Angry Christmas

Angry Christmas

Everyone gets angry, right? It is just part of the human experience. The holidays are supposed to be full of peace and joy. Let’s be real. This time of year is super stressful. I hope you don’t experience an angry Christmas.

You don’t even have to come from a fractured family, or a traumatic situation to be totally stressed at Christmas. Maybe you’ve had no huge losses. Maybe life has been full of privilege and security for you. There is still the hustle and bustle of Christmas.

Travel, shopping, visiting, and parties are further complicated by the weather for some.

In the North, where the snow is flying,

Car accidents and freezing pipes,

decreased visibility and snowball fights,

salt and muck on all our cars means sloppy dresses might just be ours

and tensions flaring, eyeballs glaring, busy days and no calls returned

mean wondering if wrongs were done,

inadvertently or by the sum

of actions taken or not while we’re busy baking.

Coping?

You may not have had any experience with dysfunctional coping mechanisms, slander, and blame, gossiping nannies play a narcissistic game.

Fear may not have been the rule in your childhood home,

family members even Freddy Cruger might condone

and maybe the

truth

was shared with relative ease

in your little world, there was no one to appease.

Still, even if you plan all year long and gather the gifts, wrapping along the way,

someone or something will come up each day

that will send you reeling to play catch-up that way

try as you might, someone or something will put up a fight.

The worst is the struggle with inanimate objects,

sorting through solutions and low and behold, at the cost untold

you finally win, but against all odds.

Looking around at the house and the car,

the tree and the gifts, the food and the star,

when the dog eats your treats and the cat breaks the balls,

what’s really important are the people and calls,

and the thing that makes it all worth the effort and all of the strife

are the people you hold dear throughout all of your life.

For too many the season is really unwelcome.

Their concept of Christmas is backbiting fights

and their internal trauma is triggered by lights.

Even when grown

with family of their own,

the past creeps into interrupt peace,

but a moment’s conscious release

draws their attention

to the present moment and its full intention.

For Others

So, when you lift up the cup, to celebrate the gift of baby Jesus this year,

please remember those who are struggling to hope and say a quick prayer.