I haven’t celebrated Christmas in 5 years and I know how to enjoy this holiday without company and without gifts

Hi! I’m Natalia and I stopped celebrating Christmas 5 years ago. I don’t buy a Christmas tree or decorations, I almost stopped giving presents and I’m not passionate about the combination of turkey and raisin dishes. However, I have a lot of friends, I don’t suffer from depression, and I’m a little prettier than that furry little green Grinch.

I decided to share my experience with the readers of awesome.club and talk about the advantages of going to bed early on Christmas Eve and putting that holiday aside. Undoubtedly, these ideas bring more benefits than you can imagine, so check out the post and draw your own conclusions!

First, I want to say that I celebrated Christmas in different ways: during my travels, in the company of noisy friends and colleagues and even in a pub. Each time, I prepared carefully and always knew where and with whom I would spend the night of the 24th. By the way, at that time I didn’t understand my parents, whose enthusiasm for all the holiday madness faded.

The first reason to stop celebrating Christmas was the holiday itself, which I ended up celebrating joylessly and feeling out of sorts. My festive spirit seems to have dissolved like a perfume used in the morning, whose scent has disappeared at the end of the day. But I didn’t have a bottle of that “Christmas atmosphere” with me anymore. I remember the Christmas when I understood that everything was changing. Christmas carols were echoing throughout the apartment, with people laughing loudly, to the sound of Santa’s car passing by in the street. Then I did something that I still think about to this day: I started copying the behavior of others so that no one could notice my sadness. Even though I was discouraged that night, I realized that maybe more people were faking it too, trying to create an illusion of happiness.

Like most people, I used to dread celebrating Christmas alone. At that time, I didn’t have a boyfriend, my friends left town and my family lived far away. What seems like a nightmare to some has become a stark reality for me.

In fact, everything turned out better than I expected. I didn’t listen to sad songs and I didn’t drink glasses of wine, in attempts to distract myself from despair, like Bridget Jones, from the famous movie. After opening a sparkling wine and making pasta, I congratulated my relatives and spent an hour in a hot bath, enjoying every minute of it. They say that the way you spend the last few days of the year influences the way you go the next year. It seems paradoxical, but that night I believed those words more than the others. It’s hard to think of a better pastime than a good rest during the noisiest night of the year.

Giving up the Christmas celebration, I found only positive points:

For example, there is no need to spend a lot of money on Christmas decorations,
garlands and other trinkets. I don’t even have a Christmas tree, which makes my friends terrified. I’ve also put aside that huge amount of food, which often exceeds the demand for what we actually eat. And because of that, we get so tired that we don’t want the holiday anymore. Also, the cost of Christmas is growing. Many spend most of their salary preparing for Christmas. According to surveys, consumers intend to spend approximately 500 reais on purchases, considering all the expenses with Christmas and New Year celebrations. In addition, some often borrow money from friends and even get into overdraft just to spend more than their budget allows.

The money saved on gifts and celebration can be spent on something really important. I remember when I met my friends, they all complained that they had spent half of their salary on Christmas Eve. But if they had left the holiday aside, they could have saved more than 600 reais. With that money, you can make an incredible trip.

The importance of Christmas is overrated and should not be considered the last priority before the new year, a time when we have a “duty” to splurge. Also, starting to make a list of your goals for the next year is also in vogue. However, research by British psychologist Richard Wiseman revealed that, on average, only 12% of people achieve all the goals on the list.

I prefer not to associate the holiday with a specific day and have fun when I really want to. Now, the idea of ​​buying a new outfit for every party seems offensive to me. We can and should delight in gifts, regardless of the calendar.

Everyone should be able to decide if they would like to celebrate Christmas or prefer to enjoy this day in a different way. However, unfortunately, people who don’t feel the same enthusiasm as the rest of society face disagreements and even judgment. When I say that I plan to celebrate Christmas by having a modest dinner with my boyfriend or just going to bed, I get a lot of strange questions. Some ask if I’m suffering from depression, others think I don’t have company and invite me to their house.

For now, I don’t want to bring the tradition of celebrating Christmas back into my life. But when you have kids, they will definitely have a Christmas tree, a rich supper, and a Santa Claus.

Now, I continue to give little importance to this holiday and I don’t make a point of turning this day into something that will completely change my life. Everyone can choose their own way: spend Christmas Eve with elegance and brightness or enjoy a more peaceful environment. It’s hard for me to be happy according to the calendar. Our mood and memorable events can be compared to a magic wand, which is capable of turning any night into a holiday.

If one day you don’t have company to celebrate Christmas or on the eve of the holiday break up with your partner, which will make all the festive mood disappear, know that it is not the reason for sadness and despair. You choose the starting point for your achievements, which can be any day, and the experts guarantee that. Real-life stories prove that miracles can also happen outside of Christmas.

No need to wait for a day marked in red on the calendar to stop for a while and enjoy the simple happiness that is within our hearts. Because those are the moments worth living for and moving on.

And you, have you left Christmas celebrations aside, voluntarily or forced by life’s issues? Or do you believe that it is one of the holidays that cannot be ignored at all?