Surviving Christmas

And it’s that time of the year again! Everyone seems to be cloaked in cheery Christmas spirit. Malls, roads, schools, offices, hospitals and every other place is wrapped in green, red and golden hues. It’s the season when everything and every person seems to hyper active. Customers at the malls are over enthusiastic, cafés are overcrowded owing to the holiday season and even normal conversations at home become over animated. To my dislike, the ‘over’ in all the previous adjectives gets to my nerves. Please do not think of me as a recluse who feels his peace has been interrupted because of the festivities. I love the Christmas season! But there are people (for instance me) who do not find it easy getting along with people. 

Nonetheless, everyone has to go somewhere for Christmas and I go home and deal with all the family drama every year. I love my family and friends but it can overwhelm you when there is so much going on. This time around I thought why not fashion a plan to get along well with friends and family, and surviving the holidays without any major catastrophe?

So here’s the plan. First thing that I intend to do this year when I go home, is being at my best behavior, being tolerant and deciphering information that is only positive. Being around people that I love more than anything also means that we know what buttons to push! Consequently, we get snappy sooner than we would otherwise and pick a fight, just what I’m trying to avoid. 

This holiday season, I will play at my strengths. Who doesn’t like a good (gluten free) cookies in December? Well, I consider myself a pro at that, and if cooking helps me spend accident and incident free time with everyone, why not just cook and bake? All I have to do is add water, oil, and 2 eggs!

This time I will participate. Participation helps gain everyone’s approval and that way everyone would for once be able to believe that I am not the misanthrope that my friends and family think I am.

Christmas usually is the time for me to catch up on my favorite TV shows. 

How about making a few changes there? This time I’ll watch anything with Mom, even if it’s "The Newly Wed Show," if that pleases her and not finding my solace in "The Walking Dead" and Candy Crush. I could also discuss a little ancient Hebrew with Dad over coffee. Ah! So many ideas. 

My idea of Christmas might be a quiet night, blankets, couch, coffee and my favorite books, but isn’t Christmas all about spreading happiness? So why aim at devising a survival strategy only! Let’s just play along with what everyone else wants to do, and I promise that would make this Christmas the best you’ve ever had.