Celebrate what you can with your cousin.

I celebrate. I love Christmas, always have. Had my tree out on since mid November 😅 and all gifts are wrapped.

This year will be fairly quiet as I have a uni exam on the 23 rd so busy revising then have other school work due first week of Jan so we haven't made big plans. Ordered some food that we'll collect on Christmas day and then we'll do our yearly Indiana Jones film marathon as our tradition.

I massively missed celebrating Christmas as a child. Growing up in a European country there were/are a lot events going on both at school or around town. At school, besides the nativity play which for me was just about doing a 'theatre' activity and dressing up didn't care about the topic, the school concert was the one event that really bothered me not taking part in.

I was that all-sing, all-dance, all-crafts child, courtesy of my adhd so just watching the others doing the things I loved and having to keep it all inside was a major violation of my spirit.

Then I used to count all the Christmas 🎄 and decorated houses from home to the KH every time we drove for a meeting.

I wish the WT stopped gaslighting children on those cartoons the make. They try to convince JW children that they are not missing anything that you can have parties and gifts all year round, and I did have lots of parties and gifts but sorry, it's just not the same.

Now that I study social sciences & psychology I learnt why it was not the same: meaning does not come just from an action or words it comes from context. So doing the same thing in a different context e.g. receiving a gift in the middle of May rather than on Christmas morning just hasn't got the same meaning because the whole context is different.

I celebrated the first two years I left and honestly? I could go with out. But that's just me

Personally did not celebrate for many years after leaving as I was too busy just surviving.

My first “tree” was a Rosemary shrub trimmed into a cone. I pinned cat toys to it with safety pins and had a tiny string of battery powered lights. I did things like that for several years and finally attended work holiday parties and participated in white elephant gift exchanges. Gave gifts to friends. Sang carols. Made ugly sweaters. Baked cookies and a Yule log cake. Had a wreath on my door.

Last year I moved and bought my first official Christmas tree! Not many ornaments, but I had a tree finally at 14 years out! This year the tree looks much better, my hearth and doors have a garlands and dried orange slices. Mistletoe hangs from the center of my entryway. Stockings are pinned for myself and the cats. Cookies are baking and cards are sent.

For the third year in a row I am in charge of not only my companies holiday party for our clients, but the local business holiday party too.

It took TIME to want to celebrate.

For me it is NOT a religious celebration, but a coming together of community. A way to bring some warmth, light, sparkle, and fun into life when the days are short, dark, and cold.