I was sitting in my backyard sun room, enjoying the last remnants of the winter sun shining in, thinking about what to write about in my post that will go out to you on Christmas day. I don’t celebrate Christmas, per se, because I was raised Jewish, which primarily meant “not Christmas.” So I don’t have the same kind of reverence or sentimentality about this particular celebration as a lot of people do. In the past, when I was in the middle of a flare up of my symptoms during the holidays, it was mainly just one more reason to wish I could skip them all together.
There’s a lot of pressure for everyone on Christmas, I think: sad and happy, healthy and sick, Christian/Catholic and not. A friend of mine, also Jewish, may opt out of the family celebrations this year. After spending some in the morning with her boyfriend - who does celebrate Christmas - she’s going to do something else while he visits with his family; she’s going to eat Chinese food and go to the movies, a Christmas day tradition for some people who don’t celebrate Christmas.
I say, good for her. What she’s asserting, I think, is her right to choose how she wants to spend the day that most honors who she is. The notion that there’s only one way to celebrate Christmas, is contrary to health and healing.
There is a religious, or faith based, aspect of Christmas that might be just right for anyone living with a chronic illness, or with any life event that requires healing; prayer, quiet thought and meditation. In a article The Mustard Seed Christmas published in the Hopekeepers (R) magazine a few years ago, the author told of how she discovered her ability to find the celebration on Christmas day just a few months after her mother passed away.
I’d love to know how you celebrate Christmas day - if you do - and what you do to stay centered in your health, to find your personal strength. I wonder if has changed for you in any way.
Joan
As a Jew, Christmas has no significance to me as a religious holiday. As a cultural icon, it is overwhelming. When I find myself humming Silent Night in the shower, I know it’s time to escape. This Christmas day , I went for a coastal hike, watched pounding surf and sea birds, and then, like most Jews I know, went out for Chinese food.
Thanks for sharing Barbara. I, too, find it overwhelming. But I don’t think it’s just because I’m a Jew. I find it heard as someone who hates being bombarded with anything. Isn’t funny about Chinese food, though? We all look for what binds us together. Rosalind
Barbara, the way you spent Christmas sounds lovely. The Silent Night bit is funny. I default to Frosty the Snowman - in summer! Choice may be the operative word for all of us here. It becomes so important when you’ve got to add your body to the mix of ingredients for consideration. t sounds as if you’re doing well. Joan