Skipping Christmas

I declared a war on Christmas about 17 years ago.

Well, not exactly a “war” in the Bill’o sense. But a war in the sense of I had to boycott the “trappings” of the holiday.

Despite being an atheist, I actually love Christmas music. I like seeing the lights and trees. Hey, I even love the sales. What I can’t stand is the stress.

As a kid, Christmas decorating seemed to come off without a hitch, but that was because we had a pre-fab tree and very little decorations. There always seemed to be tons of things under the tree. As a child, I couldn’t know all the trouble that my parents went to to make Christmas so great.

But, as a single mother, I learned just how stressful the holidays could be. The idea of decorating the tree was exciting and even fun, once I got started. The idea of taking it down was daunting. Forget shopping for presents. When you are on a fixed income, it’s difficult to provide a kid with loads of gifts, like what they might see at their friends’ homes or even on television.

Read more