by L. A. Brown

Created on: October 12, 2010

Christmas is considered to a favorite holiday for many people around world. Despite the cold that often accompanies an Ontario Christmas; the snow mixed with Christmas lights on the houses looks very pretty. There’s always an abundance of food at everyone’s house and decorating the tree with colourful decorations is fun when shared with the people you love.  If there are children in the midst, you can feel the excitement of Santa’s arrival and begin to believe in the magic of the holidays again.

Despite the joy and laughter that can fill the air during the holiday season, there is the inevitable pressure in the days and weeks beforehand. It can be very stressful to manage all the tasks that come with planning for Christmas in order to ensure everything runs smoothly and everyone’s happy. But what are the main causes of concern at this time of year?

Money is a common stress that many endure around Christmas.  The cost of presents, food, decorations and travel expenses can be a heavy weight to bear.  We find ourselves saving all year just for this one day or racking up our credit cards to the point of financial ruin while our retirement accounts remain nonexistent and we put off that dentist appointment (just this once) to avoid the extra bill.

Cleaning is probably a close second stress. Around the holidays, your normal upkeep just doesn’t seem adequate. Why is this? Well, you NEVER know when someone is going to “pop by” to wish you a Merry Christmas and this adds an extra pressure to keep your place looking tidy at all times. Not an easy feat if you have children racing through the halls.

There are many out there who love to cook, bake and create delectable treats year round. For everyone else,   during Christmas they make the extreme sacrifice, dust off the bake ware and hit grocery store with a list including chocolate chips, flour and icing sugar. Perhaps it’s due to the increase in visitors at this time of year that makes me suddenly inclined to keep goodies in the house. After all, when you show up at their door, they always seem to have treats to offer. The worst thing about the stress of holiday cooking is that it also includes the above two stresses that have been already mentioned; money and cleaning. Since in order to accomplish cooking, your must spend extra money and clean up afterwards.

Finally, on top of the constant cleaning, cooking and shopping you also need to stop in at everyone’s homes to wish them a Merry Christmas or make sure to be home in time for someone to visit you.  My blood pressure is rising just thinking about it. Even if you are a single person with a small family, this can be overwhelming. But add the in-laws, nieces, nephews, grandchildren and their spouses, aunts, uncles, your parents, grandparents, friends, etc, etc. It can seem like a never-ending battle with the clock to fit everyone in.

So in conclusion, Christmas may be a beautiful holiday filled with love and laughter if you are rich, have a maid and are a gourmet cook.  For me, it’s a miracle I even survive the holidays, much less look forward to them every year. But I still do.  

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