Mary + Her Mental Health

Christmas - - a time for peace and love. Spreading peace. Every moment. Of every day of the festive holiday season. Until it kills you. Until you bleed. Until every minute of your life is this uninterrupted siege, this unending typhoon of activities, parties, concerts, working, baking, decorating, volunteering, card mailing, and shopping. Shopping. Along with every single one of God’s children for the same items in the same store at the same time in the same place. Shuffling, sashaying, scooting and spitting your way through aisles of crap, trying to find something cheap but meaningful for everyone in your whole stinking life. Shopping for loved ones. Hoping to give them peace and happiness with your gift. Happiness. As you circle the Public Garden for an hour trying to score a parking space, because parking in a garage, to pay to have your car just SIT IN A SPACE for 15 minutes, will cost you twice what you’re willing to spend on your own mother. Icy roads, frigid wind, burning fingertips, runny noses, tense shoulders. Getting home in the traffic hopefully before New Year’s. And then there’s all the wrapping. Because you have lots of time for that too. 10 minutes to wrap one gift. 0.5 seconds to tear it all off forever and put it in an oversized plastic bag. Gosh, I feel so peaceful right now. No bitter. Just peace.

I know what Christmas is supposed to be. And it ain’t any of this. And this much I know for sure. Says Oprah.