Baby it’s Cold Outside – The bustle of the season

It’s so cold today that you could freeze your panorkies off if you knew what panorkies were. It’s so cold today that no matter what you compared it to, it wouldn’t be a lie. People greet each other in the streets with the infamous sarcasm “cold enough for you?” Every muscle on our bodies gets tight like we are trying to slink into the tiniest ball as if that will keep us warmer when we run out of the car. Open the door and Pooooosh it hits you, like frozen needles being pressed into your face. These are the days we talk about when we travel, these are the days that we like to brag about, that we have survived. Yes, it is -40 with the windchill today and I am just lovingly adoring it from a window, where I am so hot I have to take my sweater off. Why does it feel like a badge of honor to live here? I’m not sure if they know we actually have furnaces and heated cars. I guess to them even just the minutes you run from house to car to work to shop, is enough to believe that we truly are admirable. Are we admirable for it? Why do we love the shock on people’s faces when we say -40 and they have lived in Mexico all of their lives. It’s almost as if we have done something great and wildly adventurous just in our daily lives. PS I am an office worker and don’t work in the cold, so this is not the same for everyone.

Similarly, why do we all need to be busy? Why do we need to wear it like a badge of honor as well? I’m so busy, we are so busy, they are so busy, she is so busy, he is so busy, everyone is so busy! Are they? And if they are, does it make them better? Do you get an honorable mention and a badge for your busy performance? Do they hand out medals to all who can survive the busyness without breaking and without antidepressants to keep them alive? Where are we going? Surely wherever we are going it is not near as busy. This stands out to me especially at Christmas. There are those too busy to take a breath, like me, their hair is disheveled, they have got the advent calendars, the Christmas sweaters, they come up with ideas for the elf every night, they buy small gifts in appreciation to the teachers, the bus driver, they buy this for one child, then this for another, then they compare and go yikes, I need just one more thing. I forgot to buy for so and so, they have everything, what the heck do you buy them? We wrack our brains, make grocery lists, grocery lists for meals, for baking, for appies, for decorating. Lists of things that need to be cleaned, lists of bedding to be washed, Christmas wrapping to be done. We spend money. So much money. Even the workaholics at this point give in to the frivolous spending. It’s a rite of passage. It’s admirable. This is it everyone, here we show our families we love them even though we might not have been nice to them all year. Our love and our gifts are on display to show how much we truly are grateful for our lives and the people in it.

Can you feel sarcasm in my voice? Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t like Christmas. The sarcasm comes from this fake busyness we create.  Just like I don’t actually work outside when it’s -40 and don’t deserve a badge for that, I also feel like Christmas is more hype and busyness for us to add to our resumes of how great we are. The more we do, the more people we host, the more turkeys we make, the more honorable we are. Did you see my sleeve of badges?

A lot of the time we forget why we even have Christmas at all. What was the original intent? To buy each other Xboxes, jewelry, fancy clothes and spend thousands that could have went to a family in need? I’m not preaching at you by the way, I’m preaching at me. I want to discover the real Christmas joy inside myself. I want my children to know that I love them regardless of what is under the tree. For me the most important moments are the ones where we laugh around the table at a game, or watch Christmas movies together that we have seen a hundred times, make hot chocolate, go sledding, sit in the hot tub with beverages at night and coffees in the morning while the snowflakes tickle our noses.  That is the real thing and regardless of everything else, my only real badge of honor will be if I actually do enjoy those precious times or if I let the busyness of it drive me to break. 

Whatever part of it that you truly enjoy, make sure you (yourself) truly enjoy it. I read we are here to look after ourselves, we were given our souls to take care of, that is our job above all. So, let’s do that and give ourselves the Christmas that we love, that pours from us authentically, that I think is what everyone should want for Christmas. 

Chat again soon,

Michelle