This year, I'll face the month of December abiding by the words "less is more." Despite umpteen years of over-optimizing the holidays, and over-spending and over-committing, I'm redefining the season on my own terms.
Even though I question my ability to learn from certain past mistakes, fearing I possess the habit compulsion Freud spoke of, I like to think that when it comes to dealing with holiday pressures I've gained a certain perspective over the years.
As a writer, I know how many words are nonessential, that the meaning of a story is not lost in the editing but more clearly revealed. I'll apply the same riddance to Christmas even when confronted with my family's expectations, as well as my own need to make life as creative as my work.
Here is a list of what I'll be cutting this year like unneeded adverbs:
1. No TV - Not even "It's a Wonderful Life," the mawkishness of it. Holiday programming inflicts a brutal sum of nostalgia, like looking through a high-school yearbook, and I prefer my emotions moving forward - especially this time of year.
2. No cookies - I'm not baking them, eating them or accepting one cookie-party invitation where I'm to bake a zillion dozen just so I don't feel left out of an evening that bores the bejeezus out of me anyway. No fudge either.
3. No decorating other than a simple wreath and small tree - The thought of having to put up, take down and pack away anything more drains my every cell of enthusiasm.
4. Visit my mother's side of the family; skip my dad's - It's not that they are bad people. I just don't think, for a menagerie of reasons, that we are good family when we're together.
5. No cards - If I had time, I'd hand-make them. But I don't.
6. Buy something special for a few people I love and let the store do the wrapping - No more gifts for the B list. Somewhere along the line it became time to nix all that.
7. No feast of seven fishes - I still care about tradition - just not as much as I used to. Besides, anyone familiar with me knows I make a lousy Roman Catholic, so why work so hard at a biblical feast? (Because I'm still trying to please my mother.)
8. Don't try to please my mother.
9. Make this a list of nine things rather than 10 - Add the extra minutes to my walk, to wherever free time takes me.
Mary Lou Sanelli can be reached at needitor@nwlink.com.
[[In-content Ad]]
