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Lights, carols, cinnamon and ginger in any edible or drinkable commodity: Christmas is back again and with it the awareness that it is still not sociably accepted to stay home for the entire month.
Personally, I love Christmas. I love buying presents and decorating anything, but I can empathise with those who find the Christmas period distressing. I asked for some help to a couple of friends and relatives who suffer from Christmas hate and I gathered their best suggestion and tips to survive the Christmas period.
If you are in the ranks of the Grinches, who shiver any time a person in a Santa outfit enter their field of vision, here’s the guide for you.
Decorations
You cannot avoid seeing everything decorated all around, but that doesn’t mean that you have to follow suit. You can decide to not decorate at all your house or decorate in a way that cheers you up, showing your feelings toward the holiday:
Presents
Buying presents is the epicentre of hatred for the Christmas period. The heaving shops, the mayhem, the rush to the checkout till… Just a total nightmare!
If not buying any presents whatsoever is not an option, here what you can do:
- Make a list of all the presents you have to buy, even the littlest gift to give to the friend of your granny who always gave you something since you where 4.
- Write down a list of shops where you can find each and every present.
- Go in the shops and buy everything the quickest as possible. Avoid browsing around searching for something, focus on your task!
Did you know that when you search for some shops on Google, Big G shows you the most popular hours of that particular shop? A compendium to avoid the carnage of Christmas shopping.
Speaking of Internet, why don’t you buy your presents online? Online shopping keeps you safe from the human touch and the enthusiasm of the other shoppers. Plus, you can have the presents delivered wherever you decide (useful if you live abroad, and you’ll spend Christmas at your family’s place).
Writing Cards
Writing Christmas cards can represent an excruciating exercise even for those who don’t dislike Christmas, let alone for the poor Christmas haters.
There are two solutions available:
- Not write any Christmas card
- Copy messages from websites
Here a couple of links, in case you decide to go for the second options:
And don’t forget that the classics are always the best, for instance the evergreen: “Merry Christmas
and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year”.
Christmas dinners/parties/nights out/sociable events
You need a bit of preparation to avoid all the sociable Christmas events you might be invited to: before the peak period of Christmas events, prepare a list of plausible excuses.
Write them down and practice them. Write them on a paper, the act of handwriting helps memory.
Now, when someone invites you somewhere to celebrate Christmas, you’d have a quick answer to any occasion.
Universal Pictures / via giphy.com
Christmas treats
You might hate Christmas, but for sure you love sweets, don’t you? Focus on the glorious taste of the Christmas specialities and everything will look better.
Keep a low profile
Is there anything more annoying than keep on hearing people asking “How can you hate Christmas? Christmas is great!”?
I’ll tell you: no, there’s not.
The best way to avoid this is keeping a low profile. Retrain yourself to express loudly your intolerance for the merriest day of the year.
And fear not: Christmas haters can recognise one the other, you are not alone.
Just remember: after all Christmas is just once per year.
Merry Christmas to all!
