Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
As soon as I stuff my face with turkey and the food guilt starts to settle in, the chaotic energy surrounding Christmas also starts to settle, and then begins to suffocate me like a poisonous gas.
If you know me personally, you might think I’m a Scrooge without reason. I’ve never had a traumatizing Christmas. As a kid, the presents were plentiful and, even though Santa’s handwriting looked strikingly similar to my mother’s, there was bit of magic in the overnight appearance of even more presents, and the half-eaten cookies we’d discover in the morning. There are much more unfortunate people out there with better reasons to hate Christmas, you might think. Sorry, but I just can’t help but be cynical this time of year, it’s in my nature.
Maybe it’s the horrible combination of red and green everywhere you look. It might be the endless carols in every store, on every radio station, and eventually stuck on replay in every corner of my mind!!!
It’s most certainly the somewhat forced kindness and cheer people push out because “tis the season,” and season rules are in effect. There shouldn’t be a season for kindness.
It’s definitely the additional pressure every season-abiding citizen must feel to buy the best gifts, in the most crowded and time-consuming situations. And they better be effin jolly about it too!
I truly feel for the poor people working in retail, who deal with the not-so-jolly consumers. You can’t forget about the small business owners, either, who fret about having the best Black Friday sale, because they fear it’s the last chance they’ll have to sell anything until spring.
Maybe if I had kids I’d be less cynical… but probably not. In my mind, Christmas is just a day that causes way too much unnecessary stress.
A few weeks ago I was deep in stress mode, dreaming of December 26th, and thinking about how to overcome it all, when my gaze settled on this photo. Suddenly, I was transported back to Christmas 2010, the day I made it, and the best Christmas ever.
It was the first time I found myself with no obligations for Christmas. While some might find this sad, I was overjoyed about having some free, uninterrupted, time to spend doing something for me. I quickly made plans with my camera. When my friends insisted I join their families for the holiday, I called my photo plans a present to myself that I couldn’t wait to get started on. That got the point across.
As I gazed at this photo, I remembered how easily I got into the photography zone that day. Just me, my camera, and a few feathers to experiment with. I played with lights, backgrounds, and water droplets, and time passed like a bullet.
This photo is full of so many firsts: It was the first time I ever made something my confidence considered beautiful enough to be called art. It was also the first print I sold as art. It was the first photo Nick claimed as his favorite, and he soon proved it to me by making it the first of my art to hang in our apartment. It was the first Christmas I looked forward to as an adult.
As all these memories flooded my mind, the stress started to ease, and I knew what I had to do this year. It was time to take another Christmas off.
Thankfully, I’m surrounded by people who understand my introverted nature. So when I cancelled Christmas this year, nobody called me Scrooge, or tried to change my mind, they totally got it, and I could breathe a sigh of relief.
Merry Christmas, I hope the holiday was everything you wanted it to be!
