Well, my brain seems to have gone on overdrive once more. I don't know... happy one moment, on the verge of tears the next... and all through it my brain just jumping from one subject to another. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I need school, or something that can occupy my brain other than useless thoughts. As these fluctuations seem to be more common when I've been out of school for a while....

Okay, anyhow, enough randomness I do actually have a topic I would like to write on. It may be a little late, but I didn't feel like writing until now... so meh...

Christmas - an interesting holiday, to be sure. A christian holiday, meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus although December the 25th was not chosen because of being the actually birth date of christ but to take the place of a 'pagan' festival (poilitcs intrudes everywhere :P). Mithras had that day long before Jesus.... but anyhow that's not the point.... the point is what christmas is now... its used as an exuse to eat, to indulge, to give and recieve gifts. We are bombarded with images and messages that tell is that the meaning of christmas is "giving", "family", "love", "harmony"... the list goes on.... but really is it?

Not from how I've seen it.

Some people have it figured out, have actually managed to distance themselves from the hype and insanity that so many people find themselves caught up in unable to extricate themselves from the turbulent flow (okay, maybe a little overstated there) but how many people do you know who burn themselves out over the christmas season. Who get stressed, depressed, etc. because of Christmas.

I've promised myself I will never let myself do that, and my parents have often told me that they don't want me to. That probably the best way to do christmas is to spend just a quiet time, with yourself or with another person or people you care about. No pressure, no mounds of gifts... just something small if you have it that says "hey, I care that you are here", whether its an actual gift, or even just some time spent together, a conversation, a hug. Just something small that will mean more than stuffing a giant sock with knicknacks because it's expected of you.

Honestly, I don't even know that there is anything special about doing this on or near christmas. A random little gift might even mean more. When it surrounds the christmas hype it can get lost in the stigma that gifts "must" be given.

Its hard, expectations are there in a lot of cases, and I'm the last person who will try to tell you that its easy to ignore expectations in favour of sanity.... But honestly with the crazy schedual my family has been following for my whole life and my parents for a few years before I was born, has probably driven home the importance of perhaps removing those expectations. We do the same thing every year it is always a hectic drive here, drive there affair and neither side of the family seems truly happy about it as they always seem to call us at the other side to ask when we are coming, if we're coming yet, etc... even though we've been doing the same thing for years.

And if we told them one year that we just wanted a quiet year at home... well, let's just say that wouldn't go over to well.

I guess, what I'm trying to say, at the risk of sounding like the broken record of christmas naysayers, is that if everyone just learned how to relax, to remove the comercialism, to remove the hype, to not "expect" everything, to... I don't know... grow up perhaps... fewer people would go into depression at this time of year, fewer people would go broke attempting to fulfill an obligation that probably shouldn't exist anyway... less worry, less stress... and, particularly in the winter months when Seasonal Affected Disorder comes into play for a lot of people, this would mean a lot.

So for those of you who manage to have quiet happy christmas' good for you, keep it up, don't let the landslide catch you. And for those of you who want a quiet christmas... work at making it so, don't just complain about commercialism... who cares what other people do, what matters is what you do....

Anyhow... I'm sure that this made no sense whatsoever but I haven't had enough sleep in the last couple weeks for anything my brain thinks of to make all that much sense.