Good grief, the holidays are bringing us down!

In the real world, women with families and careers don’t have time to make Christmas topiaries for their lawn and bake five different kinds of shortbread cookies for unexpected guests and I resent the implication that they do. There’s so much hype and so many expectations surrounding this season, that it’s inevitable that many people end up feeling disappointed by it all.

In “A Charlie Brown Christmas�, poor Charlie exclaims: “I just don’t understand Christmas. Instead of feeling happy, I feel sort of let down.� Haven’t we all felt like that, at some point during the holidays? Let’s face it, as festive as the season may be, for many people it’s often synonymous with stress. Trying to do too much in too short of a time, is the perfect way to end up feeling inadequate, short changed and overwhelmed beyond belief.

Without discounting serious issues that will certainly affect your holiday mood (ie. having suffered a death in your family, a recent break-up, being completely alone for the holidays, etc.) I am firmly convinced that, in most cases, the holiday blues are caused by the wide contrast that exists between “what we wish something was� and “what it truly is� ; in other words, the gap between our expectations and reality.

I have a friend who, every year, dreads holiday gatherings because her family is not the warm and fuzzy “Brady Bunch� kind and she wishes that they were. They argue, they disagree on how she’s raising her daughter, she and her sister have a serious case of sibling rivalry. Sound familiar? Of course! My family is a lovable bunch of nuts too, but I’m not looking to change them and that, in my opinion, is the key to enjoying them.

Despite what TV movies and Hallmark cards will have us believe, picture-perfect families and holidays do not exist. Just because your neighbours look like they have it all figured out, doesn’t mean that they have and spending too much time thinking about what you don’t have in your life, doesn’t leave you any time to be grateful for what you do have. So stop thinking about what needs to be done, bought or made and just take a deep breathe and enjoy the moment and each other, warts and all.

In the classic TV special, Charlie Brown eventually finds a pitiful little Christmas tree and provides it with a home, considerably improving his mood. His buddy Linus, remarks: “It’s not a bad little tree, really. It just needs a little love.� Isn’t that ultimately what we ALL need? Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones and my very best wishes for a Happy New Year.