I Don’t Like Christmas! What I Do?

All the stores are decorated with trees, lights and figurines, but you would like to lock yourself at home for a month. Everyone is thinking about where, how and with whom to spend the holidays. But you say you don’t like Christmas, don’t worry, there are many other people like you.

Christmas and its rituals: the disorder of every December

Christmas carols, nativity scenes, decorated trees, nougat… For many this time is one of happiness, family reunions and good wishes. For others it is a disorder that, rather than uniting, brings as a consequence problems and disagreements.

It seems that we should all be happy and full of Christmas spirit. Otherwise, we are anti-party, boring, or negative. To say that one does not like Christmas is almost like saying that one is from another planet.

In these cases, people do not understand you, they think that you are strange or that you have a problem that you have been dragging on since childhood when you found out that Santa Claus was not who he claimed to be or you did not receive the gift you wanted.

However, it does not have to do with it, but with not feeling identified with the party itself,  or even being against certain habits that people have during December.

Spending money that they do not have on gifts for people who only see once a year, or going crazy with shopping to prepare a dinner for relatives who cannot stand … All this can be considered hypocritical or unrealistic.

Celebration or consumerism?

The feasts, the presents, the tensions, the crowded shopping centers … Everything is chaos the days before Christmas. And because? For a party that for many no longer has to do with religion, but with unbridled consumption and pretending on social networks how happy they are.

To all this we must add the additional pressure to be happy imposed not only by family members, but also by advertising. In the ads everyone smiles sharing a large and perfect dinner, or handing out expensive gifts that do not always fit our budget.

If you don’t like Christmas, don’t feel bad about it. Being different often generates disagreements or lack of understanding. But if you don’t want others to judge you, try not to judge others. Remember that many, even without being fans of the holidays, follow them by tradition.

Tips to “survive” Christmas

Beyond feeling like a stranger for not wanting to celebrate Christmas (the same thing that can happen if you say you don’t like summer or that you don’t eat meat), you have to face the situation and prevent it from overtaking you.

1. Consider Christmas any date

Some people choose to stay at home and have dinner like any other day watching television or reading a book. But, of course, for this you must live alone or accept that your relatives celebrate it elsewhere.

Even if you are not the only one in your inner circle who does not like parties, you can take the opportunity to have dinner together as if it were a daily meeting. No candles, toasts or sweet bread.

2. Go on vacation

Perhaps the best way to escape the holidays is just not to be home for those dates. Airline tickets are usually cheaper on December 23-24, for example.

You can go to a country where Christmas is not celebrated (for example, Morocco, Turkey, Vietnam, Thailand or Dubai). Maybe being away from your family is already a “burden” less for you and you can take the opportunity to stay at the hotel that night as if it were any other day.

3. Don’t organize

If you don’t like Christmas, don’t get involved in planning the dinners or gifts. Let others take care of it. You just go to the chosen place and enjoy the food. Think that for someone in your family it may be special that you are present on that date.

You don’t have to spend two days cooking or cleaning your house, listening to your mother talk about how she disagrees with your grandmother or that she needs to buy a present for your cousin. Do not participate in anything related to the celebration, put that condition to be with your best face that day.

4. Surround yourself with positive people

Maybe you don’t like Christmas because each year is the same as the previous one. You see the same people, eat the same dishes, or talk about the same topics.

Have you thought about organizing different parties with friends? It can be anywhere but without so many family pressures or traditions that “must be fulfilled.”

5. Find the meaning of Christmas

Ultimately, the celebration should be related to religion, and not consumerism or pretending that we are happy.

You may find it useful that day to help the sick in a hospital, go to church to pray, or help the needy in a parish. Maybe what you don’t like about Christmas is the “empty” or imposed tradition. Now, you can do whatever you want to have a great time.