A Reluctant Christmas

I’m not a fan of Christmas. That sounds awful. Let me clarify. I love the Christ story; the Son of God being born to a virgin in a stable with all of the animals surrounding him is beautiful. Tears well up every time I read Luke 2. It’s all the other stuff that I don’t care for.

The tree. The bows. The garland. The glitter, ohhh the glitter! They really are the herpes of crafting supplies. The red and green everything. Why are there monogrammed socks on my mantle? Santa, reindeers, the Elf on the Shelf. The general disruption to my regular household decorations/furniture arrangement really grinds my gears.

The relentless perfume commercials. The relentless everything commercials. Who gives a Lexus with a big red bow on it as a Christmas gift?! The traffic. We have the Internet! Amazon will bring your stuff in two days! And you don’t have to even leave the house! I thought this was common knowledge.

4 months of activity packed into 25 days. Don’t ask me to do anything. My calendar’s full. All of this forced merriment is exhausting!

These really are princess problems. I’m rereading this thinking, “People in other parts of the world would think I’m utterly spoiled to be complaining about this.” They’re right. I truly can’t see the forest for the [Christmas] trees.

However, I’ve had an epiphany, of sorts. Colored lights. I really like colored lights. I know, some people think they’re tacky. But I really love them. My neighborhood is awash in classy white lights and tasteful decorations. But I’ve chosen colored lights.

I stopped sending Christmas cards years ago. Too much work. I order all my gifts online. I put up fewer decorations this year than I have ever before. And what I do have up has colored lights on it. And I’m happy. I think I have found the sweet spot in a holiday that normally puts me in a stressed-out funk.

Simplicity. And colored lights.

Quitting Facebook. Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater?

I’m not on Facebook. I was. Twice. And I’ve quit twice. I deleted my account over a year ago, and it was liberating. Do I really need to know about all the fun runs, 5K’s, half marathons, color runs, marathons, everyone participates in?

If it wasn’t for social media, would folks still be doing all this running? I’m not running anywhere unless I’m being chased by a bear.

I don’t need to know what your selling. I’m sure you feel strongly about your product, but don’t friend me when you really just want to solicit me. We’re all onto your game.

I don’t need to know when you check into the gym, a restaurant, the airport, church, Target, etc. I don’t need a picture of your child doing something I’m sure you think is “totes adorbs” every. single. day. And for the love, I don’t need a daily selfie.

But it wasn’t all of the over-sharing that drove me off Facebook. It was Facebook that drove me off Facebook.

When I got on the first time, I had a four year old and a two year. I felt housebound and isolated. So, I friended everyone I’ve ever known. Ever. That’s a huge mistake, especially when you try to un-friend them.

“Ohhh, that’s the reason I haven’t talked to Suzy for 12 years! She’s crazy!”

Turns out Suzy and I have 268 mutual friends, and I’m stuck with her, because if I unfriend her she’s going to notice. And then she’s going to start running off at the mouth about me.

Because remember, Suzy’s crazy.

I got off for a few months to purge and start over. This next time was better. I was much more careful who I friended. And then Facebook threw me a curve-ball.

There was this little sidebar that showed when someone, anyone, would comment or like a friend’s post. All you had to do was click on that notification and you could see the whole thread. Now Suzy can see when I like or comment on one of our 268 mutual friends posts, even though I’m not friends with Suzy anymore.

That was it! I took my toys and went home.

Well, not home. Just Twitter.

Overall, it has been a good decision. However, I do have some friends and acquaintances that I only talked to via Facebook. They’re good people. Some of them are old friends that don’t live in the same city as me anymore. Some are just friends that for whatever reason, we have drifted into different circles. I’ve lost touch with them.

Some people that I was FB friends with are church friends, but our church is about 30 minutes away. Our kids don’t go to the same school. We don’t live in the same neighborhood. I don’t see them at Publix. Our paths only cross on Sunday mornings and special occasions. Facebook helped me stay connected to these people.

This is the baby. But there is an awful lot of bathwater that I was more than happy to get rid of.

But I really do miss the baby.

Musing….

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Sometimes my imagination is restricted by the unfortunate confines of my adulthood…