; they’ve been playing with friends. We’ve been baking, and making paper snowflakes, and watching Christmas movies, and going to the library, and having carpet picnics… and it’s been nice and it’s been busy and it’s been oh.so.tiring. I’ve been caught between that place of relaxing and going with the tide, and getting stuck in those moments of panic: “Christmas is in a matter of weeks! We have company coming! I’m still in pain! I haven’t slept in a month! We have so much to do! Aaaaaaaaaa!!!”

“So do you think we’ll get it all done in time?”

Calmly, matter-of-factly, and so patiently it would have irritated the %&$# out of me had it come from anyone but him: “Yes. Of course we will.”

“And it’ll all work out?”

“It’ll all work out.”

And it will. Of course it will. I know that. Intellectually, I know that. But the moments of freak-outs seem to be every bit as hard wired as my blue eyes and not-quite-blonde hair. I’d like to think that if I were single, that I’d still be able to live in the moment, that I’d still be able to talk myself through the stressful moments, that I’d still be able to keep it together. But what can I say? While I could survive without a husband who’s the calm to my storm and the order to my chaos…..

I thank God I don’t have to.

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