Adele M. Stan: How I Gave Up Christmas and Found Serenity

I can't remember exactly when it was that I gave up Christmas, but I've never regretted it. While my friends and family run around in a frenzy of mall purchases and the attendant anxiety of how to pay for it all, I bask in the serenity of having let it all go, well, most of it. It seemed to happen in stages. One year, I asked my brothers that they stop buying gifts for me, and to forgive me for not buying gifts for them. It took a while for that to take. One brother refused to buy into the pact. Another has a wife from a non Western country who, in dealing with her in laws, expresses her love by thoroughly embracing the traditions of her new homeland, but as time went on, everyone seemed to accept, however grudgingly, that I was not taking part. Eventually, I stopped making the 300 mile trek to go home for Christmas. I made a point of getting there every Thanksgiving instead, a holiday for which the company of family is its own reward, and love is shown through the preparation and sharing of food. Sometimes we even pull out the guitars and make bad music together, passing out rhythm instruments to the kids. Christmas, on the other hand, held such expectations of material splendor, that it was impossible to have any quality time with my nieces and nephews, wound up as they were on the highs of the day, with their exhausted parents busy trying to police the pandemonium, and so, one year, I decided to stay home and cook myself a duck. I could have gone to the families of friends nearby, but that would have been just another permutation of what I had escaped, so I opted for solitude. It was delicious, both the duck and the solitude. On Christmas, the phone doesn't ring, except for the occasional well wisher. The streets are quiet, and no one expects you to check your e-mail. If you've ever wished for a moment of silence, of peace, of space to contemplate the abundance of life, spend a Christmas alone, and your wish will be granted. Now, I'm not anti Christmas. I love the decorations, the special foods, and some of the seasonal music. I'm not religious in the traditional sense, but Christmas Eve often finds me in church, hearing friends sing in choirs, or play liturgical music. I love the Christmas story, the notion of the redemption of the world through the birth of a child is breathtakingly beautiful, and so I come back to that.