What do you do if you don't celebrate Christmas?

How do you deal with the festive season if you don’t celebrate Christmas?

It might be that you celebrate another winter festival such as Bodhi or Hanukkah. Or you might just not like Christmas for your own reasons. For me, I’m not religious, I’m not really in to shopping and I don’t have children so Christmas doesn’t really mean anything significant for me which means I have tried to avoid the festivities in previous years.

If you’re the same and find that all the “Ho Ho Ho” gets too much and you feel forced in to the “Season to be Jolly”, what do you do to avoid being “Bah Humbug” all round?

My advice is to start with some give and take - join in with some events and then give your excuses for others. You won’t find it quite so difficult to be festive if you know there’s only a few occasions and others should appreciate your efforts.

You could also volunteer to spend the time differently - does your organisation need people to work the unpopular shifts or maybe volunteer somewhere?

Next, find another reason to celebrate and keep that in mind. For example, our dog is a rescue and her birthday is probably somewhere between October and January so we’ve nominated 25th December as her actual birthday and this helps me!

It is also useful to apply a little mindfulness over the season to find the good in amongst the bling and noise. For example, enjoying any sunshine by getting outdoors, appreciating artistic festive light displays, taking time to admire the skill in hand made gifts, and more.

Finally, remember that we all have different experiences and approaches to Christmas with anything from a frenzied round of cooking, shopping and nativity plays to a quiet time with close friends or family. And, despite the very loud social pressure out there, there is no “right” way or “must have’s” at all.

So, however you choose to spend this festive season is ok. Enjoy!