Christmas Landmines: Detect and Avoid


Christmas landmines, I have a few. The biggest one might even be my own expectations.

My mother was a classy, fussy lady. Every morning I walked into our little kitchen to a mother who had already washed her face, brushed her hair and teeth, put on pearls (yep pearls), lipstick and a pretty negligee! 



At Christmas my dad did what a lot of men do, he tried to find her something fancy to fit in with her taste. I would often help him with this task. My mom used to wear 'negligees', ever heard of those?

 Above is an example of something she might have worn way back in the 50's and 60's.

 My Dad would attempt to buy her a new negligee every year. So off he and I would go into downtown Toronto, Bloor Street, 'Fredericks', to choose something for her. This was not a rushed process. A nice saleslady would help us. Dad would describe my mom. The selection process took awhile. He wanted to get it right.

 And guess what. Every Christmas Mom would open it up, pretend she liked it and take it back afterwards to pick out her own. I wanted to say to her 'you know how much trouble we went to to pick this out? Do you know how much Dad is trying to please you?'

 There are a lot of expectations surrounding Christmas. Some of them imposed by society, some of them self-imposed. I call these expectations 'Christmas landmines'.

 Maybe my dad should have asked my mother what she wanted. If she wanted a negligee then maybe they should have shopped for it together.

 A landmine is an explosive devise, hidden underground, designed to destroy. The only way you would be safe from one is to know where it is and avoid it.

 So together we are going to try to figure out where your Christmas landmines are.

 The whole gift buying, gift exchange thing is a Christmas landmine for many of us.

 Gifts can create a lot of stress. Feeling pressured to take part in the gift exchange can be tough.

Here is an interesting article about gift giving for 2017: "The Most-Wanted Gift? Cash".

 When my daughters and their cousins were teenagers, their grandmother gave them all cash for Christmas. That was their favourite gift of all. The day right after Christmas we would all go to the mall and split into groups and they would spend every penny and have a great time doing it. The after Christmas shopping became more fun than the before Christmas shopping.

 And there are all sorts of other ideas about gift giving on the internet if you care to check it out. 

 The thing is, if gift giving is a Christmas landmine for you, then do something about it. Put on that Christmas Crash Helmet and protect yourself from everyone else's expectations (real or imagned) as well as your own.

 Other landmines might be parties, Christmas dinners, concerts or decorating.

 WHAT ABOUT YOU? How are you feeling these days? How are you feeling about the upcoming Christmas season? Do you know what your own personal Christmas landmines are? Can you avoid or at least minimize them? 

 Don't give up! There is hope for depression - even at Christmas.

Did you know there is somewhere you can get discounted gift cards? Check it out.



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