Christ-Miss: Christmas hits Hard this year
Is your holiday season this year more of a Christ Miss? Is there something going on? Someone not here? People, places, things that are making the season hard?
As I sit looking at my Christmas tree listening to Christmas music, I’m thinking about my day as a hospice nurse and how this December is just hitting hard for so many.
We Americans, and probably the rest of the world, put so much pressure on ourselves to have a holly jolly holiday, when in fact, it is actually the hardest time of the year for some people. There is pressure to go out and buy things that we can’t afford. There is pressure to host and to be hosted. There is pressure to find magic in something that may not seem all that special.
December is also the end of the year. Some people are feeling the pressure of having not accomplished some things they thought they would, when they had an entire year ahead of them to do so.
December is hard if you live in a cold climate. It’s cold, it’s dark, it’s quiet.
The patients and their families, that I see on a daily basis, are contemplating the loss of their life or the loss of a loved one and that the holiday season will always remind them of the passing.
This holiday season can also be the first without a loved one. Their missing presence is a gaping hole in the celebrations.
If Christmas is hitting different this year, you are not alone. The world is in political unrest, there is war, hunger, homelessness, there is an overwhelming sense of waiting for the other shoe to drop, and so on. You aren’t alone and you aren’t wrong if you are sad. Be sad. If you can’t find the “spark” that’s OK.
The real reason for the entire season: Hanukka, Kwanzaa, Christmas, and the many other celebrations that gather people together, is to recognize and celebrate our gifts that we have been given that are not material at all. The reasons for the season are grace and love.
If Christmas is hitting different this year, may you find blessings in what is hard, receive the gift of memories you have. Receive the gift of second-chances. Receive the gift of love.
(song: Christmas Hits Different by Toby Mac and Tasha Layton)