Yup. My mother was Polish American and it apparently didn’t matter that Christ was born. The Holiday that was celebrated was when He died even though she was eternally angry at the Catholic Church and Priests. My dad, on the other hand, was of German descent and Christmas was Joy even though he was an avowed agnostic! As a small child, at least til I was 7 or 8, the Christmas Joy pretense was alive and well. After that. Not so much. My parents were beset with their own issues and Christmas was lost in the shuffle. I, as a small child, seemingly was the only one to want to carry on the decorating traditions and did so alone until I finally launched into my own life at 23 years. As a young adult, I ignored Christmas the best I could. For years, my only decoration was a small 2 ft blow up plastic tree. As a RN, I worked Christmas often. Given that my birthday is also in December after Christmas and forgotten by friends, I spent years dreading December and depressed. I finally realized I had a lot of hyped up fantasy expectations and as I balanced those with reality, December has ceased to be a horrible month.
Yup. My mother was Polish American and it apparently didn’t matter that Christ was born. The Holiday that was celebrated was when He died even though she was eternally angry at the Catholic Church and Priests. My dad, on the other hand, was of German descent and Christmas was Joy even though he was an avowed agnostic! As a small child, at least til I was 7 or 8, the Christmas Joy pretense was alive and well. After that. Not so much. My parents were beset with their own issues and Christmas was lost in the shuffle. I, as a small child, seemingly was the only one to want to carry on the decorating traditions and did so alone until I finally launched into my own life at 23 years. As a young adult, I ignored Christmas the best I could. For years, my only decoration was a small 2 ft blow up plastic tree. As a RN, I worked Christmas often. Given that my birthday is also in December after Christmas and forgotten by friends, I spent years dreading December and depressed. I finally realized I had a lot of hyped up fantasy expectations and as I balanced those with reality, December has ceased to be a horrible month.