Veera is a published Author (‘Endured’ and ‘#LoveBitesLifeHacks’) and Columnist; a passionate Educator and Counsellor; Poet and Philosopher… but most of all, a lover of all things literary. 
My Christmas tree – all decked and adorned – stands tall in its place, as it has all the years. This year it looks a bit weary and tired, with the ornaments hanging heavy; it seems to have dulled their shine. It seems to know what the past couple of months have rolled in. A sort of Covid after-taste still lingering and lurking in all around, trying to dampen that Christmas cheer.
It’s December and Christmas, the last month and festival to end the year of all years! …The year, which will be the topic of conversation for years to come at gatherings and holidays, over a bottle of wine, and like other disasters and crises that left broken spirits in their path, only to triumph finally, this one will too!
That is my Christmas story this year – The Triumph of the Human Spirit! We will remember being the ones to have seen witnessed, lived and conquered the most terrible times, in the face of the worst pandemic that’s hit the world. The punch, landing square in the belly, caused a total collapse of systems, economies and nations everywhere. But here we are, days away from the fag-end of the year, and moments away from a Christmas we’ve all deservedly earned and waiting to celebrate!
This holiday season, there may be even more pressure than usual to do things special, but in ways different. Old traditions may have to be substituted by new digital ones. Oh yes! This year everyone seems to be perpetually plugged into social media, absorbing curated images of how well everyone is supposedly doing. Yes, I can bet you all of Santa’s toys that your Instagram will be chock-full of images with friends baking Christmas puddings and chocolate cookies, wearing Santa hats and colourful scarves, coating their homes in twinkling lights and candles!
Now don’t you worry if you happen to be the exception squandering away this time of the year planning nothing remotely elaborate festive or celebratory at all, failing even to put on a brave face, to somehow make it all seem so magical like the rest of the pack are doing. Questioning all the while whether your life is enriched only when it is filled with, or let’s be honest, filtered with Instagrammable moments? I am sure the answer varies from person to person.
So, whether you are one planning hangouts, making gifts and keeping yours and peoples spirits alight, or this Christmas, you resemble Grouch sitting in your PJ’s all day and are personally all out of energy or cheer – don’t fret – that’s alright too! Cause, let’s face it, no matter how you approach this holiday, we can’t pretend this holiday season will be anything but a weak imitation of its predecessors! This Christmas is going to be wet. Even so, there’s also a sense of freedom in abandoning obligations and succumbing oneself to mediocrity.
It’s absolutely alright to slack off this year. If it’s a ‘Big Mac’ you’re settling for instead of that wholesome stuffed turkey with all its trimmings, that’s ok too! If it’s a sitcom instead of a sit-down dinner, don’t you bother! If the telly has taken precedence over the tree, that’s fine too! Forget about making magic this year. You are surviving this god-damned pandemic and staying home, savoring life – that’s heroic enough in my book! So, who cares if the presents and gifts you ordered are late in arriving? Don’t feel guilty if you skip the decor and skimp on the presents.
Now 2020 taught us some invaluable lessons, some life-skills never imagined. If nothing else, it’s really poked the spiritual bear in most of us – the one that had been hibernating for all seasons past! Somehow it only seems about right that the year ends with the festival of Christmas. It underlines the very lessons we were meant to learn with the nasty nudge-off.
Christmas is all about the spirit of giving, without a thought of getting. Christmas is the happiness we see in the joy of others. It is all about forgetting the self and finding time for others – friends and family, and those that matter. It is the time for discarding the meaningless and focusing on the important. As life gets longer, our Christmas list somehow gets shorter. The things we want most, money can’t buy – good friends, family and health.
Yes, that Christmas spirit may be dampened. “Why don’t I feel Christmassy at all?” I’ve heard that statement over and over in the past couple of days. I say, it’s pretty damned natural not to be overcome with the sensation of the holidays this year, even while sharing festive-flavoured drinks with friends and family. And while people are frantically asking this question – almost as though it’s a disease, ready to be diagnosed, it’s a bit disheartening as well. Most are bravely putting it together, everyone is associated with someone who’s lost work, or worse, a loved one, during this trying year. So what’s the big deal in losing a little Christmas cheer?
Christmas certainly doesn’t need to be hyped or regaled but lived in the spirit it was meant to – with it’s really alright to hang your socks for a while instead of your stockings of the heart and soul, not the presents, gifts or dazzle we wrapped it up in and make it out to be. Stop polluting your mind with meaningless standards and stop pretending if you find it difficult to act like it’s a beautiful, special time to be jolly. It’s great to be alive, it’s a heroic time for us. We’ve all been through a lot this year and are standing on the threshold of a meaningful festival, at that precise time in history and our lives, where it undoubtedly matters the most. We are winners us all – you and I! And so, it’s really alright to hang your socks for a while instead of your stockings!
Merry Many Christmas’ to us all!!
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